When is the last time you were swept off your feet by an idea? I have been lucky to have experienced that sensation multiple times. Here’s one that stands out from a few years back: I was sitting in an International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) conference keynote listening to Dr. Vikram Patel talk about task shifting, the premise … Continue
I’ve started to do a new activity in my virtual trainings: I ask participants to write in the chat box whatever word comes to mind when they hear the word “resilience.” Immediately, the chat box begins filling up with descriptive words. Perseverance. Strength. Grit. Flexibility. Then, I ask participants to categorize the words they see based on whether the focus … Continue
Do you remember your first job as a helper? Mine goes back more than 25 years when I was hired as a Treatment Foster Care therapist for Community Impact Programs in Racine, Wisconsin. I still remember so many formative experiences: my first court hearing, my first missed court hearing (which got me properly chewed out by the county case manager), … Continue
I have been trying to be better at practicing gratitude over the past few weeks, spending some time before I go to bed thinking through events of the days past and naming people and experiences I am grateful for. It seems like a better way to spend time then scrolling through my phone to catch up on the news. One … Continue
Wow. Oprah’s leading the discussion! This is such an unforgettable moment for all of us committed to addressing the issues of adversity, trauma and developmental insults. With Oprah’s 60 Minutes segment on childhood trauma, we have more attention on the issue, and with it, a call to keep moving forward. It is from that context that I want to reflect … Continue
Each month when the Clinical Services Department (staff working with training, trauma informed care/Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics™, School Based Services and Clinical Services) gets together, we kick off our meetings with a caregiver capacity activity chosen by a different member of the team. So far we have explored mandalas, sympathetic breathing and inspiring quotes – each activity working different pathways … Continue
Thanks to the support of our Board of Directors, a team of staff from SaintA had the opportunity to attend the inaugural Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics™ (NMT) symposium recently in Banff, Canada. It was a remarkable event bringing together 450 people from nine countries, six Canadian provinces, and 24 U.S. states to share practice ideas, research and lessons learned about … Continue
A compelling article about child development and adverse childhood experiences recently was written. Many social service professionals (and a growing segment of the public) won’t see much novelty in another article about the impact of overwhelming childhood stress, trauma and adversity, as our field is doing a nice job of getting the message out, and people are truly listening. What … Continue
I am wondering if anyone else had to read this information on the cost of child maltreatment twice, and perhaps for the same reasons that required me to re-read it. When I first heard about this study, conducted by Fang et al in 2012 and published in the Child Abuse and Neglect Journal, I don’t know that I was able … Continue
