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Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors Town Hall

From an email announcement I received today:

The National Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCCTS) in collaboration with the NCTSN Culture Consortium, Terrorism and Disaster Program and Policy Taskforce, is sponsoring a Virtual Town Hall meeting to address the recent surge in unaccompanied immigrant minors from a trauma-informed perspective. Unaccompanied immigrant minors are youth who come to the United States without a legal guardian and without legal immigration documents. There has also been a surge of young children who come with their caregiver across the border of the United States without immigration documentation. The 90-minute Town Hall is scheduled for Tuesday, September 16th at 9 Pacific / 11 Central / 12 Eastern (see attached flyer). All are welcome!

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Violence in Elderly Patients With Dementia: Overlooked?

Medscape has a newly published CE/CME opportunity, Violence in Elderly Patients with Dementia: Overlooked? From the CE description:

This article is intended for primary care clinicians, geriatricians, psychiatrists, neurologists, nurses, and other clinicians caring for patients with dementia who may be at risk of committing homicide or suicide.

The goal of this activity is to provide medical news to primary care clinicians and other healthcare professionals in order to enhance patient care.

Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

  1. Describe the risks for homicide and suicide in elderly patients, particularly those with dementia.
  2. Assess the clinical implications of the risks for homicide and suicide in elderly patients, particularly those with dementia.

Medscape is free to access, but registration and log-in is required.

 

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Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

Articles of Note: August 2014 Edition

Time once again for Articles of Note, my list of the things that have caught my attention in the latest round of peer-reviewed journals. This month has quite a lot to explore, but as always, this list isn’t comprehensive (and it’s subject to my specific interests). The majority of links take you to the PubMed abstract, except where indicated. Click through for the PDF and active links; contact me for the list as a Word doc.

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Child Abuse DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Since Last We Spoke 8-25-14

Hey, Toronto readers: I’m coming to your fair city for a wee bit of relaxation this weekend. You all know how much I love a good meal, so feel free to send your food suggestions my way. We’ll be there for the (US) holiday weekend, so I’ve basically got 3 days on the ground. I’m fortunate enough to get to eat a lot of terrific meals all over the world; the goal for this weekend is less emphasis on fancy, more emphasis on seriously authentic ethnic foods of all stripes. Toronto is such a cool, diverse city, we’re hoping to basically just graze our way through the weekend.

Now that we’ve taken care of the important stuff I can tell you that this past weekend was a bust. Really the best thing I can say about it was that I now no longer have staples in my head, so there’s the silver lining. I had plenty of time to read, though; here’s what caught my eye since last we spoke:

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Adolescent Consent and Privacy Issues

I was just having a discussion this week about the issue of consent with teens, so the timing of this is perfect: one of the Tribal Forensic Healthcare project’s September webinars is Adolescent Consent and Privacy Issues. The session will be held September 16th from 3-4:30pm ET. As with all of their webinars, CEs are available and free. Click through for all of the details.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Worthwhile Read: Till Death Do Us Part (Trigger Warning)

Ironically, I am in South Carolina today, teaching at a course focusing in part on investigating and prosecuting domestic violence. I tell you this because the Charleston, SC Post and Courier has just published an expose on domestic violence in the state, Till Death Do Us Part. The series, a result of an 8-month investigation, specifically looks at how the state is failing victims (the murder rate for women in South Carolina is twice that of the nation), examining issues related to patriarchy, access to guns, religion, legislation and more. Even if you don’t live in South Carolina, it’s a worthwhile and powerful read; the online site includes videos featuring survivors and their families, timelines, and more. Take some time out for this one.

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Sexual Assault

Telling Your Story: Marketing and Branding Your Agency

It’s been a while since I posted something in the sustainability vein, and this upcoming webinar from TESSA and CCASA was irresistible. It’s really the type of educational offering I love, because it’s forward-thinking; that perfect session for those of you who feel like you have your program up and running, and now want to take the next step. Telling Your Story: Marketing and Branding Your Agency will be held September 3 from 12-1:30 pm MT. Click through for details.

