This guest blog is authored by Jeff Shumway, Director, Office of Professional Licensure Review for the State of Utah. Utah is at the forefront of efforts to improve its residents’ access to behavioral health (BH) services. In February 2024, the state passed Senate Bill (SB) 26, a bill to remove barriers to licensure and grow the behavioral health workforce. The
The Pathways Learning Network convened to learn about Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander acts of resilience and the ways in which state agencies can support healing from and mitigation of trauma and toxic stress among these communities. Read on for key takeaways from the session. Honor the difference between Native American, Native Hawai’ian, and Pacific Islander communities while
The Pathways Learning Network convened in December to explore strategies for meaningfully engaging youth in policymaking and program design. Read key takeaways below and watch the full recording of the session on our event page! 1. Set Realistic Goals and Expectations Clearly define your organization or agency’s strategy, capacity, and budget before recruiting youth to join. Identify a primary person
The Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth (TCCY) was established by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1988. An independent, nonpartisan agency created to ensure the state’s policies and programs effectively promote and protect the health, well-being and development of children, youth and families, TCCY was created as a permanent commission. TCCY is the state’s centralized informational resource and advocacy agency
Content Warning: this blog post contains discussions of gun violence and other violent imagery. Language can have a powerful influence on how we understand our relationships to the world and one another, and many people don’t realize that the English language contains many common phrases and metaphors that infer or explicitly reference violence. Invoking violent imagery casually in our daily
October 24, 2023, New Brunswick, New Jersey Pathways to Resilience provides a national forum to help states and communities advance healing-centered, trauma-responsive policies and programs across sectors. With a growing understanding of the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the benefits of protective factors and primary intervention strategies on mitigating the impact of trauma and toxic stress, an increasing
As the holiday season approaches, Pathways to Resilience recognizes that this time looks different for everyone. While holidays may be joyous occasions with loved ones, this is not always the case. Complex family dynamics, historical trauma, loss of family members, and varying family values can contribute to stress, on top of travel, pressure to participate in social events, disrupted routines,
I’m a proud member of the Pathways to Resilience First Spouse Steering Committee, Still, I must confess, it took me a while to warm up to the word “resilience.” At first, it struck me kind of like the old directive to, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps,” and it seems to me that the bootstraps idea most often has been
Understanding and addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is an important component of promoting health and resilience. On September 12, 2023, Pathways to Resilience brought together experts Laurie Crawford from the Virginia Department of Social Services Office of Trauma and Resilience Policy, Antoinette Medina from the California Rural Indian Health Board’s Rural Epidemiology Center, and Mikah Owen from the UCLA-UCSF ACEs
When children experience strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity in childhood without the support of safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments, it can lead to high levels of stress in our bodies and brains – called “toxic stress.” Toxic stress can lead to long-term physical and behavioral health problems if not addressed. Although it is critical to focus on preventing