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You're at a cafeteria, you've got your lunch ... and then you just don't know where to sit. You don't want to sit alone, but you also don't know who would be friendly and let you sit with them. Sixteen-year-old Natalie Hampton has been there. She's an 11th-grader from Sherman Oaks, Calif., and the creator of a new app called Sit With Us. Hampton recently spoke about the app with All Things Considered host Audie Cornish. A transcript of their conversation follows, edited for clarity. To read...

For the past week, the East County Chamber of Commerce has been giving out wristbands to local homeless shelters and first responders. Their goal is to better connect homeless people to services and resources. People can text "ConnectEC" to 77453, which then gives them options for help covering basic needs such as health and shelter. The idea is to refer them to local resources, like the Crisis House in El Cajon. The East County Chamber of Commerce said they worked with people who are...

Anyone who lives with bipolar disorder knows life is filled with unexpected ups and downs. After I was diagnosed with bipolar 2, it took me some time to figure out what my triggers are and what I need to do to stay well. The more I have learned about the illness and myself, the easier it is to manage day-to-day. Everyone is different, but these are some things I have found helpful. To read more of Katie Gallo's article, please click here.

If you live with anxiety , you might be familiar with some of the seemingly “harmless” but incredibly hurtful things people often say to those struggling with it. Sometimes these “harmless” comments come in the form of a question. ( Have you tried meditating? ) Sometimes they come with a “solution” via personal anecdote. ( Becky used to get panic attacks, and once she started exercising again, her anxiety totally went away. ) Most often, they come from a place of misunderstanding mental...

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Authorities in San Diego have confiscated twelve guns from campuses across the county since the anonymous hotline “Students Speaking Out” was implemented in 1999. That’s according to Dep. Adriana Uribe with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, who helps manage the county’s anonymous tip hotlines. “That’s twelve potential school shootings that didn’t happen because somebody said something,” said Uribe. To read more of Matt Boone's article and to watch the accompanying video,...

So much of our nation's history – and our present – is rooted in the institution of slavery. Yet, America's schools are woefully unprepared to teach children about American slavery and all of the history related to it. That's what the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance project discovered after a yearlong investigation that included surveys of more than 1,000 high school seniors, an examination of state standards and textbooks, and questionnaires to more than 1,700 social...

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) — Transgender foster children would be guaranteed access to health care specific to their unique needs under a bill announced Monday by San Diego Assemblyman Todd Gloria. The Democrat’s bill would amend the list of foster youth rights to include “access to gender-affirming health care and gender-affirming behavioral health services,” such as counseling to cope with gender identity issues or gender confirmation surgery. That list includes such freedoms as accessing the...

Mission: Promoting trauma-informed services in the San Diego region through collaboration, advocacy, and education. I. Noon Networking II. Introductions (Name and Organization) III. Trauma-Informed Journey Presentation a. NAMI, Linda Ketterer IV. ACEs Connection Network a. Using ACEs Connection to connect to the power of transformation in the ACEs Science movement V. Committee Report Out a. Membership Committee – Stephen Carroll/Linda Ketterer b. Training Committee – Craig Beswick/Melissa...

Working on improving police-community relations requires specific knowledge and skills which may or may not have been part of one’s religious training. The approaches in the Building Trust Partnership Handbook and website require religious leaders to know certain information, to think differently, and to carry out a variety of actions. Convening a community dialogue requires facilitation skills. Asking the police to deliver a presentation on the criminal justice system requires knowledge...

Barry Pollard told the San Diego Trauma-Informed Guide Team (SD-TIGT) how a small group of exasperated residents had rattled the corporate gates and won. During the “trauma-informed journey” portion of January’s SD-TIGT meeting—a regular feature in which a member or guest shares challenges, triumphs and lessons learned in the course of implementing trauma-informed practices—Pollard, founder of San Diego’s three-year-old Urban Collaborative Project (UCP), told how residents in Southeast San...

For the first time ever, KPBS teams up with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to compare American privatized medicine with government funded, universal health care in Canada. In the end, which system would make us healthier? In which country would we live longer? And is basic health care a right or a privilege? To watch the KPBS News video, please click here.

Economic inequality is an epidemic in the United States. The disparities in opportunity, resources, and wealth in our country are evident, however, this article supplies data that exemplifies these trends. To address economic inequality is to address the adverse outcomes it creates. To read more of Zaid Jilani's article, please click here.