Kean University Counseling Program

Oklahoma is doing something about the data that has their kids' ACE scores #1 in the nation. This reinforces what we have known, that caring teachers can buffer trauma.

'A source of hope': Oklahoma teachers learn impact of child trauma at state summit FEB 18, 2020 - Thousands of educators gathered in the Cox Convention Center on Monday and eagerly stared at a model of a brain. With 86 billion neurons firing, the brain is a “miracle of complexity,” Dr. Bruce Perry said as he showed the image on a screen. The impact of childhood trauma is simil...

From NBCC, important progress on states banning conversion therapy. You should be pleased to note New Jersey is among them.

Conversion therapy, the controversial set of unproven and often harmful treatments that purport to “cure” same-sex attraction, is a practice that counselors and many other medical professionals have fought to ban for decades. Conversion therapy is already banned in 19 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Many municipalities and counties across the country have also banned the practice within their city or county limits. As state legislative sessions get underway for 2020, many more states are considering bills to outlaw conversion therapy.

Most recently, on Jan. 21, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) signed an executive order outlawing conversion therapy for minors in the state. The legislatures in Missouri and Oklahoma are currently considering banning the practice for minors in their states. The Virginia Board of Counseling has also released a statement declaring that practicing conversion therapy is punishable by disciplinary action from the board. This trend is likely to continue as public opinion polling shows Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to the practice.

NBCC supports all bans on conversion therapy in all its forms. Conversion therapy directly contradicts every moral and ethical standard that mental health counselors are held to, including the NBCC Code of Ethics and the ACA Code of Ethics. Not only is the practice wholly based on unproven claims, it has been shown in multiple scientific studies to cause great mental and emotional harm to those who undergo it.

States Taking Active Role in Banning Conversion Therapy | NBCC Conversion

More evidence that ACEs need intervention

A Lifetime of Adversity Dampens the Brain's Dopamine Production According to a new study, chronic adversity in childhood and adulthood could lead to a dampened physiological response to acute stress and exaggerated threat perception.