Benjamin Perks
@benjyperks.bsky.social
Global advocacy lead for child protection & development @Unicef in New York. Author, campaigner, Dad & work in progress. First book Trauma Proof out soon. Literary representation by https://www.foliolit.com/ NYC
#ChildDevelopmentRevolution in Portugal followed by Pastel de Nata
Normal neurological changes make the teens & early twenties the riskiest period in human development. Adding intense social media culture wars and easy access to semi-automatic weapons pushes that risk over the edge.
Thrilled to be taking all things Trauma-Proof to in Palm Beach this week. Be part of the event at The Breakers—or join us online—on September 9 🗓️ September 9, 2025 🕞 3:30 PM 💻 Join us in-person or virtually via Zoom 🎟️ Register today—space is limited! www.tinyurl.com/LTFBPerks
Lead the Fight: Building a Trauma-Proof World
Join us at The Breakers for an exclusive afternoon with Benjamin Perks—a global champion for addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Hosted by Kathy Leone, this high-impact event will feature...
tinyurl.com
‘Most baby boomer’s parents didn’t go to secondary school. In contrast, the baby boomers all went to secondary school and nearly half of their children continued in education after 18. That is an extraordinary leap in educational status across three generations.’ Eliza Filby #Inheritocracy
‘If you have a depressed parent you are more likely to be depressed because you were raised by a parent who couldn’t meet your emotional needs, because they couldn’t meet their own emotional needs because someone didn’t meet their emotional needs.’ Erica Komisar
Loved doing this podcast on Trauma Proof with Warren Larkin open.spotify.com/episode/7p7y...
From Adversity to Advocacy: Healing Childhood Trauma with Ben Perks
The Psycho-Social · Episode
open.spotify.com
USAID cost $ 68 billion last year, 0.3% of the US budget. Congress passed a bill adding $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the next few years while a Lancet study forecasts USAID’s closure to cost up to 14 million deaths including 4.5 million children under 5 www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis
USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the a...
thelancet.com
"Enslaved people received, took, filed, fled, reclaimed, and sued for their freedom," writes Daina Ramey Berry. "What we acknowledge this Juneteenth must be about more than what was given. It must be about what had already been claimed."
The Truth About Black Freedom
This year’s Juneteenth commemorations must take a deeper look at the history of Black self-liberation to understand what emancipation really means—and how far the country still has to go.
bit.ly
#copyediting martial law m a r t i a l not marital not marshal not marshall
We’ve had an amazing response and hundreds of professionals have already signed up. If you haven’t registered yet, there’s still time to grab your place: 👉 lnkd.in/eReqNsDm ✨ Exclusive bonus for attendees: Get 25% off Benjamin Perks’ new book Trauma Proof!👌 See you there!😊 #TraumaInformed #Webinar
“The world’s richest man is killing the world’s poorest children.” —Bill Gates
Alice Munro's story shows it's time for a child protection revolution benjaminperksblog.home.blog/2025/04/28/e...
Ending Child Maltreatment
Alice Munro’s story shows it’s time for a child protection revolution Many lives were upended last year when Andrea, a woman in her late fifties publicly shared a long-suppressed testim…
benjaminperksblog.home.blog
Imagine a world where instead of culture wars or trade wars, we fight to finally make preventable death a thing of the past. www.independent.co.uk/news/health/...
One pregnant woman dies every two minutes globally, shocking new figures reveal
More than a quarter of a million women around the world died during their pregnancy or within six weeks of giving birth in 2023, WHO figures reveal. Rebecca Thomas and Alicja Hagopian report
independent.co.uk
The halving of child mortality is perhaps humanity's greatest accomplishment. Millions of children survive each year because of global consensus & action. This international architecture is now being dismantled by dramatic, sweeping funding cuts. shorturl.at/XhBHb
Levels and trends in child mortality 2024 - UNICEF DATA
shorturl.at
It’s difficult viewing, but the 4-part series may be the most consequential show since 1984, when 60 million Americans watched Something About Amelia break a public taboo on child sexual abuse & unleash a wave of investment in child protection systems. A short piece on Adolescence. wp.me/paTxIw-1la
Teenage Clicks
How Netflix’s Adolescence Highlights a Void we can Fill to Protect all Children Like many parents, I watched Adolescence through fingers, with a wince. It’s difficult viewing, but the four-part ser…
wp.me
#Adolescence on #Netflix deftly portrays how the incendiary collision of unresolved, unintentional family trauma & the onset of teenage brain development renders kids vulnerable to predatory extremism & violence. A deadly, but highly preventable social problem
Honoured to be featured in the @TheLancet today, ahead of the North America launch of Trauma Proof next month www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Ben Perks: we can end childhood trauma
“When I was young, I just wanted to change the world, and I still do”, says Ben Perks, Head of Advocacy at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). “I was always optimistic, I just think that's th...
thelancet.com
Hearts go out to all those grieving loved ones or affected by serious injury in the #kocanifire🇲🇰
“People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/h...
U.S. Terminates Funding for Polio, H.I.V., Malaria and Nutrition Programs Around the World
Here are some of the 5,800 contracts the Trump administration formally canceled this week in a wave of terse emails.
nytimes.com
Most trauma lives in ordinary looking families & occurs automatically across generations, often without intent to harm. Ultimately there is no such thing as a normal family. Prevention needs to be universal & #ForEveryChild. Together we can build a #TraumaProof world.
Political movements built on aggregating trauma and grievance always make things worse for the people they claim to serve.
Children in Uganda speak out on violence & suggest alternatives 'I feel bad when I am caned for minor minor mistakes' 'This caning can lead to serious injuries' 'Guide & counsel me, show me where I have done wrong. No severe punishments' 📺https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5ZmnnGLMI @HSCmediaUg
Libraries are great for the books, sure, but it's also nice to have a quiet and safe space to sit and think- a place where no one is trying to sell you anything.
Crucial findings from the @unibirmingham.bsky.social shed light on the impact of social media school bans on adolescents. Reduced time on social media enhances learning, wellbeing & behavioral outcomes, but relying solely on school bans doesn't work. lnkd.in/etJgu_-z.
When Congressman John Lewis was a child, he tried to get a library card. He was turned away & told “The Library is not for coloureds” 💔 He’s a civil rights icon, lover of books, recipient of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. “The Library IS for Everyone” 💚 #BlackHistoryMonth
