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How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime

From TED: "Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris noticed a disturbing trend as she treated children in an underserved neighborhood in San Francisco: that many of the kids who came to see her had experienced childhood trauma. She began studying how childhood exposure to adverse events affects brain development, as well as a person’s health as an adult.Understanding this powerful correlation, Burke Harris became the founder and CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness, an initiative at the California Pacific Medical Center Bayview Child Health Center that seeks to create a clinical model that recognizes and effectively treats toxic stress in children. Her work pushes the health establishment to reexami

It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It

At some point in our past, we all have been guilty of responding in an insensitive manner. Our spoken words were not intended to hurt or criticize, and yet were hurtful and critical, nonetheless. In these moments, we often react defensively, not understanding how our spoken words were misperceived, misinterpreted, or twisted. We present, as evidence, the literal interpretation of our spoken words to this upset person as justification that our words were harmless. Despite our best efforts, the sting for them lingers. There are moments of clarity, however, when we sometimes understand how our words were perceived as indifferent, insensitive, or even offensive. In other instances, we remain ign

“I never wanted them to go through it too”: Trauma and Families

In years of research on child maltreatment (emotional, physical and sexual abuse, neglect), we have learned a very powerful lesson. Trauma can have a multigenerational impact that creates risks across generations. In this blog, we will explore some ways that trauma impacts families over decades and generations. To get started, I would like to share how I came to be interested in this topic myself, and why it has continued to captivate me for 20+ years. The first may be because I am biased toward family, having had a family that was deeply connected across generations and generational stories that shaped family myth and lore, but also drove very real family patterns. Think everything from the

20/20 in “20”

Many of us will make plans for a new start, including resolutions for the New Year. We will resolve to lose weight, have a different attitude, have better relationships, and engage in self-care practices. This is often based on our past accomplishments or adversity. For years I would set the goal to lose weight. Two years ago, I purchased a gym (where I never attended) membership with the vision of losing the unwanted pounds from the previous year. Last year I set the same goal, paid the same subscription which was again underutilized as the year prior. Defeated, this year I wrote one word: “Lippo”. Though I can have humor about the situation and adjusted my goals, there is a sad truth refl

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Erie County
Pennsylvania