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National Geographic is going to be taking an historic step with their first issue of 2017. The magazine will feature 9-year-old transgender girl Avery Jackson, who has been diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria, on their cover next month. The announcement came when her mother Debi proudly sharing the cover on Twitter. According to Susan Goldberg, editor in chief of National Geographic , they will also be releasing an accompanying documentary dedicated to examining gender around the world. The...

Nearly 350,000 U.S. service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries since 2001, according to the Defense Department. Thanks to modern body armor and military vehicles, many service members survive roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices, only to come home struggling to function. The invisible wounds of war can be difficult to diagnose and treat. But the military is finding that art, and mask-making in particular, can spur the healing process. Art therapy, along with...

Three years ago, when Jay Newton-Small moved her father into a care facility in Sykesville, Md., she was given a 20-page questionnaire to fill out. Her father had Alzheimer’s disease, and his fading memory and agitated behavior made it hard for caregivers to understand his needs. But as Newton-Small leafed through the lengthy form, she had a hunch that it was not the best approach. “I was like, ‘You’re never going to have time to read 20 pages on each patient,” said Newton-Small, a District...

Los Altos High School junior Nadia Ghaffari, left, interviews Amma Kankam, who lives in Ghana, for a segment on TeenzTalk.org, a website Ghaffari started to connect teens on mental health and other topics related to wellness in response to the suicide clusters in Palo Alto during the 2008-09 and 2014-15 school years. (Provided photo) It was during an AP psychology unit on depression highlighting the suicide clusters in Palo Alto that Nadia Ghaffari decided to do her part in improving the...

The "Star Wars" legend, who died at age 60 less than one week after suffering a heart attack, was more than an actor. She fought for animal welfare . She railed against sexism , body-shaming , and ageism in Hollywood. And she often spoke candidly about living with addiction and bipolar disorder. To many fans, Fisher's openness about living with mental illness made a big difference. Helping to stomp out the stigma against mental illness quickly became one way that fans honored Fisher's...

A number of researchers believe that symptoms of child traumatic stress could be mistaken for ADHD and that the risk of misdiagnosis is high. This is because there is an overlap between ADHD symptoms and the effects of experiencing trauma. Unless symptoms are examined closely, the profiles of child traumatic stress and ADHD can appear to be similar. We know that misdiagnoses are happening. Let's help change that. To download the full Guide go HERE

The First 1,000 Days Project may be of interest to many of my fellow Washingtonians in this group! This project is attempting to answer these questions … “What will it take to get 1,000 Babies in 1,000 Days born in one or 2 different communities to thrive, regardless of the stress their families may have been experiencing at their birth? How do we find them sooner, figure out which families need more support, target those supports, and track how the population is doing? What can we learn and...

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services, sends out this list of links every couple of weeks. Most of the links are from posts on ACEsConnection, and, as you can see, they're organized by category. ACEs, Adversity's Impact Show & Tell Severe inequality Is incompatible with the American dream Why extreme wealth makes it hard for people to do better than their parents did Brain and Biology Rhythm of breathing affects memory, fear. Breathing is not just for oxygen; it's also linked to...

I write in my most recent book, My Journey of Healing in Life After Trauma, Part 2, how children can be saved from the emotional damage of growing up in a toxic home.

When the U.S. government hired photographer Dorothea Lange in 1942, she thought she'd be documenting history for the world to see. While she was personally opposed to internment, Lange accepted the government's offer in hopes that her work would provide a valuable record of events for future generations. For more than 60 years, Lange's work sat in the National Archives, hidden from public view. The decision to house Japanese-Americans in internment camps is largely looked back on as a scar...

While we enjoy the comfort and advantages technology has brought, it would be catastrophic to ignore the continuous detrimental impacts it has had and continues to have on low to mid skill job markets.

Most restaurants close their doors for Christmas day, but one is leaving theirs wide open: Shish Restaurant in southeast London. On Dec. 25, they will be serving free, three-course meals to the homeless and elderly. Manager Irfan Can Genc tells NPR's Allison Aubrey on All Things Considered the dinner is a way to build bridges between the Muslim community and the city of London.