In My Backyard The Guidance Center

In this episode, Tricia invites back Rebecca Corb, a registered clinical social worker in The Guidance Center’s Long Beach School-Based Program, to discuss a screening tool that measures Adverse Childhood Experiences, also referred to as ACEs. ACEs specifically refer to adverse, or traumatic, experiences a child may endure growing up, that have a negative impact in childhood and beyond into adulthood. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “ACEs can have lasting, negative effects on health, wellbeing during childhood and (future) life opportunities, such as education and job potential. These experiences can increase the risks of injury, sexually transmitted […]

In the last decade, the number of children reporting suicidal thinking and feelings of hopelessness has increased by 71% while completed suicides by children have increased by 56%. These grim statistics were true even before the overlay of social isolation and anxiety created by a global pandemic, when children lost loved ones and parents lost jobs. The closing of schools isolated them from the normative social, educational and developmental experiences of school and sports and play. As pointed out by the New York Times, the school closures at the same time isolated our children from the teachers and school staff […]

We all experience stress throughout our lives. For a child raised with at least one healthy adult relationship, and a relatively trauma-free upbringing, experiencing normal stressors is a positive thing. They learn to adapt and grow to become resilient and functional adults who can navigate the everyday pressures of life. Althouigh, different outcomes emerge when a child is exposed to prolonged experiences of stress – child abuse, a chaotic home, community violence, social isolation, profound poverty and the like. Those very same brain responses that are adaptive in a child with a stable upbringing – flight, fight, or freeze – […]

This episode contains a very important conversation about domestic violence, which may include emotional, physical, sexual and economic abuse. This might be painful and triggering for some listeners. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please reach out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. Again, that is 1-800-799-SAFE or 7233. You may also text the word START to 88788. Help is available. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence defines domestic violence as “the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systemic pattern of power and control perpetrated […]

According to The National Center for Transgender Equality, “most people – including most transgender people – (identify as) either male or female.  Although, some people have a gender that blends elements of being a man or a woman, or a gender that is different from either male or female. Today’s podcast is another installment of STORIES, conversations with people with lived experience sharing their personal journeys. In this episode, we will be speaking with Mickey Prince, a Guidance Center clinician who also happens to be gender non-binary. In My Backyard is brought to you by The Guidance Center, a children’s mental […]

The Center for Disease Control reports that 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the United States in 2021 (last year with available data). These horrific statistics only tell a part of the story. They don’t count people who are shot but survive and the witnesses who are left forever changed by the experience. Today’s […]