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A rapidly expanding medical program for low-income first-time mothers combines social services with the latest in brain science. The Nurse-Family Partnership provides in-home advice on health and parenting, which can lead to improved cognitive development and language skills for their children, who are showing up to school better prepared for learning. Special correspondent Cat Wise reports. [See the video...

Teens from high-risk neighborhoods who are able to resist street gang recruitment tend to have one thing in common: a caring teacher and/or adult in their lives. This is according to a new study led by Gabriel Merrin, a doctoral candidate in child development at the University of Illinois. The study examined the individual, peer, family, school, and neighborhood factors associated with young people who resist the magnetic pull of street gangs. Merrin discovered that kids who decline gang...

Lengthy, complicated and expensive programs are used in schools every day to improve student performance, but last week the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services kept it simple. If schools want to take one action to boost student attendance, health, behavior and learning, they should help uninsured students enroll in health insurance, the departments said. Identifying students who are uninsured and helping their families apply for insurance is “high-impact...

Perseverance Theater, in Juneau, AK, premiered a play by Vera Starbard, a young Alaska Native woman who wrote about the abuse she suffered as a young girl. In an interview published by the Juneau Empire, Mrs. Starbard spoke about the play and writing it . I have talked to a number of ACE advocates in Juneau who rave about the play.  During my conversations with Dr. VIncent Felitti, he has encouraged me to find ways to tell the ACE story through television. I have tried to interest some...

Book Synopsis/ Jasmine/The Wooden Girl by Janie Lancaster     The death of Jasmine’s mother forces her to leave her familiar hometown in Brewster, New York and travel by plane thousands of miles away to the city of San Diego, California to be reunited with a stranger–a man who calls himself her dad.  Jasmine’s father is expecting to meet the exuberant lively little girl with rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes he left behind six years ago. Instead he is...

Texas prison psychiatrist Pradan Nathan recalls an unsettling face-to-face session with a dissatisfied patient about a dozen years ago at a maximum security prison in East Texas. The large man, a member of a notorious prison gang, insisted Nathan prescribe him a particular medication. Nathan said he didn’t need it. “I’m going to stab you to death the next time you come in here,” the prisoner growled. Nathan feels a lot safer these days. He sees up to 16 patients a day...

An experiment has been underway in California since November 2014, when voters approved Proposition 47: put fewer lawbreakers in jail without increasing crime. The measure converted a list of nonviolent felonies into misdemeanors, which translated into little or no jail time for crimes such as low-value theft and possession of hard drugs. Police didn't like Prop 47 when it was on the ballot, and now many are convinced they were right to oppose it. In Huntington Beach, a seaside city in...

A mina usually takes her brother to the clinic by force. He doesn’t like going. “I feel very bad when I take him there. I have to do it but I cry at the same time,” says the young mother who lives in downtown Hargeisa, capital of the breakaway republic of Somaliland . “We have no choice but to take him. What else can we do for him?” Amina* adds, visibly pained. Her 38-year-old brother Bulhan* has on four occasions been admitted to the Macruuf Relief...

The JED Foundation and the Steve Fund, two leading mental health organizations, announced in December 2015 a joint plan to provide colleges and universities with recommended practices for improving support for the mental health and emotional well-being of America’s college students of color. The announcement is accompanied by the release of new data showing the urgency of improving mental health support for this population. Newly analyzed data from a 2015 national survey conducted by...

Tammy Ambre (l) and Keri Bechelli of One Hope United __________________________________________ One Hope United attempts to lead those affected by childhood trauma down a Healing Path. That’s the name of a three-year-old program that has brought a different approach to helping people with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The program operates out of One Hope United’s office in Gurnee, IL, north of Chicago, and three others in the metropolitan area. “It’s...

For two decades, there's been evidence that people who suffered childhood trauma — violence, sexual abuse or family dysfunction — are much more likely to have a chronic health problems and engage in risky behavior. Now, 14 community health centers around the U.S. are acting as laboratories for an experiment to see if screening and then treating people for trauma can improve the results from treatment they get for their diabetes, heart disease, pulmonary disease or other ailments.

Summer and after-school programs could more easily feed children under legislation approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee. By voice vote, the committee approved the bipartisan Improving Child Nutrition Integrity and Access Act , which reauthorizes and modifies federal child nutrition programs. It won the support of a wide range of public health, agriculture and education groups. The bill, which sets standards for summer meal and after-school programs, would streamline the...