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At 10 a.m. on a recent Wednesday, a line of parents pushing strollers filed into a conference room at the Sacramento County Courthouse. They sat at rows of narrow plastic tables, shushing their babies and gazing up at a man in a black robe. Hearing Officer Jim Teal sounded his gavel. “This is the time and place set for Early Intervention Family Drug Court,” he began, gazing sternly at the rapt faces of parents who sit before him. “Graduation from this court is considered a critical factor in...

SACRAMENTO -- Legislation that would require better transparency and tracking of mental health services for foster kids in every California county unanimously passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Thursday. (August 11, 2016) Senate Bill 1291, by Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, would institute more stringent annual oversight of county Medi-Cal mental health plans' services to foster youth. Services may include screenings, assessments, psychiatric hospitalizations, crisis interventions,...

The latest adverse childhood experiences survey from the California Department of Public Health shows that 42% of the population has an ACE score of 3 or higher; 16% have an ACE score of 4 or higher. Those with an ACE score of 4 or higher are: 3x more likely to be current smokers 4x more likely to have a depressive disorder 2x more likely to have asthma 2x more likely to be obese 4x more likely to have COPD 3x more likely to have a stroke Here are a few other highlights from the six-page...

[ Ed. note: Following is a media release published yesterday by Mathematica Policy Research. This follows on the heals of the report, "Self-Healing Communities" that Laura Porter, Dr. Robert Anda and WHO wrote for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Both reports and executive summaries are attached to this blog post. Both reports are significant, because they show that community ACEs initiatives -- with "modest investments and limited staff" -- are solving some of our most intractable...

Fewer students are using drugs and alcohol, but more feel harassed and bullied, a new health survey found. The California Healthy Kids Survey, done every two years since 1985, asked more than 36,000 middle and high school students across the state about campus safety, substance use, mental health and other issues. The California Department of Education and the California Department of Health Care Services coordinated the report, which takes a random sample of seventh-, ninth- and 11th-grade...

(Image by John Walker: Arthur Casares, a homeless Desert Storm Army veteran admires his new pair of jeans during the Central Valley Veterans Stand Down in 2009 at VFW Post 8900 in Fresno.) .) Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article91362442.html#storylink=cpy “War is hell.” Most Americans who have never experienced the trauma of combat understandably cannot appreciate the full context or gravity of this statement. But to those with family, neighbors or friends...

A man drives while drugged, gets a concussion and goes to the hospital. Doctors patch him up and send him home. The next week the same man gets into a bar brawl, breaks his nose and goes to the hospital. Doctors patch him up and send him home. It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. Unfortunately, it’s not. For a long time this has been the pattern of treating those with drug and alcohol addictions: Patch them up and send them home, or jail them and send them home, but Placer County is...

Almost $7 million in funding was approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday for a year-long campaign to reach 500,000 people who are eligible to have felonies on their records reduced to misdemeanors under Proposition 47. The money will come out of the county’s annual budget and will help pay for mailers, town hall meetings, and information on the county’s 2-1-1 information line, county officials told supervisors. The goal is to reach 500,000 people involved in some...

In a potential crisis crossing demographic lines, one-third of California's 11th-graders and one-quarter of seventh-graders reported feeling chronically sad or hopeless over the past 12 months, a survey released Monday showed. The California Healthy Kids Survey also found that about 19 percent of both ninth-graders and 11th-graders seriously considered attempting suicide. When it comes to depression and anxiety among high school students, the trend "is not moving in the right direction,"...

Each year, California prosecutors charge hundreds of youth in the adult criminal justice system through a power called “ direct file .” Prosecutors make the decision to direct file behind closed doors without considering a youth’s background, mental health, trauma history, degree of participation in the offense or potential for rehabilitation. Direct file also does not allow for many due process protections — for example, no hearing before a judge and no right to appeal. Prosecutors in...

The Positive Youth Justice Initiative is entering its third phase, with up to $750,000 in grant funding available for nonprofit organizations in California to advance positive juvenile justice. The Center for Health Program Management will fund grassroots organizations to advance the work of the Positive Youth Justice Initiative through community organizing to accelerate a statewide movement toward a more youth development-focused juvenile justice system. Awards will range from $75,000 to...

On July 11, 2016 California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith announced nearly $13 million in grants to help reduce mental health disparities in communities that have traditionally been underserved. The funding will be distributed to 11 pilot projects statewide that provide mental health services to five target populations, including African American, Asian and Pacific Islander, Latino, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and...