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Twenty-two years ago, a retired juvenile court judge in San Francisco teamed up with a Native American healer to help kids get on a positive path and avoid juvenile court. Superior Court Judge Daniel Weinstein and Hully Fetiçó — who was a youth probation commissioner as well as an athlete, dancer and healer — designed a small summer camping program in which low-income, underserved kids lived in seven tepees, each representing one continent of the world. In their first activity, 15 kids built...

A growing body of research, including work published here , documents harms of what is known as the school-to-prison pipeline. Evidence shows that compared to 20 or more years ago, contemporary schools are more likely to suspend students — particularly students of color — out of school for minor misbehaviors. After being suspended, these students have a greater risk than others of dropping out of school and justice system involvement. Because of these harmful effects and their racially...

With up to 40 percent of a workforce affected by secondhand drinking (the negative impacts of a person's drinking behaviors on others), the potential of having employees with one or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) abounds. Not only the presence of ACEs for the employee but for the passing of ACEs along by the employee to their children . Thus, EAPs offer a unique opportunity to include resources that can help employees screen for ACEs -- theirs and those of their children. Not only...

A few months ago I started watching April the Giraffe, via a live animal camera (cam) at Animal Adventure Park in New York. It had been such a relaxing experience that I missed it when it was turned off. I used to fall asleep watching the giraffes. I was delighted when I found another website, explore.org, and realized that they had cameras all over the world, including in Africa where I could watch giraffes, elephants, hippos, zebras, and so many more animals in their natural habitat. For...

Some commentary written by Maia Szalavitz who is one of my favorite writers. For years, people with addiction have wondered when the media would recognize our condition as a medical problem, not a moral one — when they would stop reducing us to mere "addicts" and speak of us in the more respectful and accurate "person first" language that has become common for people with other diseases and disorders. Last week, The Associated Press took an important step in that direction. The new edition...

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If you are a teen who is thinking about hurting yourself, it’s important to know that your pain is real, but suicide is not the answer. There are so many people out there that truly care about you who want to help. In addition, the resources available to you are abundant. Use this toolkit for quick access to those resources, as well as healthy ways to cope with the pain you are feeling. Informational Resources With all the information being thrown at you in school, it can seem like you are...

We are pleased to announce two of the panelists for the discussion led by Dr. Robert Anda on the September 8, 2017, event titled Healing Communities. Additional panelists will be announced over the summer, so stay tuned! For more information on this event in Hagerstown, MD, please reference the attached flyer. Brett Wilson, Maryland House of Delegates, District 2B Victor Brito, Chief, Hagerstown Police Department

I'd like to believe that part of life is about taking chances, taking risks, and about having a support network that will be there when you fall. I struggle with the last part, because when I fell down the rabbit hole almost two years ago (I had a mental health crisis and was then diagnosed with a mental illness), I felt abandoned by the people who were closest to me. I had built much of my life - maybe all of my life - around my career. I never felt like I had a job like other people seem...

Like many Americans, I’m having politics fatigue. Or, to be more specific, arguing-about-politics fatigue. I haven’t run out of salient points or evidence for my political perspective, but there is a particular stumbling block I keep running into when trying to reach across the proverbial aisle and have those “difficult conversations” so smugly suggested by think piece after think piece: I don’t know how to explain to someone why they should care about other people. Personally, I’m happy to...

June 27 is National PTSD Awareness Day, an opportunity to bring to light a disorder that affects millions of Americans every day. The distinction of this day was granted by the United States Senate in 2010. In 2014, the Senate upgraded the cause by designating the full month of June toward raising awareness for PTSD. These efforts are critical to providing opportunities to educate the public about PTSD and how it affects those with the disorder. As a result, perhaps you’ve seen more...