Healing Magazine Winter 2018

The latest issue of KidsPeace’s Healing Magazinefocuses on de-escalation techniques for kids in crisis, along with a variety of thought-provoking articles on a range of topics.  Here’s a sampling:

• “Behaviors don’t just arise; they are an indication that the child is trying to communicate something, but is struggling. It may result in what often looks like a “meltdown.” When these outbursts occur in the classroom, teachers with trauma-informed training shift their mindset from “what is wrong with this child?” to “what has happened to this child to make them act out in this way?”
• “A helpful analogy (for de-escalation techniques) is that of a thermometer and a thermostat; while a thermometer simply reveals the heat of a setting, a thermostat has the power to actually decrease the temperature…”
• “In the United States, approximately 45,000 Americans die by suicide annually. This is an average of approximately 123 suicides each day… A Boeing 737 airplane holds anywhere from 130-140 people. Imagine if one commercial airliner flying across the country crashed every day. After one crash, the media would report the devastating news. After the second crash, the third crash, the fourth… how long would it take for agencies to step in and say ‘There seems to be an issue with these airplanes? …’”
• “Many emergency rooms are poorly equipped to deal with mental health needs or provide high-quality care there. Instead, boarded patients become a hindrance on staff since they are not seen as “real emergencies” and therefore affect the care of other patients. Psychiatric patients’ overuse of and boarding in emergency rooms are symptoms of a lack of appropriate care stemming from a severe crisis in the mental health system…”
• “… What is “true grit,” anyway? It is basically an attitude – a personal belief that you can overcome all obstacles with an unwavering focus on achieving your goal no matter what the outcome… We have many synonyms for true grit: fortitude, determination, spunk, backbone, guts—but they all describe its key form:  resilience…”
• “When asked what advice she could give to foster parents Daysha responded with one word, ‘patience.’ Not every child is ready to replace their parent and that should not be forced on them… Patience and understanding are the keys to building a successful relationship with foster children….”