Monthly Archives: February 2017

The new face of veteran homelessness

February 27, 2017 By in Adverse childhood experiences 1 Comment
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Daniel Bendjy – iStock

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The research into women veterans and homelessness has been almost nonexistent until the last few years. For a long time, it was wrongly assumed that whatever was driving women veterans into homelessness must just be like the factors that precipitate male veteran homelessness. But increasingly we are finding that that is not the case.

At the moment, I have a foot in each of two worlds, journalism and social science, as I strive to understand why women veterans are becoming homeless in increasing numbers, and then communicate that to readers.

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The practice of ACEs science in the time of Trump

February 20, 2017 By in ACE Study, Adverse childhood experiences, Opinion (Oped), Solutions 24 Comments

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As with any remarkable change, the 2016 presidential election, a swirl of intense acrimony that foreshadowed current events, actually produced a couple of major opportunities. It stripped away the ragged bandage covering a deep, festering wound of classism, racism, and economic inequality. This wound burst painfully, but it’s now open to the air and sunlight, the first step toward real healing. The second opportunity is how the election and its aftermath are engaging more Americans from many different walks of life. The election brought out people who hadn’t voted in years; its aftermath has engaged people who’d counted on someone else to do their citizenship work for them. All these people — all of us — now have an opportunity to work together to solve our most intractable problems. That knowledge is embodied in the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

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Be worried about boys, especially baby boys

February 14, 2017 By in Adverse childhood experiences, Child trauma, Epigenetics, Neurobiology, Trauma 10 Comments

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We often hear that boys need to be toughened up so as not to be sissies. Parent toughness toward babies is celebrated as “not spoiling the baby.” Wrong! These ideas are based on a misunderstanding of how babies develop. Instead, babies rely on tender, responsive care to grow well—with self-control, social skills and concern for others.

A review of empirical research just came out by Allan N. Schore, called “All our sons: The developmental neurobiology and neuroendocrinology of boys at risk.”

This thorough review shows why we should be worried about how we treat boys early in their lives. Here are a few highlights:

Why does early life experience influence boys significantly more than girls?

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From hell to healing: A survivor’s journey

February 7, 2017 By in Adverse childhood experiences, Child abuse, Child trauma 12 Comments
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Malcolm Aquinas

It was a sweltering day in the summer of 1987 in Limestone County, Alabama. The air, thick with humidity, sapped what little strength remained from already heat-wearied bodies; the chittering of bush crickets rose as the sun sank.

Following 11 hours of clearing hillside with a sling blade at the Elk River State Park, I let my thoughts wander while resting my right arm on the window frame of my father’s pickup truck, grateful for the air rushing against me. He and my stepmother, Louise, were continuing a disagreement they’d begun some time earlier about the whereabouts of a frying skillet.

The combination of fatigue and stifling heat dulled my usual hypervigilance around my father, so my response to Louise’s seemingly innocent question, “Don’t you remember your Daddy using the skillet last?” was unusually honest and unfiltered.

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Putting resilience and resilience surveys under the microscope

February 5, 2017 By in ACE Study, Adverse childhood experiences, Resilience 25 Comments

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“Resilience is a message of hope,” says Debbie Alleyne, a child welfare specialist at the Center for Resilient Children at Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, located in Villanova, PA.“It is important for everyone to know that no matter their experience, there is always hope for a positive outcome. Risk does not define destiny.”

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