Blog

The ongoing political and legal controversy over President Donald Trump’s revised executive order banning visitors from six Muslim-majority countries is the latest flashpoint in what has become one of the great moral conundrums of our time: What to do about the refugees of the Syrian Civil War? Since 2011, the Syrian Civil War has forced some five million Syrians out of the country. And as millions flee and risk their lives trying to find a stable land, surrounding countries, Europe, and the...

By Kristen S. Slack, Sarah A. Font, and Jennifer Jones TAKEN FROM REPORT: An extensive research base shows evidence of racial disparities in health outcomes, and a growing body of evidence points to associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and poor health. This study uses data from the 2011 and 2012 Wisconsin Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys to identify the relative contributions of ACEs, race, and adult income to predicting three sets of adverse adult...

This month at Partner for Healing we are discussing work place relationships. Are they important? Research from Gallup shows us that employees rating of the social support they get at work correlates with how satisfied they are with their jobs.An article by Kyle D. Killian, Helping Till It Hurts? A Multimethod Study of Compassion Fatigue, Burnout, and Self-Care in Clinicians Working With Trauma Survivors (Traumatology Volume 14 Number 2 June 2008 32-44 © 2008 Sage Publications) describes...

Since the sociologist William Julius Wilson examined increasing poverty in black urban neighborhoods in his groundbreaking 1987 book, The Truly Disadvantaged, researchers have avidly studied the effects of geography on low-income city residents. Recent research on a Denver public housing program adds to this body of work by offering conclusions about the benefits of neighborhood economic diversity for low-income black and Latino youth. George Galster, a professor of urban affairs at Wayne...

A lot of people don’t believe me when I tell them Letcher County, Kentucky, is one of the most open-minded places I’ve ever lived. I might not have believed it either, before I moved here a year ago. I’ve spent most of my life in cities and suburbs, and I arrived with all the assumptions you can imagine about Central Appalachia and the people who live here. But if you’ve been here, or to similar places, you know how wrong those assumptions can be. Yes, some people fly Confederate flags. One...

A little-noticed bill moving through Congress would allow companies to require employees to undergo genetic testing or risk paying a penalty of thousands of dollars, and would let employers see that genetic and other health information. Giving employers such power is now prohibited by legislation including the 2008 genetic privacy and nondiscrimination law known as GINA. The new bill gets around that landmark law by stating explicitly that GINA and other protections do not apply when genetic...

Human memory is a sensory experience, says psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk. Through his longtime research and innovation in trauma treatment, he shares what he’s learning about how bodywork like yoga or eye movement therapy can restore a sense of goodness and safety. What he’s learning speaks to a resilience we can all cultivate in the face of the overwhelming events — which, after all, make up the drama of culture, of news, and of life. [For more of this interview, go to ...

As California shifts away from its reliance on group homes for children and youth in foster care, the first domino to drop is the elimination of 30-day emergency shelter facilities. As California rolls out the ambitious overhaul of its foster care system , advocates who pushed for the reform are hopeful that shortening timelines for placement, and other imminent changes, will disrupt the system and transform it into one that better serves children. But, some local service providers are...

The Youth First Initiative has released a new report “Breaking Down the Walls” highlighting the achievements of youth, families, and advocates in six states to help advance a new vision of youth justice. The report serves as a playbook for activists working to end the juvenile justice systems’ reliance on incarceration throughout the nation. To accelerate the efforts to end harmful and inequitable youth incarceration, and to build on the work of the youth, families, and advocates who have...

Glenn Close does not read her reviews. So the jumbo excerpt on the marquee where she is reprising her Tony Award-winning role in “Sunset Boulevard” (“One of the great stage performances of this century”), surrounded by flashing lights, may be a spoiler. “You still have to go out the next night no matter what they write,” she said. Still, the actress, 69, who has won three Tony Awards and three Emmy Awards, and has been nominated for six Academy Awards for her work in films such as “Fatal...

In times like these where accessible mental health resources are dwindling or filled to capacity, I am compelled to seek outside the box as a mental health professional. And what I am finding astonishes me. I met with the LA Chapter of B.A.C.A., Bikers Against Child Abuse and what they do, free of charge, for children who have been physically or sexually abused needs to be known. Any child who has a current case in the system (which is a cold and frightening process) is eligible for their...

"Volunteers-4-Youth" is pleased to announce the showing of two important films that explore factors that affect the wellbeing of young people. Resilience View Trailer HERE and Paper Tigers View Trailer HERE These films are free of charge and open to all people who work with and are concerned about the future of our youth. To attend, you need to sign up through the Brown Paper Tickets link (see below). Please sign up soon, as seating is limited. Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the...