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For Provost Susan R. Wente, the meaning of mental health and wellness from the university’s standpoint means encouraging a culture of openness and honest discussion about mental health and wellbeing. “Mental health and wellbeing to us means really having a healthier community that’s very transparent and willing to share with one another what our challenges are and how to help one another, and that mental health and wellbeing does not at all infer that we think everyone has to be, and will...

Some of the most passionate mental health advocates work in women's shelters. Women on the front-lines for addressing mental health needs. Women supporting other women to find safety, stability, and empowerment in their lives -- in a way, sisterhood embodied. We need to hear their voices as Canada embarks on necessary (and overdue) conversations on the state of mental health care. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Mental health stigma is real and online campaigns like Bell Let's Talk...

While one could argue that every action that the Texas legislature takes is important and should be evaluated, the sheer volume of bills they pass makes that impractical. It is our duty as citizens and as students to look at the policies that affect us personally. For many students here at the University of Houston, one of those issues is higher education and/or mental health resources. In November 2015, Speaker Joe Straus formed the Select Committee to look at the behavioral health system...

We all know your mind will eventually forget some of the details of the abuse or trauma you’ve survived. But your body never forgets. Like I’ve mentioned in other blog posts, trapped trauma must be released. It’s nothing more than emotional pain. If allowed to fester in the body for weeks, years, or decades it will eventually manifest as physical pain in the form of illness, allergies, chronic pain, etc. TRE (tension & trauma release exercises) created a major shift in my healing from...

New York City is often romanticized as a mecca of multicultural urban living. But as diverse as it is, residents from very different backgrounds don’t often live in the same neighborhoods . In fact, New York is in second place after Milwaukee as far as black-white segregation goes. Today, historical color lines are being redrawn through a concentration of wealth and the displacement of communities of color . In New York, that phenomenon may be spurred in part by the city’s well-intentioned...

President Trump threatened Tuesday night to use federal power to “fix the horrible carnage” unfolding in Chicago, referring to the city’s extraordinary recent spike in homicides. The problem is real: 762 people were murdered in Chicago last year, a stunning 58 percent jump in homicides from 2015. So large was the sharp, sudden increase in homicides in one of America’s largest cities that it tangibly raised the entire nation’s homicide rate higher for 2016. But nobody really knows why it’s...

“Name 10 significant American historical figures.” That’s the question Christopher Chatmon posed to his 10th grade history students on the first day of school several years ago. Each student jotted down a list. Then they teamed up in small groups to refine it. Finally, they shared their top 10 with the class. His students at the San Francisco public high school where he previously taught were mostly African-American, Latino and Asian-American teenagers. Yet when the class stood back to...

The Brownsville Child Development Center , Brownsville’s first mental health clinic for children from birth to age 5, officially opens its doors this Thursday, January 26, bringing to Brooklyn a brand-new approach to working with severely at-risk children. A program of the Jewish Board for Family and Children’s Services (The Jewish Board), New York City’s largest human services organization, the Center will offer a wide range of therapeutic services for children from birth to age 5. First...

On dress-down days, Sherlae’s outfits almost always include sequins and sparkles. Whenever she passes a window, she lights up, in a way that matches her sunny personality and big, dimpled smile. But for years, because of strife at home, she had to force herself to look cheerful each morning as she walked into her school, Lawrence D. Crocker College Prep in uptown New Orleans. “I always try to put on a happy, smiling — not sad — face,” said Sherlae, 13, whose middle name is used here to...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) is a mental disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, which all interfere with daily functioning in children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that as of 2011, ADHD has been diagnosed in around 6.4 million U.S. children between 4-17 years of age. While scientists do not currently know what causes ADHD, research has indicated a variety of risk factors. The disease seems to be more common...

Donald Trump campaigned on a platform that ascribed much blame to undocumented immigrants . At least in the first few days of his administration, mass deportation has not emerged as a high priority —though that may change . Workers lacking papers are surely feeling more anxious about their status than they did six months ago. New research suggests that anxiety could have profound health consequences for some of our most vulnerable new citizens. The study reveals a spike in low-birthweight...

This segment originally aired Jan. 13, 2016, on VICE News Tonight on HBO. A farm in Mesopotamia, Ohio — one of just six therapeutic farms in the United States — is treating people with mental illness. In 1955, 560,000 patients lived full time in state psychiatric facilities. Today, just 45,000 do. Psychiatric hospitals were shuttered, in part, because of widespread reports of patient abuse. Now, many of the country’s mentally ill are on the streets or in prison. Private insurance companies,...