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“I wasn’t allowed to talk about anything, the way I found I could talk about what was happening in my life was through these surrealistic drawings and paintings that I’d create. Because my upbringing was so traumatic, I used that as an escape.” In foster care at age 9, Miriam Cortez learned that creating art was her way to work through pain and suffering. In her early twenties, her art still has a haunting quality and when you look at some of the pieces she creates, you find yourself being...

What's the root cause of the opioid epidemic ? A strong case can be made for pain. Pain prompts people to ask their doctors for drugs. Pain keeps them taking those pills for so long that they get addicted. So what's the source of all this suffering, as well as our inability to manage it without heavy-duty pharmaceuticals? Recent research provides a provocative answer. It finds people who experienced more trauma and adversity in childhood and adolescence tend to experience greater pain as...

I moved to New York for my first job out of grad school almost 20 years ago. After just one week in my new apartment, I got a $65 ticket for putting tin cans and milk cartons in my trash can. Having spent most of my life in the American South where no laws required it, I had never recycled before. After the ticket, I started rethinking the contents of my trash can. I have learned that landfills are harmful to the planet and how recycling saves energy and helps to slow global warming. I now...

Starbucks will temporarily shut 8,000 stores for four hours Tuesday afternoon to conduct racial bias training for its employees. It follows an incident in Philadelphia last month in which two black men were arrested simply for waiting in a store. What would seem like a positive step forward is already, perhaps predictably, being criticized. Starbucks’s bias training, according to T.J. Legacy-Cole , a political organizer in Orlando, is “a self-righteous and disingenuous public-relations stunt...

A study led by Dr. Jason Bantjes of Stellenbosch University explores South African traditional healers’ work with suicidal individuals. The results of the study, published in a recent issue of Transcultural Psychiatry, suggest that South African traditional healers frequently work with suicidal individuals, and thus have an important perspective to contribute to the country’s suicide prevention-related public health efforts. The researchers found that healers support suicidal individuals by...

Emily: Growing up Jewish, queer, and Autistic in Birmingham, Alabama, I faced a great deal of bullying and prejudice. Instead of stepping in to address the bullying, my parents, teachers, and therapists tried to help me act more “normal,” hide my queerness, and learn how to fit in. I quickly learned one of the most insidious and effective ways that oppression is perpetuated: by holding the oppressed, rather than the oppressor, responsible for it. In college, I began studying the topic of...

With the Healing Trauma Summit , you’ll join renowned and respected professionals and healers from a wide sweep of disciplines and traditions. Additionally, heroines and heroes of community and cultural healing will share how they found a way through their traumatic experiences to emerge stronger and a source of help to others. This summit features 24 of today’s leading voices in trauma healing. Many will be sharing training sessions and practical applications for your professional practice...

We are the authors of Anna, Age Eight: The data-driven prevention of childhood trauma and maltreatment, Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD and Dominic Cappello, and we have been discussing our book focused on how we must and can fix child welfare—a monumental challenge that requires the engagement of all of us. Abuse and neglect are ACEs, which is why having a high functioning child welfare system matters so much. We also know that many adverse childhood experiences fly under the radar of...

Essay by Trina Jackson with links to a new report entitled Racial Inequities, Policy Solutions: Perceptions of Boston’s Communities of Color on Racism and Race Relations by The Hyams Foundation. While the reported data is specific to Massachusetts, the issues are national and relevant for all of us. Here are some excerpts: How many of us have been in or led organizations where we say we care about racial equity in our workplace but will address it more in real and meaningful ways in the next...

"I want The Three Bears!" These days parents, caregivers and teachers have lots of options when it comes to fulfilling that request. You can read a picture book, put on a cartoon, play an audiobook, or even ask Alexa. A newly published study gives some insight into what may be happening inside young children's brains in each of those situations. And, says lead author Dr. John Hutton, there is an apparent "Goldilocks effect" — some kinds of storytelling may be "too cold" for children, while...

As a teenager , Jose Colmenares spent time sleeping on the streets of Los Angeles as a runaway before ending up in a group home for foster youth. Besides missing many days of school, he missed out on important conversations about how he would plan for the future, including developing a career. At the group home where he lived from age 15 to 18, he remembers listening to many panel discussions about drug abuse, but never about careers. Colmenares had always been fascinated by technology, but...

In 1998, the federal government started an incentive program aimed at pushing states to finalize more adoptions of youth in foster care. But in the decades since its inception, few states have seen any consistent benefit from the half-billion dollars spent on incentives. There are 34 states that have received less than $10 million in the 18 years the awards have been made thus far. But one state has consistently reaped rewards from the federal incentives: Texas. [For more of this story,...