Adversity

[close] Reading for Trauma-informed Practice (RTiP) is a book club for those with interest in trauma-informed practices and principles in professional practice of education, health/human services, or everyday life practice. The group prioritizes nonfiction and may consider film or fictional books. Topics include: *Trauma-informed parenting *Trauma-survivors and marriage/relationships *Trauma-informed professional practice *Healing and specific trauma recovery *Changing generational patterns of development About Trauma-informed Care/Practice/Principles Mental health workers and policy makers are beginning to recognize the impact trauma and adversity can have on child development, adult life choices, the culture of institutions, and societal systems. In addition to historical trauma(s) and adversity-propagating social-political contexts/conditions there are 14 recognized areas of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Nine original ACEs and five urban ACEs. The higher the number of ACEs the greater incidences of social, health, and emotional difficulties, even into adulthood. ACE scores range from 0 to 14. Upbringing is not fate and history is not destiny. Join the RTiP group to learn more, express interest, & sign-up to receive updates about the next meeting. The group meets locally (St. Louis area) and may accommodate virtual attendance. Contact a moderator for details. Expectations: 1. Members must acknowledge RTiP is a book club not a therapy group. 2. Members must demonstrate an earnest interest in understanding trauma and adversity. 3. Members must demonstrate a commitment to developing a trauma-informed life practice including in their engagements and communications with the group and group members. 4. Members must be comfortable discussing issues of race/racism, sexism/patriarchy and other historical trauma and/or must possess humble curiosity about and desire to be skillful in discussing/acting upon racism/sexism/bias/trauma within an adversity-/trauma-informed framework.

[close] Goodreads members interview Benjamin about his new book "Barefoot in November" AMAZON REVIEW: I couldn't put this book down staying up half the night to finish it! I found myself laughing out loud one minute and crying the next! The author is so real and so human on every level! It is a story of courage and determination and about aortic anyusm but I felt it was a LOVE story! Love on all levels - friends,family,siblings,neighbors,children and marriage. You identify with the author and his family - you know the same dynamics in your own extended family and life is complicated! The "layers" of emotion and insight leave you with a sense of understanding and compassion for yourself, your family and for those around you. You just want to be a better person and to "get" the message the author shared - to live each day fully and to love openly and honestly. I found myself wanting to know both the author and his wife and would love to read more by this author - Very inspirational and comforting knowing faith and love is within our power. SYNOPSIS: A young man escaped a twisted life in Upstate New York and fled to Manhattan to start over. We meet him later in the prime of his life building the American dream; only to find out that his world is about to be turned upside down. Suddenly he is faced with his own mortality, and the possibilty that he may be saying goodbye forever to his pregnant wife, young children, and the big white house he has built in a quaint Long Island suburb. "Barefoot in November" is about dying and living, not living and dying. It's a wrestling match between Man, God, and Destiny, and the stories that interconnect them. A story and characters so real; as if you are living it yourself.