Blog

Ector County Commissioners approved applying for a grant from the Governors Office that would create a Veterans/Mental Health Court here. County Court-at-Law Judge Scott Layh said an amount for the grant has not been designated at this time. Layh said officials are hoping to be accepted for a specialty court and to receive some portion of the money for it from the state. The way the program works is theyre required to attend every hearing date we have and check in, make sure theyre attending...

At least 8.4 million Americans are providing care to an adult with an emotional or mental health issue, and nearly three quarters report that caregiving causes high emotional stress, finds a new study from the National Alliance for Caregiving in collaboration with Mental Health America and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The study, On Pins & Needles: Caregivers of Adults with Mental Illness, identifies startling inadequacies in the U.S. health care system in meeting the needs of...

Imagine you are feeling sick and your doctor hands you this hand-scrawled prescription: LEECH THERAPY. If you are like me, you may run out of the doctors office screaming. At the very least, you probably seek out another doctor to prescribe a less invasive, more modern treatment, like, say antibiotics. Why dont we think of youth prisons the way we think of leeches? The youth prison model emerged at a time when bloodletting was still a common medical treatment. In the 1800s, a few states...

"The purpose of fear is to raise your awareness, not to stop your progress." Steve Maraboli I sat down to write this piece after reading a post about being "drugged by our parents"! And, let me tell you, I had an immediate visceral reaction. I felt sick to my stomach and I felt upset that we have to resort to fear mongering to get others to see that our points of view are superior. If you want to read that post, you can read it here . But, what really came to fruition to me: We really suck...

Title: Thats Not Cool: Mobilizing Youth Communities for Teen Dating Violence Prevention & Education Date: Tuesday, February 23rd, 2016 Description: Thats Not Cool is an award-winning national public education initiative that uses engaging digital tools to promote healthy relationships and prevent teen dating abuse. With our newly developed website, mobile apps, and an incredible community of youth organizers across the country, Thats Not Cool brings adult allies a vast of culturally...

On Feb. 15 the school board was asked to reflect on future needs. One includes adding a social worker next year whose pay would be split three ways -- $25,000 each -- between the school district, Pierce County and St. Croix County. Superintendent Jamie Benson referred to a couple of research studies that show how a trauma-filled childhood affects brain development and often leads to risk factors of alcoholism, suicidal tendencies, criminal behavior, anxiety, depression, diseases,...

When Karina Cabrera first sat down with Angelica,* a 15-year-old enrolled in Centinela Youth Services juvenile diversion program, the case manager remembers the youths icy stare and clipped answers. (* Angelicas name has been changed to protect her privacy.) Just weeks before, Angelica had been hauled in by members of the Los Angeles Police Department after she was caught trying to steal a shirt at Target. This was Angelicas first offense, but the teenager from South L.A. was quickly heading...

Myron Orfield, who directs the Institute for Metropolitan Opportunity at the University of Minnesota, has had a multifaceted career, having been a civil-rights lawyer, a state legislator, a professor, and the author of books on regional governance and suburban development. (Hes also the brother of the social scientist Gary Orfield, an expert on school segregation.) In a paper he co-authored in 2012, Orfield described the state of integration in U.S. suburbs as fragile , and called for...

If it seems like stories of men and women being released after years behind bars for crimes they didnt commit are becoming more commonplace, its because they are. According to a report from the University of Michigan, there were a record 149 exonerations in 2015. Thats about five times as many exonerated men and women as there were 20 years early in 1995 . On average, those released last year had spent 14.5 years in prison. Many assume that following the acknowledgment of such a gross error...

Weve heard a lot about Black Lives Matter, but you may never have heard one of its founders reflect outside a moment of crisis. #BlackLivesMatter co-founder and artist Patrisse Cullors presents a luminous vision of the resilient world were making now. She joins Dr. Robert Ross, a physician and a leader who is helping redefine public health in terms of human wholeness, in a cross-generational conversation. They give voice to the generative potential in this moment we inhabit its courage and...

ACEsConnection.com’s secret sauce is in its groups — such as the ACEs in Education group, which has just over 200 members at this point. Our goal is to make this group the go-to place for information about trauma-informed schools.

I have an amazing story to share! I am a child psychiatrist, poet and artist. The story I wrote at a Therapeutic Arts Alliance of Manhattan workshop for my own healing from early childhood trauma, has become a beautifully illustrated book, Bird That Wants to Fly, and has inspired a children's opera! As if this were not amazing enough, the story is narrated by actor Danny Glover! The book is a featured resource of Trauma Informed Oregon and SMART ( Start Making a Reader Today ). There is also...