Wired for Connection: Building Relationships Increases Resilience

A few months ago, I had the privilege of attending an annual conference called “A View from All Sides” hosted by the Children’s Trust, a family support organization in Massachusetts.  The keynote speaker, Dr. Bruce D. Perry, spoke about the effects of empathy on the developing brain.  He made some very important and fascinating points about the role of connection and relationships on our well-being.  Through his research, he has studied the make up of the human brain as well as our societies approach to relationships and the importance we place on interacting with each other.   As he described our…

More Than Talk: Approaching Child Sexual Abuse as a Public Health Problem

Many disturbing things occur that we wish didn’t take place.  We worry, we discuss, we wonder why.  How can this happen when I just want the world to be a good place?  Why does something like this go on when it seems like everyone I know is just as bothered as I am by these problems?  What we often fail to realize is that everything happens within an environment that supports it and allows it to occur, grow, or even flourish.  A plant without water or sunlight, no matter how much it is a plant, will die because it does…