The true story of Christopher McCandless, dramatised in the 2007 film Into the Wild, is a search for radical independence that culminates in McCandless’ solitary existence in the wilds of Alaska. It speaks to a powerful belief: to feel you...
For almost a decade I worked as a nurse home visitor in Philadelphia with a well-regarded program that pairs nurses with first-time moms. In the morning I would put on my backpack full of child-development accoutrements, grab my baby scale and...
MEDICAL MAL-PRACTICE: A CASE STUDY © 2015 Krystiane Cooper, LCSW, RPT-S The narrative below is a scenario that is all-too-familiar for trauma survivors treated in medical settings. Consider this story and the medical literature that...
Prosecutors usually spend their energy putting criminals behind bars — not urging their release. But racial disparities in the system and the huge costs of locking up so many people are pushing some government officials to call for a new...
The first thing you notice when you enter the grounds of Halden Prison in Norway's far southeast is the forest: Pine and birch trees surround buildings of dark black brick with elegant windows. There's no concrete exercise yard here; it looks...
Across the country, we have seen a growing awareness of the relationship between traumatic life experiences and health. The foundation of this research is a study produced in 1998 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser...
A recent study linked obesity in children to domestic violence. Now, evidence indicates that childhood trauma can spur physical disease later on, when an abused child reaches adulthood. In Alaska, the state is working to reduce adverse childhood...
Three years ago, the story about how Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, tried a new approach to school discipline and saw suspensions drop 85% struck a nerve. It went viral – twice -- with more than 700,000 page...
Earlier this month at the National Forum for Youth Violence Prevention’s fourth summit on preventing violence, Baltimore presented its city-wide blueprint, “B’More for Youth! Building Baltimore’s Cradle to Career...
Kaiser Permanente is retaliating against the whistleblowers who brought much-needed scrutiny to the HMO's severely understaffed mental health services. Last month , the Oakland-based health care provider fired a respected...
Young men who are chronic gamblers probably suffer from depression, a new study suggests. The Canadian researchers also found boys with impulsive behaviors in childhood were more likely to gamble later in life. "Gambling problems may be...
Local governments and a leading psychiatric association are launching a program to keep convicted criminals with mental illness from landing behind bars and beef up the services offered to current inmates in state prisons and county...
Sierra Castedo-Rodgers got sober in 2012, when she was a 25-year-old graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin. After that, she abandoned her plans for a Ph.D. to pursue a more fulfilling goal: leading an on-campus program to help...
The myriad calls for policing reform in cities like Cleveland , Baltimore , and Ferguson have included initiatives seeking more racial diversity across the forces. All three of these cities have police departments that...
While the term “trauma-informed” is relatively new, the concept shares historical roots with ISTSS. As described in detail by Sandy Bloom, ISTSS grew out of a broad social movement examining and responding to the roots of violence. From...