Blog

Your husband might be depressed, and you might not know it. Or, maybe it’s your sister or your mother. Maybe it’s even you. Even though upwards of two million Americans age 65-plus experience depression, the majority of seniors—68 percent, according to a National Mental Health Association survey—know little about it. One big reason is that signs are easy to overlook , since they’re frequently confused with other ailments and changes that come naturally with aging. ”Often in older adults,...

It was James Routledge’s own battle with anxiety while winding down his first startup that led him to launch Sanctus . He was also experiencing stress, panic attacks and sleepless nights, but didn’t feel he could confide in his new colleagues. “I didn’t talk about it, I didn’t want to admit weakness or vulnerability,” he says. Through Sanctus, Routledge offers coaching sessions to businesses to help them improve their approach to mental health. In a small business environment, he says it’s...

Large-scale collection of patient data into disease-specific databases, or registries, is vital to research. These registries house standardized information on patients’ diagnoses, care, and outcomes, supporting large-scale comparison and analysis which can lead to better population health management and interventions. But can disease registries also help to move us closer to patient-centered care? We’re learning from examples overseas that, with the help of new interactive technologies,...

Chronic absenteeism is a critical national problem that puts more than 6.5 million schoolchildren at risk for falling behind academically, dropping out of school and serious long-term health, employment and financial consequences. There is a growing movement among schools, states and the federal government to address the underlying causes of chronic absenteeism. This policy brief takes a close look at the reasons behind chronic absenteeism, its adverse impact on health and life outcomes, and...

The Bitterroot Cares for Kids Network is starting support programming as a follow-up to their August conference on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) “ACEs in the Bitterroot.” The conference was on identifying, preventing and alleviating the consequences of childhood abuse and neglect. The first support programming is a book-club type of discussion group that meets from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesdays Oct. 12 – Nov. 16. The conference in August talked about a simple on-line test that helps...

Two years ago, Kansas City Police Captain Darren Ivey had never heard of secondary trauma. But he could see how the relentless stress of police work chewed away at the personal lives of officers. “What I started seeing was…how many department members had attempted suicide, how many domestic violence calls we responded to on our own people, how many DUI calls,” he said. “We’ve been told to suck it up, and it’s killing us.” That’s why Ivey was eager to work with members of his own department,...

“Indians Are Naturally Predisposed to Alcoholism.” Few images of Native peoples have been as intractable and damaging as the trope of the drunken Indian. It has been used to insidiously and overtly support the claims of Indian inferiority that, as we have seen, have been deployed in a host of ways that result in loss of culture, land, and sovereignty. The trope is deeply woven into American social narratives — perpetuated both in popular culture and in scholarly circles — and it plays out in...

This blog was created by a brother and sister who use it as a platform to reflect on their childhood trauma. The mission of their blog " is to be of service by igniting joy, exploration and freedom in the lives of people affected by childhood trauma " From their first post: "Aha moments. Epiphanies. Game changers. Mind blowers. Whatever you want to call them. These are some of the guiding principles that have helped us create some sanity and sanctuary in our lives. Many we return to again...

I make no bones about it, as a foster child, I don’t think I was an easy person to get along with and I certainly wasn’t trying to make bonds or connections with those around me. I went into foster care at the age of 13. My life prior to entering the system was one of immense dysfunction, and I had practically raised myself. My mom was rarely around, and when she was it was usually to tell me that we were moving. We moved over 50 times and I went to more than 35 schools in my life before the...

Teachers and staff are the heart of a school – working together, we can create a healthy, thriving environment for school employees and students alike. In our new three-part webinar series you’ll learn how school employee wellness can be sustained, how to support school employees’ mental health and wellbeing, and how to work with unions representing school staff to promote wellness. This series builds on last year’s successful and informative school employee wellness webinar series that is...

LucidWitness blogposts are designed for social media to help grow awareness of developmental trauma among your network(s).

Read the new #SharedLearnings post by Anndee Hochman on the MARC website: http://marc.healthfederation.org/shared-learnings/first-responders-ace-and-resilience-movement-addressing-secondary-trauma-and Help spread the word! Here's a link to the email announcement: http://conta.cc/2dRtknD The MARC Shared Learnings series is currently exploring the unconventional partnerships that lend power to ACE & resilience networks. In this piece, we take a closer look at how communities are engaging...