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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

375 Followers  |  791 Following  |  31 Posts  |  Joined: 16.11.2024  |  1.771

Latest posts by benjyperks.bsky.social on Bluesky

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From Adversity to Advocacy: Healing Childhood Trauma with Ben Perks The Psycho-Social Β· Episode

Loved doing this podcast on Trauma Proof with Warren Larkin open.spotify.com/episode/7p7y...

02.08.2025 21:47 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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...

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...

05.07.2025 05:56 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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 meansβ€”and how far the country still has to go.

"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."

19.06.2025 17:15 β€” πŸ‘ 109    πŸ” 22    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1

#copyediting

martial law

m a r t i a l

not marital

not marshal

not marshall

10.06.2025 17:55 β€” πŸ‘ 338    πŸ” 35    πŸ’¬ 36    πŸ“Œ 0
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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:
πŸ‘‰ lnkd.in/eReqNsDm
✨ Exclusive bonus for attendees: Get 25% off Benjamin Perks’ new book Trauma Proof!πŸ‘Œ
See you there!😊 #TraumaInformed #Webinar

04.06.2025 09:46 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Word!

12.05.2025 22:53 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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β€œThe world’s richest man is killing the world’s poorest children.”

β€”Bill Gates

10.05.2025 23:11 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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…

Alice Munro's story shows it's time for a child protection revolution benjaminperksblog.home.blog/2025/04/28/e...

29.04.2025 12:36 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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In conversation with Trish Daly of @nytimes.com on #TraumaProof today

11.04.2025 02:49 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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

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/...

08.04.2025 14:37 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Levels and trends in child mortality 2024 - UNICEF DATA

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

08.04.2025 00:55 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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…

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

04.04.2025 13:35 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

#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

20.03.2025 23:48 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Ben Perks: we can end childhood trauma β€œWhen 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). β€œI was always optimistic, I just think that's th...

Honoured to be featured in the @TheLancet today, ahead of the North America launch of Trauma Proof next month www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

19.03.2025 21:39 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Hearts go out to all those grieving loved ones or affected by serious injury in the #kocanifireπŸ‡²πŸ‡°

16.03.2025 17:21 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Fabulous piece, as always. Looking forward to the book.

14.03.2025 21:55 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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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.

β€œPeople will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, β€œbut we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/h...

02.03.2025 00:16 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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.

25.02.2025 12:44 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Political movements built on aggregating trauma and grievance always make things worse for the people they claim to serve.

16.02.2025 16:36 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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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'

πŸ“Ίhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5ZmnnGLMI

@HSCmediaUg

12.02.2025 12:40 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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.

10.02.2025 14:33 β€” πŸ‘ 7654    πŸ” 852    πŸ’¬ 109    πŸ“Œ 48
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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.

08.02.2025 15:16 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

If I were the stock market I simply wouldn't open tomorrow.

02.02.2025 18:04 β€” πŸ‘ 334    πŸ” 28    πŸ’¬ 9    πŸ“Œ 3
Mychal smiles in his β€œThe Library is for Everyone” shirt from Out of Print clothing

Mychal smiles in his β€œThe Library is for Everyone” shirt from Out of Print clothing

UNSTOPPABLE JOHN: How John Lewis Got His Library Card-and Helped Change History BY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR PAT ZIETLOW MILLER, ILLUSTRATED BY JERRY JORDAN

UNSTOPPABLE JOHN: How John Lewis Got His Library Card-and Helped Change History BY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR PAT ZIETLOW MILLER, ILLUSTRATED BY JERRY JORDAN

When Congressman John Lewis was a child, he tried to get a library card. He was turned away & told β€œThe Library is not for coloureds” πŸ’”

He’s a civil rights icon, lover of books, recipient of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.

β€œThe Library IS for Everyone” πŸ’š
#BlackHistoryMonth

01.02.2025 14:22 β€” πŸ‘ 8231    πŸ” 2098    πŸ’¬ 94    πŸ“Œ 81
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Dame Esther Rantzen is one of my heroes. She unleashed a child protection revolution on Britain in the 1980s, bringing the taboo of child abuse to public consciousness. She gave voice to the victims and shape to how society should protect them. I am honored to get her praise for Trauma Proof.

31.01.2025 13:34 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes of course! Amazing guy

18.01.2025 15:27 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I love @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social #RoryStewart & @therestpolitics.bsky.social but for the third time in weeks they placed victims of #Grooming & church abuse at the periphery rather than the centre of the story

18.01.2025 12:20 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Every child asks three things about their teacher each day:1) Can I trust you? 2) Do you believe I can succeed? 3) Do you care about me? #ForEveryChild Proper #learning with a dedicated, committed #Teacher

17.01.2025 17:38 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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AI is not the only massively consequential scientific advance of our era. Our new understanding of how to improve childhoods can minimize risk for poor mental & physical health, violence, addiction and obesity & transform societies for the better. #TraumaProof bit.ly/4jkgmAC

15.01.2025 12:46 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Don’t Politicize Grooming, Eradicate It. Photo credit: UNICEF Srbija/ Bicanski Manhattan magnates like Epstein or cabbie cartels in Yorkshire know their pray. They scour the same blind spots that drug dealers and violent extremist do. The…

Don't Politicize Grooming, Eradicate It -A short blog benjaminperksblog.home.blog/2025/01/11/i...

13.01.2025 15:16 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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