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It was supposed to be temporary. In December 2012, the Federal Bureau of Prisons decided to address overcrowding in men's prisons by taking women inmates out of the only federal prison for women in the Northeast, FCI Danbury , and move men in. The inmates were taken to a jail in Brooklyn but were told the move would only be for 18 months, until a new facility could be built for them in Danbury. Three years later, over one hundred women are stuck in two windowless rooms in the Metropolitan...

U.S. Education Secretary John King on Tuesday urged Tennessee and 21 other states to stop allowing corporal punishment in schools, a practice he called “harmful, ineffective, and often disproportionately applied to students of color and students with disabilities.” The nation’s education chief instead advocated the use of disciplinary measures that create a positive school climate and promote nonviolent techniques for conflict resolution. King outlined his concerns in a letter to the...

Working with a child who has experienced chronic, complex trauma and hasn’t yet developed the skills or allowed herself to risk developing a safe, reciprocal, healthy connection is one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I’ve ever had as a clinician. I can now look back at Maria, my first long term client in residential care and understand that her constant rejection of my support, impressively skilled ability at pressing buttons I didn’t know I had and motivation to get her...

“Thanksgiving Proves the Indians Welcomed the Pilgrims” Second only to the Columbus discovery story, the Thanksgiving tale is the United States’ quintessential origin narrative. Like the Columbus myth, the story of Thanksgiving has morphed into an easily digestible narrative that, despite its actual underlying truths, is designed to reinforce a sense of collective patriotic pride. The truths are, however, quite well documented. Their concealment within a simplistic story inevitably depicts a...

Abstract Substantial research shows that early adversity, including child abuse and neglect, is associated with diminished health across the life course and across generations. Less well understood is the relationship between early adversity and adult socioeconomic status, including education, employment, and income. Collectively, these outcomes provide an indication of overall life opportunity. We analyzed data from 10 states and the District of Columbia that used the adverse childhood...

ACEs, Adversity's Impact How Childhood Trauma Can Contribute To Developing Cancer as an Adult Few children born to parents with serious mental illness live with both parents while growing up Brain and Biology Brain regulates social behavior differently in males and females, study reveals Science of Childhood Trauma [1 min -- Futures Without Violence] Traumatic Stress May Alter Boys’ and Girls’ Brains Differently Bullying Bullying Often Triggers Fight Response In Kids With Disabilities...

As resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock, N.D., concludes its seventh month, two narratives have emerged: We have never seen anything like this before. This has been happening for hundreds of years. Both are true. The scope of the resistance at Standing Rock exceeds just about every protest in Native American history. But that history itself, of indigenous people fighting to protect not just their land, but the land, is centuries old. Over the weekend, the situation at...

I just finished watching Paper Tigers and one thing that I found very interesting was how many of the students found art as an expressive outlet. Some students found that drawing, writing or listening to music was what was keeping them alive. I think if we were all to reflect on a time where we sat down and started to draw or listen to our favorite song many can probably relate to that sense of release. I was compelled to do some further research and found a review by Stuckey and Nobel from...

A controversial unit for prisoners with mental illness at Vermont’s second-largest correctional facility is not currently being used. Ed Adams, acting superintendent at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, confirmed Friday that Alpha unit has been largely vacant since mid-September. Though rights advocates welcomed the decreased use of the unit, they are calling on the state to adopt permanent policy changes to discontinue the use of segregation on prisoners with mental...

It’s 10 a.m. on a warm August morning in Regent Park, a neighborhood in the east end of downtown Toronto that has historically been defined by its public housing and poverty. Nadha Hassen, a junior fellow at Toronto’s Wellesley Institute, and her colleagues are here hosting a walking tour to get residents of Regent Park out to talk about how parks interact with mental health, both individually and across the community. Except the residents aren’t showing up. Hassen is fighting hard to put on...

Today I watched Paper Tigers and this was a tool that they used to help the students. I think that this is a useful tool for others as well. Red , Yellow , Green ! Source: YOLO Resilience Network Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

Margo Solomon has health insurance for herself and her four children. But actually getting treatment is another matter. Ms. Solomon, a 35-year-old mother from the Bronx, says she has struggled to find a doctor who accepts her insurance. And with three of her children coping with asthma, and one with more complicated medical problems, locating a specialist is even more challenging. And once in the door, she cannot afford the costs, including for deductibles and medications. “I feel like I am...