This Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, give thanks and even the playing field
On this day, we celebrate our gratitude to Martin Luther King, Jr. His life’s work helped fuel a wave of significant national change towards racial equality, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. On this day, we celebrate our...
Alaskan Children Are Swept Up by a River of ACEs…But There’s Hope & Help
Cathy Giessel is a lifelong Alaskan, registered nurse, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, healthcare services volunteer and board member of Alaska Behavioral Health. To punctuate the gravity of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) (like Childhood Domestic Violence) in her...
COVID-19 – CALLED 11TH ACE BY SOME – SETS BACK RESILIENCY-BUILDING FOR AT-RISK YOUTH…BUT SOME COMMUNITIES ARE FIGHTING BACK
Mary Ann Hansen, director of First 5, a nonprofit that supports early childhood development, grew up in Humboldt County and has deep connections with helping families in her community overcome adversity - a daunting task as Humboldt’s rates of Adverse Childhood...
Nation’s First Office of Resilience Launched in New Jersey to Combat ACEs
New Jersey’s Pioneering Efforts New Jersey, under the New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF), is the first state in the nation to launch an Office of Resiliency. Its goal is to create a community-driven statewide plan to combat major adverse childhood...
Reports of Domestic Violence & Foster Placements Drop During Pandemic: Covid-19 Masking Incidence, Experts Suspect
Kids that experience childhood domestic violence and other adversities at home often prefer school to being at home and many join various extracurricular activities to delay the inevitable even longer. Adrian Tucker, now an instructional assistant at an elementary...
Recent Survey on Childhood Domestic Violence in Ohio Offers Recommendations to Curb Impact
According to the CDC, each year more than 6% of all children in the US are exposed to domestic violence. And strikingly, among the most affected by are the youngest. In 2020, Case Western Reserve University conducted a survey study with over 100 Ohio agencies to...
The youngest victims of domestic violence are innocent children, who are often overlooked
This tragic story depicts the devastating culmination of a domestic violence incident and the extensive history of it in the household that led to the death of a 17-year old boy attempting to protect his mother. The consequences of such events are devastating – for...
Psychology Today Points to Growing Body of Evidence Validating Dire Impact of Growing Up with Domestic Violence (CDV)
In this article in Psychology Today, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Blake Griffin Edwards paints a vivid picture of how domestic violence impacts the “unintended victims” – the children in these homes. He cites many well-documented findings regarding the...
Effective Early Interventions Can Offset Negative Impact of Major Adversities like CDV on a Child’s Developing Brain and Set Them Up for a Successful Future
According to research from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, the first 3-5 years in a child’s life are critical to fostering their healthy development. This is particularly true for children facing major adversity, as persistent stress changes...
Major Childhood Adversities Trigger Toxic Stress That Can Derail the Life of a Child; A Caring Adult Can Be the Antidote
The neuro-biological impact of major adverse childhood experiences can have ripple effects well into the future. Major childhood adversities like Childhood Domestic Violence (CDV) - when no caring adults is in present to help buffer their impact – tend to lead to...