Imagine if we could discover which children are most at risk of developing debilitating mental disorders—and even detect these illnesses before the appearance of a single symptom. Think how that knowledge could help parents, schools, nonprofits,...
Many thanks to the Alaska Children's Trust and their executive director, Trevor Storr, for sponsoring the showing of Paper Tigers in Juneau, Alaska, on October 26th. I was able to attend after my meeting for the day ended. During the private...
This might seem like an obvious statement: kids who grow up in the poorest and most segregated neighborhoods are the most likely to witness violence or get arrested. After all, they are living in areas with higher crime rates, and they tend to...
For decades, scholars who have analyzed death-penalty cases have consistently found racial disparities, with death sentences disproportionately handed down to black men, more often in cases with white victims. But defense lawyers...
Seven organizations will have a chance to further their efforts to help girls in the justice system thanks to more than $650,000 in funding from the National Girls Initiative . The nonprofit alliances and organizations from across the country...
It’s a bright and sunny Tuesday morning in bustling Washington, D.C., and I’m headed to jail. The roads are bumpy, the ride is jerky, and I’m nervous. I didn’t expect to travel to a juvenile detention center when I woke up this...
Joyelle Brandt and I are survivors of childhood abuse working to break the cycle for our families. Raising children as an abuse survivor is often a lonely and isolating experience, as the triggers and flashbacks of abuse can be hard for...
During his 12 seasons as a fullback with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 6-foot-1, 250-pound Mike Alstott was known as "The A-Train" -- a punishing runner and blocker and fan favorite. From 1996 to 2007, Alstott racked up an impressive National Football...
Thousands of federal inmates are getting out of prison because of a change in the way the U.S. government sentences drug criminals . It's part of a broader movement to reconsider tough-on-crime laws that were passed during the War on...
A small survey of parents in Philadelphia found that three-quarters of their children had been given tablets, smartphones or iPods of their own by age 4 and had used the devices without supervision, researchers reported on Monday. The...
Each year, nearly three times as many Americans die from suicide as from homicide. More Americans kill themselves than die from breast cancer. As Thomas Insel , longtime head of the National Institute of Mental Health, prepared to step...
Young fans caught their first glimpse of Demi Lovato when she was just a little girl on Barney and Friends. She later moved on to being a Disney darling, starring in movies such as Camp Rock and releasing music that showed that she had...
Traveling during the Jim Crow era was, as you can imagine, pretty difficult for African Americans. Segregation laws restricted access to restaurants, transit, hotels, businesses, and hospitals. In the South, “ black code” laws...
Humor writer Jenny Lawson has never dealt with her mental health issues the traditional way. As a small child, for example, she had a toy box. When she was feeling anxious, she would take all the toys out of the box and climb inside it. "I...
Last Thursday, on opposite sides of the country, two groundbreaking projects launched. In Philadelphia, 14 communities were awarded $100,000 to $300,000 for two years to expand their “innovative work in addressing childhood adversity”...