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A federal survey shows that Texas has reduced the number of homeless people needing shelter by 42 percent since 2007. (bodnarchuk/iStockphoto) AUSTIN, Texas – Advocates for Texas' homeless population are celebrating a federal report showing a significant reduction in the number of Texans who are homeless over the past decade. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's annual count , homelessness in Texas dropped by almost 42 percent from 2007 to 2016 - a period when the...

At last, mainstream America seems to be talking about solitary confinement. Over the last decade, journalists and politicians have, more than ever before, discussed the perils of the practice: how enforced isolation damages the mind, how quickly it incites and exacerbates mental illness, how frequently it encourages self-mutilation and suicide — and how disproportionately it is used for non-white prisoners. Pope Francis condemned the practice. President Barack Obama pointedly questioned its...

When Donald Trump this week tapped a surgeon-turned-congressman to run the Department of Health and Human Services, the nation’s largest physicians group swiftly endorsed the choice. The blowback started almost at once. Liberal doctors peppered the American Medical Association with furious tweets decrying the group’s endorsement of Representative Tom Price as a betrayal of patients and physicians. And by Wednesday night, 500 doctors had signed an online open letter titled “The AMA Does Not...

The Justice Department on Wednesday announced a series of prison reforms intended to help former inmates return successfully to their communities. The federal government plans to set up a school district within the federal prison system; pay for state-issued IDs before inmates are released; regulate federal halfway houses and "explore alternative models"; and finally, enhance mental health and substance-abuse programs for female inmates. “Helping incarcerated individuals prepare for life...

“I’m going to bring jobs back to the United States like no one else can.” These words, spoken by President-elect Donald Trump during his campaign, were music to the ears of many of the working-class voters outside the nation’s trendy metro economies. These workers and their communities have suffered mightily from the decline of good jobs, especially in manufacturing, that only required a high-school education. President-elect Trump attributed the massive losses in these jobs to trade deals,...

Dr. Bruce Perry is a child psychiatrist and senior fellow at the ChildTrauma Academy in Houston and adjunct professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. His neuroscientific research has focused largely on the effects of trauma on brain development. He has consulted on high-profile cases involving children in crisis, including the Columbine High School massacre, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Waco, Texas, siege, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the 2010...

Venus and Serena Williams are incredible athletes. But their recent work shows that their bold abilities reach far beyond the tennis court, too. SHARE Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images. The two sisters just opened a safe haven for Compton residents affected by gun violence, which they're calling the The Yetunde Price Resource Center. The center’s mission hits close to home for the tennis stars: They were raised in Compton, California, and their sister, Yetunde Price, fell victim to gun...

TROUBLED KIDS ARE DISTINGUISHED BY THEIR REGRETTABLE ABILITY TO ELICIT FROM OTHERS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT THEY NEED. (L. Tobin ) Underneath their surface behaviors your most difficult students are young people in pain. Painful emotions including negative inner states like fear, anger, sadness and shame. Painful thoughts including worry, distrust, guilt, hatred and helplessness covered up by defense mechanisms like denial, blame, and rationalizations to cover the pain. And of course, pain...

On 5 July this year my world was turned upside down. Until then I was an average 28-year-old, married with two children and a full-time job, juggling the stresses of everyday life. But that morning I woke up to find my husband Daniel missing. He had suffered with his mental health for a long time, but I still did not expect what had happened. Daniel had taken his own life. My world was thrown into a spiral. So many questions were unanswered and an uncertain life now faced my family. Mental...

It’s a common lament of the nation’s police officers and prison wardens alike: A large proportion of the crime suspects and inmates they find themselves dealing with suffer from mental illness, substance-abuse issues, or both. Today, a coalition of organizations spanning justice and health interests are launching a new campaign to focus on what they call “behavioral health issues in the criminal justice system.” At a meeting in Washington, D.C., the groups are issuing what they termed...

For teens, depression can affect more than their relationships and educational achievement -- it can harm their future prospects. But a new study suggests that many of these young people could reap long-term benefits from psychological counseling. "Depression can seriously impair people's lives, and in many cases begins during their teenage years," said Ian Goodyer, a professor at the department of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge in England. "If we can tackle it early on, evidence...

Recognizing the impact of trauma on health and patient engagement is a critical step that health care organizations can take in pursuit of achieving better outcomes. This new blog post and fact sheet explore the impact of trauma on health and health care, and outlines ways that health care providers can start helping their patients heal from trauma. Both of these resources are products of Advancing Trauma-Informed Care , a national initiative aimed at understanding how trauma-informed...