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By Michel Martin, Photo: Unsplash (in site), National Public Radio, October 2, 2022 NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Andre Perry from the Brookings Institution about their study, "The Black Progress Index." MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Even if you don't follow health news or stories with a lot of numbers, this is one that might have stuck. Life expectancy in the United States overall is at its lowest since 1996 - down to 76.1 years. Now, that's largely due to the COVID pandemic. But that number, a...

By Katie Lobosco, Photo: Katie Lobosco/CNN, CNN US, October 2, 2022 The day after Buffalo experienced the largest mass shooting in its history, teams of emergency volunteers and mental health counselors arrived on the scene, offering emotional support and distributing food. The response was robust and swift, but there was one big problem. “The community didn’t feel comfortable coming up the stairs to the center because what they saw was a large group of White people,” said Kelly Wofford,...

By Victoria Uwumarogie, Illustration: Klaus Vedfelt/Digitalvision, Essence, September 30, 2022 Never underestimate the impact of unaddressed trauma. If you’ve been in unhealthy, even violent relationships in the past, it can negatively impact your ability to be able to see the good in a romantic interest in the present. It can even send you into the arms of the same type of toxic partners. Financial trauma experienced growing up can lead to an intense scarcity mindset in the present and...

Welcome to virtual Rx Healing Circles! This session serves as an opportunity for building the beloved community and fostering healing through a shared humanity perspective. We invite you to join us in sharing a connective space for people to offer compassion and experience unity. Join us Wednesday, October 19, 2022 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Please register here : bit.ly/RxHealingCircle10-19

Yunetta Smith, one of the few African American EMDR-certified therapists in the nation, will talk this week with History. Culture. Trauma. podcast hosts Ingrid Cockhren, CEO of P ACEs Connection, and Mathew Portell, director of communities. The podcast airs on Thursday, Oct. 6, at 1 p.m. PT; 4 p.m. ET. Smith describes herself as “a thriving therapreneur—a therapist + entrepreneur. She is the CEO and founder of Spring Forth Counseling and Ground Breakers Coaching and Consulting of...

Violence prevention expert Linda Degutis has agreed to become chair of the board of the Stop Abuse Campaign

FREE Virtual Training Series Managing Anxiety and its Path Into Depression: Building Skills that Lead to Action Over Avoidance October 24, 2022, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm Decreasing Suicidality Risk in Youth November 8, 2022, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm Words Wound: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying December 2, 2022, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the U.S. surgeon general have all declared what so many parents and...

The Bridging to Resilience conference is about coming together with educators, social workers, health care professionals, religious communities, and other helping professionals to share conversations, ideas, strategies, tools, and connections to help build resilience and heal trauma in our own communities. We believe that by building a collaborative and resilient community to both heal trauma and solve poverty in our classrooms and neighborhoods, we have the ability to change lives and...

When I was ten years old, my grandfather began abusing me. Not long after the abuse began, food became my go to strategy for comfort. I remember even playing "sick" so I could stay home to avoid going to school where I felt so out of place. I would sit it in front of the TV and eat -- completely dissociating (of course, I didn't know that word then, but that's what I was doing). As so many survivors of abuse do, I turned to food as a way to distract myself. Had beliefs that, "If I am just...

By Brandon Tensley, Photo: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images, CNN US, October 2, 2022 In the early 2000s, when I was a student at Ridge View High School, in Columbia, South Carolina, I loved to parse the legacies of certain historical figures: W.E.B. Du Bois, in AP US History; Malcolm X, in AP English Language and Composition. At the same time, I wanted more. Too often, Advanced Placement curricula seemed to give attention to just a handful of Black heavyweights and, as a result, neglect the...

By William Siu, Illustration: Irene Suosalo, The New York Times, October 2, 2022 Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has just signed legislation that would require social media companies to make sure new products won’t be harmful to minors. The focus is on Big Tech and social media apps like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Flying under the radar are video games even though kids in the United States spend much more time playing video games than engaging in social media, according to a recent...

By Tatum Hunter, Illustration: Emma Kumer/The Washington Post, The Washington Post, October 3, 2022 Mental health tips on social media are a mixed bag. Your favorite online creator might give valid advice on managing anxiety symptoms or drawing boundaries with family members. They also might spread wrong information or use their platform to promote dubious products. Not only did mentions of mental health on social media increase during the pandemic , many influencers shifted their focus from...