self-care: Woman leans against table talking to small seated group in office

Opinion: Why Self-care Isn’t Enough: Resilience for Trauma-informed Professionals

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The well-established finding that a majority of youth in the juvenile justice system have been exposed to trauma has led to a clarion call for the implementation of trauma-informed practices. 

However, to date, less attention has been paid to the importance of providing juvenile justice staff with the tools needed to carry out trauma-informed practices in ways that protect them from the potential risks associated with this work. In fact, recognition of such risks is relatively new; only in 2013 did the official diagnosis of post-traumatic stress first recognize that secondary exposure to another person’s trauma is a bona fide type of traumatic experience. Such secondary traumatic stress (STS) — also termed vicarious trauma or compassion fatigue — has mostly been the focus of attention among mental health professionals and first responders. 

But well known in the juvenile justice community — even if not well recognized outside of it — is that working with traumatized youth and families, reading their extensive trauma histories, performing trauma screenings and delivering trauma-informed programming all bring us into contact with thoughts, feelings and images that can be difficult to put aside at the end of the day. What can be done? Self-care: strengths and limitations

To date, most of the strategies designed to prevent or intervene with STS have been focused on self-care and wellness promotion, which are certainly of value.

Massachusetts: Closeup Of Massachusetts on map

Opinion: Massachusetts Must Focus On Root Causes Of Gun Violence: Racial, Economic Disparity

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The year 2020 will be remembered as a year of great upheaval in the United States, with so many lives and communities upended by the intersecting crises of COVID-19 and systemic racism. But of course, there is another crisis woven into the fabric of this incredibly challenging year — rising rates of gun violence in urban communities across the country. 

This troubling trend is also being felt in Massachusetts, a state known for having one of the strongest packages of gun-related legislation in the country. While we do have more regulations on gun ownership in place than almost any other state, we still experience far too many losses and far too much trauma as a result of firearms. Every shooting results in a ripple effect of emotional pain for all the individuals involved in the shooting, for their families and also for their communities. 

If we want to move the needle on gun violence, we must zero in on root causes and support the communities disparately impacted by this violence. We must focus on the trauma that surrounds gun violence, not just the guns themselves. And we must also push back on public officials that exacerbate the pain of gun violence through their words and policy recommendations.

Florida: Beaming woman in flounced light blue top, jeans, necklace, earrings talks to three young women sitting down; one is turned to her and smiling.

Why Focusing On Women, Girls Could Reduce Gun Violence

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JACKSONVILLE, Florida — Rosie Brooks has experienced both of a mother’s worst nightmares involving gun violence. Her son spent a decade behind bars for an accidental shooting in which a young woman was killed. Then, instead of a joyous reunion when he was released from prison in January 2018, it was a day of mourning. He went from behind bars to standing at his mother’s side at his sister’s funeral. Brooks’ daughter Sahara Barkley had been shot on New Year’s Day at a gas station.

child sex crime: Woman in witness stand being cross-examined with judge nearby

Opinion: It’s Time To Protect Child Sex Crime Victims In Justice System

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Some of the worst government-sanctioned human rights abuses committed against children are happening right here in the United States. Earlier this year, a child sex crime survivor in Ohio had her life sentence commuted by Gov. Mike DeWine. At the age of 15, Alexis was sentenced to life in prison for participating in a robbery where the man who had been raping and sex trafficking her was killed.  

As a result of mandatory sentencing schemes that fail to consider childhood trauma, children like Alexis receive the exact same punishment as adults without regard for their victim or child status. For those who remain puzzled about why the justice system doesn’t give these children the benefit of self-defense laws, you are not alone. Many self-defense laws don’t protect child sex crime victims who commit acts of violence against their abusers.

philanthropy: Two black men talking outside

Opinion: We Know What Truly Works for Gun Violence Prevention and Invest In It

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More than 115,000 Americans will be shot and 40,000 will die from gun violence this year alone — just like the year before and the year before that one. Gun violence in our country is considered one of the greatest public health crises of our lifetime, disproportionately impacting and traumatizing communities and people of color. 

Far too often we see the disproportionate rates at which marginalized people in our country are the targets of hate, violence and injustice. COVID-19 and the recent peaceful protests are bringing to light the inequities that exist in our broken systems — but it shouldn’t take a pandemic and a nine-minute video of a man being murdered by police for systemic change. The data on these inequities has existed for decades. 

As the only state-based donor collaborative investing in gun violence prevention in California, Hope and Heal Fund takes a public health, community-based approach through a racial equity framework to end gun violence. It harnesses the collective power of philanthropy, government, advocates, experts, researchers, community partners and individuals to invest in proven solutions and emerging strategies to intervene, interrupt and prevent trauma, injuries and deaths as a result of gun violence in the homes and communities in California. 

We don’t just look at the gun violence making national headlines, like mass shootings.

Rehabilitation concept. Wooden signboards pointing different directions to RECOVERY and ADDICTION on landscape background

Opinion: After Abusive, Neglected Childhood, He Struggled to Get Off Drugs In Prison

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Looking back at my youth and trying to pinpoint where did I go wrong and how did I go wrong, I realized that the whole time I was trying to get my basic needs met. Needs such as love and a sense of belonging, survival and freedom. My earliest memory was around the age of 5 that I realized that we didn’t have enough food in our home. My daily meal was a small bowl of dirty brown rice with maybe a small chunk of pork fat because we could not afford meat. Pork fat was cheaper than red meat.

Georgia: Empty parking lot for attached low brick buildings with green roofs.

For Kids Unsafe at Home, School Closure Increases Risk For Trauma

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In January, Sharral Dean, a therapist at the Family Counseling Center of Central Georgia, was seeing about 30 young clients a week. At any given time, five to seven of them were what Dean calls “at risk” — more likely to experience violence at home, at higher risk for depression, anxiety, fighting in school and entering the juvenile justice system.

Chicago: silhouette of two friends sitting on the roof at sunset

Opinion: Effects of Gun Violence Can Be Reduced in Youth, Chicago Program Shows

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Concentrated gun violence results in lost population and economic power, increases trauma throughout communities and depresses school outcomes among students exposed to violence. Interventions deliberately designed to empower youth who are frequently exposed to community trauma are an important tool to break the cycle of violence that repeats far too frequently. 

Historic marquee of the Paramount Theater on Market Street in Newark, New Jersey.

Opinion: Trauma for Youth Is Everywhere … But We Can Heal It in Newark

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On a sunny afternoon in 2006, I was driving my four sons to a cookout in Newark, N.J., my hometown.
We had stopped at an intersection when a group of teenagers spilled into the street behind us. They were beating another young man, and it wasn’t a game. My sons started yelling, asking what was happening.