Category: ChildWise Blog

The Number of Newborns Who Experience Withdrawal from Opioids is Rising in Montana

  It is perfectly normal and expected that newborn babies will cry.  What is unexpected is when newborns sweat, experience tremors and have shrill and high-pitched shrieks because they are going through withdraw. Even though many of these children will leave the hospital healthy, it’s unclear if there will be long-term psychological, social and physical …

Continue reading

Say NO to Distraction, Discouragement, and Devaluation!

To our collaborators, partners and cheerleaders — It has been an incredible year! I truly believe with people like you and your teams, the future for our nation’s children and families looks brighter than ever! Yes, it’s a very long road, and hard, hard work. But we cannot allow the enormity of what needs to …

Continue reading

Elevate Montana is a statewide, grassroots movement dedicated to building resilient and connected communities throughout Montana.

Holocaust Survivor Families Yield New Insight into Trauma Across Generations

“In the 1980s, most of the research Bea Hollander-Goldfein was reading about how Holocaust survivors were faring psychologically focused entirely on the damage the Nazis had done.   That didn’t ring completely true to Hollander-Goldfein, a psychologist whose parents were both survivors.  She saw problems, but also successes.  In 1988, she gathered a team of …

Continue reading

Drawing Connections, Building Empathy and Resilience in Traumatized Children

At Intermountain’s residential services, we have spent a lot of time this past month focusing on thankfulness, gratitude, and recognizing how richly we have been blessed. This has allowed me, as their chaplain, to encourage empathetic responses to the needs of others while also building a positive self-image as each child recognizes that they have something …

Continue reading

Hey teachers! Look what is happening for you!

School House Connection is a national organization promoting success for children and youth experiencing homelessness, from birth through higher education. If you don’t know it, Montana has a huge population of school-age children and youth that are homeless in some fashion. Unfortunately, not enough of our public is aware of this. Here are two great webinars School House …

Continue reading

Imagine living inside a box buried inside a box buried inside a box…

That’s how Dr. Kent Hoffman, Co-Originator of Circle of Security International began his comments about this incredible new resource for parents! See his full statement below. A short six years ago, ChildWise Institute was founded by Intermountain, a nationally-recognized organization specializing in helping and healing children from emotional and mental health disorders. Intermountain are also experts in helping families of distressed …

Continue reading

911 Alternative for Mental Health Crisis

Coming from a 25-year background in the world of technology and venture capital, I still keep my eye on what new technologies, companies, and people are being funded. I saw this today on TechCrunch… a fascinating trauma-informed approach! While this product is in its infancy and limited to a very small area of San Francisco for now, the implications …

Continue reading

Confronting Adverse Childhood Experiences to Improve Rural Kids’ Lifelong Health

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Montana ranks 5th in the nation for the percentage of population living in a rural area (44.1%), eclipsed only by Mississippi, West Virginia, Vermont, and Maine. And as you may know, Montana is the 4th largest state in the nation! There are so many great things about being such …

Continue reading

PBS Documentary on Native American Tribal Justice and Families Debuts Monday August 21

ChildWise Institute works with all of the Amercian Indian Tribes in Montana to some extent and hopes to develop these relationships into friendships that are full, rich, and deep. Justice is often something that has been deprived of our nation’s Native Americans for a very, very long time – and is still lacking. A new PBS Documentary on POV …

Continue reading

"Be Child Wise" Book & Workbook Now Available!

Learn tested and proven methods for raising happy, healthy kids in today's world.