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Child Abuse Sexual Assault

Worthwhile Read: Combating Trafficking in Persons

The newest edition of Global Health: Science and Practice is out and it includes an article by the Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State and Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca and Jane Sigmon, former Director of OVC, now at the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (I’ve posted their annual TIP Report here). Combating trafficking in persons: A call to action for global health professionals (PDF) is available for free download. It’s a good basic article for clinicians, and since I get pretty regular requests for just such an article, I’d encourage you to take a look at it. It’s worth your time.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Since Last We Spoke 8-18-14

Thank you to everyone who left me comments and sent emails with well wishes. I definitely took advantage of the time off and spent some quality time with my family. But it’s a new week, so convalescent time is over and back to work I go. I’m headed to the NAC one more time later in the week; until then much of my time will be spent refining a new curriculum (speaking of which: we still have room in this course for anyone interested–more info here). Before I get to my list of what’s caught my eye since last we spoke, a reminder that the National Sexual Assault Conference is happening this week in Pittsburgh. If you can’t be there (like me), follow along at #NSAC2014.

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Uncategorized

Recuperating

Yesterday as I was leaving the last session of our trial ad exercises I managed to hook my foot under the ramp leading out of the courtroom. My arms were full, so when I went down I couldn’t brace my fall. I went headlong into the corner of the wall, lacerating my scalp in the process.

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DV/IPV

Domestic Violence Case Review

The Tribal Forensic Healthcare project has an upcoming webinar, Domestic Violence Case Review. The session will be held August 28th from 3-4:30 ET. Kim Nash is the featured presenter and CEUs/CMEs are available. Click through for details:

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Uncategorized

The No A**hole Rule

The news of Robin Williams’ death was received with great sadness in my household–I have been a big fan through the years (I remember listening to his comedy albums in high school, and Good Will Hunting is among my favorite movies). The insidiousness of depression, it’s profound. On LinkedIn this morning Bob Sutton shared a brief anecdote about Robin Williams that I very much appreciated, Robin Williams and the No Asshole Rule. Since it’s close to my personal motto (“Don’t be a dick”), it really resonated with me.

 

RIP, Mr. Williams.

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Since Last We Spoke 8-11-14

I’m with the Navy and Marines in Newport, RI this week, one of my favorite gigs of the year. It’s hard to believe it’s that time again, because of course the year has flown by. Less than 10 days left with my kiddo before she returns to school, so I’m especially grateful she’s traveling with me (she’s an excellent and experienced traveling companion, so it’s relatively effortless). Pretty quiet around our house this past weekend, so plenty of time to keep tabs on my social media feeds. And lots of news to stay on top of, so here’s what’s caught my eye since last we spoke:

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DV/IPV

Fatality Review: The State of the Art

The National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative has a webinar on fatality reviews coming up, August 19 from 11:30-1pm PT. The session will provide an overview of the review process and discuss new developments and emerging issues. You can register here.

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Sexual Assault Testimony

Prepping for Court: Adult Sexual Assault

I’d like to introduce a new series here on the site: Prepping for Court. The purpose is to introduce people to the articles and books that I think are solid, reliable publications that can help inform testimony. Of course I’ll start with adult sexual assault, since it’s still the most popular topic at FHO. For this first one I have broken it into different sections, because different cases will have different issues. But all of the resources listed here are ones that I think are quality, and since we don’t have the time (or will) to read everything that’s ever been published on a given subject, this should give clinicians (and attorneys) a good foundation. Disagree with any of these or think I’ve missed some? Let me know and we’ll address it.

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Sexual Assault

Alcohol and Memory

RTI has a 2-day drug facilitated sexual assault workshop  coming up August 11th and 12th–it’s live in DC and also virtual, so no need to be local to attend. Upon perusing the syllabus (PDF) I noticed that one of the guest speakers is Aaron White from NIH. If you’re not familiar with the name you should become acquainted–I think he’s written the best article there is about alcohol and memory: What Happened? Alcohol, Memory Blackouts, and the Brain. Not surprisingly, it’s what he’s lecturing on at the workshop. The article is old (2003), but it’s excellent and should be part of your arsenal–it’s a great primer and more than one forensic toxicologist has mentioned it as an essential read.

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Child Abuse DV/IPV Sexual Assault Testimony

Since Last We Spoke 8-4-14

I’m on my way to the NAC (for the 2nd of 3 trips down there in a month)–we’re kicking off the inaugural run of a fantastic (I hope) interactive testimony course for SANEs and prosecutors. Considering we started working on this about 18 months ago, it’s exciting to finally see it come to fruition. And a bit nerve-wracking, as all 1st time courses can be. I was pretty focused on prep this weekend and didn’t spend a lot of time surfing the interwebs, but there were still a few things that caught my eye since last we spoke:

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DV/IPV Sexual Assault

Intimate Partner Homicide Prevention

VAWnet has updated their special collection on intimate partner homicide prevention. You should range around the site a bit–there’s a lot here for clinicians and for the collaborative teams in which we participate.