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Worthwhile Read: Modeling Trauma Informed Practice

My friend Sally tweeted this resource out and I thought it was worth sharing here. It’s a brief piece called Walking the Walk: Modeling Trauma Informed Practice In the Training Environment (PDF). I’m still chewing on this a bit, but I think there are great ideas here. And the intent behind it is an important one:

One of the key components of building organizational capacity for trauma informed practice is professional development. Staff needs training to gain basic understanding about trauma, its prevalence and impact on individuals, families, communities and organizations; what it means to be trauma informed; and specific skills and techniques for providing services in a trauma informed manner. It is not enough, however, to just “inform” professionals about trauma in our efforts to establish a trauma informed workforce. It is essential that in the process of providing professional development and workforce training we imbed and model principles of trauma informed practice in the training environment.

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Vicarious Trauma Toolkit: Pilot Opportunity

The Institute on Urban Health Research and Practice at Northeastern University is accepting applications for programs to pilot their Vicarious Trauma Toolkit. It’s geared toward victim assistance providers, law enforcement officers, fire fighters and emergency medical services providers; if you think your program would be a good pilot site, check out the details here. Submissions must be received by October 22nd.

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Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors Town Hall

From an email announcement I received today:

The National Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCCTS) in collaboration with the NCTSN Culture Consortium, Terrorism and Disaster Program and Policy Taskforce, is sponsoring a Virtual Town Hall meeting to address the recent surge in unaccompanied immigrant minors from a trauma-informed perspective. Unaccompanied immigrant minors are youth who come to the United States without a legal guardian and without legal immigration documents. There has also been a surge of young children who come with their caregiver across the border of the United States without immigration documentation. The 90-minute Town Hall is scheduled for Tuesday, September 16th at 9 Pacific / 11 Central / 12 Eastern (see attached flyer). All are welcome!

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Violence in Elderly Patients With Dementia: Overlooked?

Medscape has a newly published CE/CME opportunity, Violence in Elderly Patients with Dementia: Overlooked? From the CE description:

This article is intended for primary care clinicians, geriatricians, psychiatrists, neurologists, nurses, and other clinicians caring for patients with dementia who may be at risk of committing homicide or suicide.

The goal of this activity is to provide medical news to primary care clinicians and other healthcare professionals in order to enhance patient care.

Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

  1. Describe the risks for homicide and suicide in elderly patients, particularly those with dementia.
  2. Assess the clinical implications of the risks for homicide and suicide in elderly patients, particularly those with dementia.

Medscape is free to access, but registration and log-in is required.

 

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Recuperating

Yesterday as I was leaving the last session of our trial ad exercises I managed to hook my foot under the ramp leading out of the courtroom. My arms were full, so when I went down I couldn’t brace my fall. I went headlong into the corner of the wall, lacerating my scalp in the process.

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The No A**hole Rule

The news of Robin Williams’ death was received with great sadness in my household–I have been a big fan through the years (I remember listening to his comedy albums in high school, and Good Will Hunting is among my favorite movies). The insidiousness of depression, it’s profound. On LinkedIn this morning Bob Sutton shared a brief anecdote about Robin Williams that I very much appreciated, Robin Williams and the No Asshole Rule. Since it’s close to my personal motto (“Don’t be a dick”), it really resonated with me.

 

RIP, Mr. Williams.

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How to Speak so People Want to Listen

I haven’t posted a TED talk in awhile, but I was interested in this one, in part because of how I make my living and also because my spouse and I will be doing a session at this year’s IAFN conference on being an effective public speaker (p. 19: The Art and Science (and Law) of Public Speaking). While I didn’t find the vocal exercises section at the end to be all that useful for my purposes, I found his breakdown about the mechanics of effective speaking to really resonate:

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Suicide Risk Assessment: Myths and Realities

If you are working with living patients, assessing for suicide risk should be part of your practice. Maybe not for every patient walking through your doors (depending on your practice and specialty), but certainly in some circumstances. This article from Medscape provides some useful information regarding the current evidence base for assessing patients for suicide risk. A useful read, and a good conversation for a staff meeting or inservice. The article is free, but site registration is required.

