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The poem "Journey" by Victoria Kelly is presented. First Line: The night her father deploys, Last Line: through the night to reach her.

Trauma, disrupted attachments and mental health problems often present significant challenges for teens and their foster parents. Sensitive and responsive caregiving promotes attachment security and buffers the impact of these challenges. Few programs are tailored to helping foster parents of teens in understanding trauma and attachment. In this paper we describe the adaptation of and preliminary evaluation of Connect, an evidenced based, attachment-focused and trauma-informed parent program for foster parents of teens. Results show Connect for Foster Parents is associated with significant benefits for teens and their foster parents on par with findings for original Connect program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Although speech-language pathologists have provided genderaffirming voice training for trans women since the 1970s, evidence for this training’s effectiveness remains weak. Our study aimed to redress limitations of earlier studies and evaluate voice training effects on outcomes important to trans women. Method: Seventy-four trans women (19–54 years old) who wanted a more female-sounding voice were recruited through two health facilities and provided with an eight- to 12-session voice training program based on contemporary literature, usual clinical practice, and client-centered care principles. Self-reported outcomes and an audio-recorded reading sample were collected 3 months before, immediately before and after, and 3 months after training. Forty cisgender speakers were audio-recorded reading the same sample material as comparison voices. Seventy-nine naive listeners made gender-related voice ratings of an extract from these audio recordings. Training effectiveness was evaluated using group-level analyses (linear mixed-effects models) and individual-level analyses to establish what proportion of participants improved to a predetermined relevant degree. Results: Group-level analyses demonstrated positive training effects, maintained 3 months posttraining, for trans women’s vocal satisfaction, perceptions of voice-related social participation, and self- and listener perceptions of their voices. Individual-level analyses also demonstrated positive effects. Two thirds of trans women increased vocal satisfaction to a relevant degree, one third who reported restricted social participation before training reduced this restriction to a relevant degree, and all were rated more female-sounding after training (although not all to a relevant degree). Conclusions: All trans women participants made progress toward their voice goals and maintained those gains at follow-up. These findings provide evidence that gender-affirming speech-language pathology services warrant prioritization. Further research is warranted to investigate factors predicting outcomes of voice training for trans women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The poem "Prayers of an American Wife" by Victoria Kelly is presented. First Line: Two hours from Santiago by the Pato Piraña bus, Last Line: where an old dirt road used to be.

The poem "To My Husband, Flying Over Afghanistan," by Victoria Kelly is presented. First Line: The pilot alone knows; Last Line: while the whole cathedral crashes at your back.