Blog

The legacy of Southside St. Petersburg lives and dies by segregation. Jim Crow discrimination forced black residents into the area in the late 1800s and early 1900s. But, by the 1920s, the neighborhood that hate and separation had spawned near Central Florida’s Gulf Coast had flourished into a thriving oasis of art, music, food, and culture. In its prime, the Manhattan Casino, perched in the heart of the 22nd Street South business district and better known simply as “The Deuces” to locals,...

It's been one year since the premiere of RESILIENCE at Sundance, and since then we've screened at festival around the world and in hundreds of communities across the nation. RESILIENCE dives into the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the birth of a new movement to treat and prevent toxic stress. Now understood to be one of the leading causes of everything from heart disease and cancer to substance abuse and depression, extremely stressful experiences in childhood can alter...

Note: I know we don't all share the same politics. In this essay, I wrote for Elephant Journal about my own perspective about marching in Boston. I speak only for myself in this essay. I particularly appreciate those of you who have written to me privately, in the past, with political views quite different to share your thoughts and feelings. Those conversations are helpful and I value them in email or comments and remain open to considering things I don't know, feel or experience while...

Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF), the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), and the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities (Alliance) are working collaboratively, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to identify and nationally disseminate best practices for partnership models to improve broad health outcomes by addressing both medical and social needs. This request for information (RFI) is specifically exploring partnerships between community-based organizations (CBOs)...

Back in December, I wrote an article, entitled “ A Prescription For Compassionate Healthcare ” that highlighted what medical professionals can offer to patients who are facing health crises. I mentioned a nurse friend named Ondreah Johnson who was anticipating hip replacement surgery. She came through the procedure with flying colors and established a support system of friends and family to aid in her recovery. She is ambulating with a cane and is still not 100% but getting there. She...

Inner conflict is a vague term that doesn’t communicate the actual dynamic or real world symptoms suffered by a self-conflicted person. Due to a general lack of practical information regarding inner conflict, many try to address the wide array of symptoms without understanding the inner conflict itself. Symptom intervention often fails because the original inner conflict – the cause – remains unaltered. This post will: • Clearly define inner conflict • Provide real-world examples of inner...

I wanted every individual suffering from chronic illnesses to understand the emerging science on not only how early adversity can lead to adult chronic illness, but how we can heal.

MOGADISHU — In Somalia, an exercise program for survivors of sexual violence is helping participants overcome trauma. It's a trendy program in an unlikely place. In classes across the Somali capital of Mogadishu, youths practice breathing, meditation and stretching. Dressed in matching blue track suits, the color of the Somali flag, they hold difficult poses. Read more...

Something is trying to get itself written. You can feel it: There’s a bulge in the ether, a protuberance in the brainpan. Something is trying to get itself written, and it has elected you—by what process, God only knows—as its writer. Can you do the job, complete the commission? It’s going to take some ninja skills. The energy accumulates, shapelessly, buzzingly, around no clear point. Les Murray has called it a “painless headache,” this pre-writing electrical build that must be “tapped” or...

Donning a protective gown, rubber gloves and a face mask, Dayna Gurley looks like she’s heading into surgery. But Gurley is a medical social worker charged with figuring out why her client, a man who uses more health care services than almost anyone else in Houston, has been in three different hospitals in the last month. The patient, who asked not to be identified, has chronic massive ulcers, AIDS and auditory hallucinations. He rents a cot in another person’s home but is more often...

It’s a little after noon. Usually by this hour, David Weiss would be waking for the second time, still groggy from his antipsychotics. He’d have gotten up once at dawn, maybe made himself an egg with toast. He might have gone into the back bedroom to scan his ham radio or played a few chords on his guitar. Then he’d go back to sleep. But on this day, he had somewhere to be. It’s easier to get up on days like this, days with a purpose. And so at noon, he is sitting in an abnormal- psychology...

This week, our “Americans at Work”photo essay features photographs of the NorthWest Bible Church’s Between Jobs Ministry in Spring, Texas, made by photographer Elizabeth Conley : “While the nation has been enjoying the benefits of cheaper gas at the pump, oil-producing states have seen the negative effects. The latest numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show that between October 2014 and May 2016, there’s been a decline in oil and gas employment of 26 percent. For more...