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Tips for Working with American Sign Language Interpreters

Here’s one of those issues we often get little to no training on: Vera Institute’s Center on Victimization and Safety is hosting a webinar, Tips for Working with American Sign Language Interpreters. The session will be held July 22nd from 1-2:30 pm CT. Click through for details:

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Trafficking in Persons Report (2014)

The US Department of State released the 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report. You can read the full report here (the link will also link you to Secretary Kerry’s remarks).

(Check out my wife’s awesome vantage point for today’s briefing on the report!)

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Out of the Shadows: A Tool for Identifying Human Trafficking Victims

Vera Institute just published a new tool for identifying victims of human trafficking. The tool has been tested and validated and comes in a short and long form. Read the science behind the tool here (PDF); find the actual tool and user guidelines here (PDF).

 

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Crucial Skills for Confronting the Workplace Bully

Sadly, I hear about workplace bullying with some frequency when it comes to discussions about sustainability. Nurses are all too familiar with bullying behavior, but what to do about it is something we don’t often discuss. So I was pleased to see this announcement for a free webcast by the author of Crucial Accountability on skills for confronting the workplace bully. The session will be held June 25th at 1pm ET. Click through for details:

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Criticizing with Kindness

Well, this is kind of wonderful: over at Brainpickings there’s a great post on arguing intelligently. And within it, this lovely bit of wisdom (but do read the whole thing):

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Worthwhile Read: Unsafe and Harassed in Public Spaces

Yesterday, Stop Street Harassment published the largest survey on street harassment of US women. It’s certainly worth the read. The results are not surprising, but still vital to have documented: in public spaces almost 2/3rds of all women have been harassed; almost 1/4th have been sexually touched. 25% of men also reported experiencing street harassment, with a greater proportion of positive responses from LGBT-identified men. You can view the executive summary here, full report here (PDF).

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When Women Refuse (#YesAllWomen)

I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the unbelievable violence from this weekend (again). The online response to the California shooting was swift and fierce. If you have not read the huge number of tweets under #YesAllWomen, I encourage you to check them out (if you want a summary of some of the most powerful, look no further than Time’s). But to really begin to fathom just how often women face violence  (or the threat of violence) simply for exercising their right to say no to men check out the new Tumblr, When Women Refuse. It’s a good reminder that the patients for whom we care are just a fraction of the victims of gender violence out there.

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Happy Memorial Day Weekend

I am on a plane heading home after a delightful day with the Tucson SANE team, so there won’t be a regular post today. And I’ll be taking the day off Monday– really looking forward to the long weekend. We’ll be visiting Arlington on Monday to pay our respects before hosting friends and family for a BBQ. Whatever you’re doing this weekend, I hope you will take a minute to reflect on the meaning of the holiday as you go about the business of your day. Enjoy your weekend, whatever your plans. I’ll see you back here Tuesday.

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Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe

I’m teaching all day today, so there’s not a lot of time for a lengthy post. But I came across this new TED talk and realized I hadn’t posted one in a while, so for your viewing pleasure, a really thought-provoking talk on leadership:

 

“Leadership is a choice. It is not a rank.” Awesome.

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Digital Girls

Apologies for the absence yesterday–I am battling a migraine that is getting the best of me and it was just not a good day. But I am trying to muscle through it (as I post from ORD on my way to MCI), and this webinar is worthy of notice. SAMHSA has been hosting a Girls Matter webinar series and the next offering in the series is one called Digital Girls: Confession, Connection and Disconnection.It will be held May 20th from 3-4:30 pm ET.  Rachel Simmons is one of the featured speakers (perhaps you’ve read Odd Girl Out?). It should be a good session, particularly for those of you who work with adolescents frequently. Details after the jump:

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Me and You

Perhaps I am just feeling a bit raw because this morning we put my spouse’s best friend on a plane for her 2nd deployment, this time to Afghanistan, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t come up with a worthy forensic post. So, instead, I think I’ll celebrate the fact that it’s Mother’s Day weekend, and we are lucky enough to have the girl child in town with us. This clip caught my eye and I thought it was perfection (oh, how I love StoryCorps). For all of you moms, stepmoms, grandmoms, and other maternal figures out there, as well as everyone who may be thinking about their own moms, here’s a bit of weekend loveliness. Enjoy.

 

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Vacation Archive: Program Management

I’m on vacation this week, so I’ve dipped into the archives for favorite posts. Today’s offering: a guest post by one of my most valued colleagues and frequent collaborators, Jennifer Pierce-Weeks, a 10 Things list on Program Management…