Category: Uncategorized

I was stuck in DC rush hour traffic when the horror in Paris was becoming tragically clear to us here in the US. And it felt like some kind of terrible deja vu, because only hours earlier, as I picked my way across the DC metro area to get to the speaking gig that would have me stuck in said traffic later, I listened to news of the bombings in Lebanon that took place the day before. FHO has subscribers in both France and Lebanon; and so what is an already small world feels all the more tiny, and I can only hope you are safe. That we all can, in fact, be safe.

Here’s what I’ve been reading since last we spoke:

At least once a month I get a question about credentials and listing initials after one’s name. It usually comes down to this: if I’ve taken a SANE course, can I use SANE (or sometimes FNE) after my name? And the short answer is: No. If all you have done is take the course, you cannot just add those initials after your name upon completion.

I wanted to close the loop on an issue that we discussed during the session Sasha and I did on public speaking in Orlando. I mentioned the excellent Mark Twain quote, “There are only two types of speakers in the world. 1. The nervous. 2. Liars.” Fear of public speaking is exceptionally common, but it cannot be an excuse. The reality is that to some extent or another, we have to get past it in our profession, because at a minimum, court testimony is public speaking. You can’t do this work without flexing some public speaking muscle.

I’m speaking today at the conference about challenges to forensic nursing testimony, and one of the things we’ll talk about is being (very) familiar with your state Nurse Practice Act. A little while back, I went through all of the Nurse Practice Acts and compiled the language related to both diagnosis and forensic nursing provisions, if any. If you click through you can access the full grid, which includes active links to the respective state boards. Please note: laws (and web links) continually change, so this grid is only a snapshot of what the states had to say on these issues at the time it was compiled. I cannot guarantee they remain the same in every state today so please do not rely on this in place of reading the actual language of your state Nurse Practice Act. 

The National Children’s Advocacy Center has an upcoming webinar, Memories Hold Hands: Understanding Historical Trauma and Unresolved Historical Grief in American Indian/Alaska Native Communities. The session will take place September 17th, but it is full. I’m posting this because it will be archived, and the topic is both important and rarely offered–a combination making it worth the space on the site. You can check back with NCAC to download the slides and access the recorded session. Click through for the details:

We’ve had a flurry of new subscribers here at FHO in the last week from all over the world–welcome! Just a reminder that if you want to get updates in your inbox, you must verify your email via the link sent to you by Feedburner (I can see several of you languishing in the unverified column, but sadly, I cannot manually change that status). Don’t see the email? Check your spam filter, where its undoubtedly cooling its heals, just waiting for you to click on that link.

The American Nurses Association has a new position statement available on incivility, bullying and workplace violence (PDF). Presented without commentary. Because that’s another post entirely, isn’t it?

The Federal Partners Committee on Women and Trauma is hosting a two-day national event, Building a Trauma Informed Nation: Moving the Conversation into Action on September 29th and 30th. While the event will take place live in Washington DC (at the US Department of Labor’s Cesar Chavez Auditorium if you are interested in attending), it will also be broadcast via webcast and be offered virtually via amplifier sites around the country. Click through for details, including some of the impressive speakers in the lineup:

If you’ve tried to reach me via the Contact form and received no answer, please email me at forensichealth@gmail.com or use any of the information on the Contact page. The platform for that application seems to be having some issues, so I’m going to suspend it for now. My apologies if any correspondence has been time-sensitive.

I listen to a lot of people present, and obviously I present frequently, as well. Thinking about what works and what doesn’t, here’s my latest 10 Things list. I’m sure I could come up with others, but these rank as the most obvious in my mind. Feel free to add your own in the comments (or challenge some of these, of course):

CDC has an interesting webinar coming up–Risks and Resiliencies: HIV and STIs Among Gay Men, Other Men Who Have Sex with Men and Transgender Women Globally. The session will be held September 3rd from 11am-12pm ET. Click through for details:

A reader requested a place to find me when I’m speaking live, so I have added an Events page in the top Nav. I am only including events that are open to the public, so it won’t be every talk I’m giving, but it will be all the conferences, courses, and grand rounds at which I speak. Thanks for the request.

Polaris recently published a report for service providers on improving services for LGBTQ human trafficking victims. You can review the report and an accompanying archived webinar that provides an overview of the report here.

NSVRC posted this brief video from Discovery Digital (via GLAAD) on their Facebook page today about sex and gender terms. It’s a fantastic teaching tool for helping clinicians understand the distinction among some terms that are often misunderstood, or simply not widely recognized within our professional circles. (Although it definitely wasn’t created for a clinical audience; it’s just perfectly simple and straightforward, so it has wide range.) I encourage you to watch the video and consider where you might be able to incorporate it into upcoming educational sessions. 

The American Public Health Association is hosting a webinar, No Safety, No Health: A Conversation About Race, Place and Preventing Violence. The session will be held August 4th from 2-3pm ET. Click through for all of the details:

{Have you had a chance to take the TB dye poll yet? Help us collect some data about current practice. It’ll take just a few seconds to respond. Thanks!}

 
Don’t know if you’ve seen this yet, but the implications are fascinating. I can’t help but think how it could impact our own forensic patient population, like those patients with significant PTSD, DV patients with TBI, patients who’d been coping with trauma through years of drug abuse…the list is a long one. It’s worth the 15ish minutes:

[h/t Jen Pierce-Weeks]

It took the wind out of me, the text that my friend, and former partner at AEquitas, Jeff Greipp, had died of pancreatic cancer last month, way too young, and without most of us knowing he was even sick. Like so many people in my merry band, I was stunned by the news. As I tried to figure out the best way to spread the word to my community, I was overcome with the weight of so much sadness and loss. Jeff was one of the most fundamentally decent people I had ever had the privilege of knowing. He was a brilliant and funny teacher; passionate about the law and justice; creative in his approach to cultivating a new generation of professionals to take up the fight for victims.