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In recent years, the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society has turned its focus to caring for caregivers. The medical society, one of the oldest medical societies in the west, celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, is attempting to curb the effects of physician burnout through its Joy of Medicine program. The program is a multi-disciplinary approach to address burnout by encouraging wellness and resiliency among physicians in the region. It was designed with input from all of the...

Learn more about All Children Can Thrive (ACT/CA), trauma informed effort funded through the CA state legislature.

I slamophobic incidents in California are skyrocketing under the administration of President Donald Trump , according to a report released Wednesday by the Council on American Islamic Relations advocacy group. Analysts say the sobering new numbers indicate how xenophobic rhetoric and policy from on high inspire hate at the grassroots level, even in a state like California, typically viewed as a bastion of liberalism and diversity. Reports of Islamophobic incidents in 2017 skyrocketed by 82...

It is likely most readers know someone or they are the someone who has personally experienced alcohol's harm to others | secondhand drinking. The tragedy is we hardly talk about it in ways that can change the lives of those affected -- especially the lives of children. In other words, we hardly talk about it in ways that can prevent, intervene, or treat adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Alcohol’s Harm to Others | Secondhand Drinking and the ACEs Connection One of the 10 ACEs measured in...

“We are in a situation now where the wildfire season doesn’t really have its normal beginning or end,” said Lori Kobza, spokeswoman for the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District. The 629,000 acres burned this year follows large swaths torched last year in Ventura, Santa Barbara, Napa and Sonoma counties, causing dozens of deaths, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Many scientists attribute the more frequent and ferocious fires in the...

After the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida earlier this year, schools are at the epicenter of national debates on gun violence and mental health. How can teachers and administrators deal with troubled students? And how can they make schools safer for all? It’s not the first time that schools have been asked to address social problems that originate far outside their hallways. In a nation where more than 40 percent of kids are from low-income families, school teachers and...

Applications Now Open for Nov 15-16 Transformational Resilience Intensive Train-the-Trainer Workshop The ITRC is offering a Train-the-Trainer Workshop on Transformational Resilience for climate change aggravated traumas and toxic stresses workshop. The workshop will be held November 15-16 in San Francisco. This will be an intensive 2-day training offered in cooperation with the SEI Resilient Community Fellows Program. It is open to a maximum of 20 people who want to learn how to apply...

Mental health disorders in childhood and adolescence are extremely common. Studies estimate between 13 and 20 percent of American children experience a mental disorder in a given year. National survey data indicates that one in five children and teens will suffer a mental disorder that severely impairs daily life. Common mental illnesses include anxiety disorder, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Yet research also indicates that many children in need of mental...

A snapshot of 597 juveniles placed under probation supervision in Santa Barbara County in 2017 shows 53 were incarcerated in juvenile hall, a number 38 percent higher than the average in nearby counties. The reason, according to Probation Department officials, is that the county uses fewer alternatives to incarceration for low-level offenders than comparable counties like San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz and Ventura. Incarcerating misdemeanor offenders, and exposing them to serious,...

Inside an aging brick facility ringed by a chain-link fence and agricultural fields, 14 young people convicted of violent crimes are trying to program a better future for themselves. For the past two months they’ve been learning to write code through a first-of-its-kind pilot program at the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility in Camarillo, California, about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. They’re looking to break that streets-to-prison cycle by picking up new skills – JavaScript, HTML,...

Black children die from gun-related homicides at a rate nearly 10 times higher than that of white children, according to a 2017 study in the American Academy of Pediatrics. Another study published a few weeks ago showed that black men are at risk of being killed by police at a rate about triple that of white men. The statistical differences are important, said Chet Hewitt, president and CEO of the Sierra Health Foundation, which awards grants to reduce health disparities. However, the...

In order to have the best chance of improving outcomes for the mother and infant, routine screening and treatment for depression should begin early in pregnancy, a time when women have increased contact with the health care system.