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FAI is a nonprofit Christian ministry who does work in some of the worst places on earth towards Christians.

By Robert Kolker, The New York Times, January 13, 2021 TROUBLED The Failed Promise of America’s Behavioral Treatment Programs By Kenneth R. Rosen From the very start of the prologue of “Troubled” — Kenneth R. Rosen’s examination of the so-called “tough-love industry” of wilderness camps and residential therapeutic programs for young people — there is no mystery about how the author feels about such places. Rosen writes that the parents who choose to send their offspring away “have their...

By Per Kristiansson, EurekAlert!, January 21, 2021 An adverse upbringing often impairs people's circumstances and health in their adult years, especially for couples who have both had similar experiences. This is shown by a new study, carried out by Uppsala University researchers, in which 818 mothers and their partners filled in a questionnaire one year after having a child together. The study is now published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE . "When we studied couples where both partners...

By Amanda Merck, Salud America!, January 21, 2021 Toxic stress is brought about by repeated stressful and traumatic experiences with no supportive relationships. This is causing huge mental and physical health problems for people across the nation, including Latinos and other people of color. Dr. Nadine Burke Harris even calls toxic stress a public health crisis. This is why she authored the Roadmap for Resilience: The California Surgeon General’s Report on Adverse Childhood Experiences,...

By Katie Haylor, National Institute for Play, Decmeber 18, 2020 Have you played enough today? We all know we should try and move our bodies a bit and eat some vegetables for our health, but for some researchers, it’s also really important that we try and introduce some playfulness into our lives where we can. And playing is not just for kids, as Katie Haylor heard from Stuart Brown of the National Institute for Play in California back in September… Stuart - Though we are capable of...

From Andrus Family Fund, January 2021 This political moment calls for imagination and vision beyond reforms from the status quo. Young people are being politicized and tapping into a new imagination— from living through trauma caused by the carceral state to reading books, joining organizations and attending and organizing protests and community events. The Visionary Freedom Fund seeks projects or organizations that are building power, developing or cultivating new visions, ideas or...

By Eric Boodman, STAT, January 22, 2021 In September, after the Food and Drug Administration authorized certain Covid-19 treatments seemingly based more on presidential puffery than on clinical data, some physicians decided to take matters into their own hands. Specifically, the National Medical Association, a professional society of African American doctors, formed its own in-house FDA to vet the data when the official one seemed not to be . At first, the task force was framed as a stand-in...

By Julie C. Garlen and Neil Ramjewan, The Conversation, January 2021 Inauguration Day approaches in the United States after a bitterly divisive election and the unprecedented events surrounding the confirmation of Joe Biden’s electoral college victory . The world is waiting to see what changes a Joe Biden/Kamala Harris administration might bring to the beleaguered nation. Many believe that the president-elect bears the responsibility for the future of American democracy , while others assert...

By Flagstaff Business News, January 6, 2021 Virginia Watahomigie is worried about our families. As the executive director for the Coconino Coalition for Children and Youth (CCC&Y), she knows that isolation, depression and anxiety – all conditions mental health experts say have been made worse by the pandemic – are increasingly having a negative effect on children in Arizona, particularly in rural areas where resources are less available than in larger cities and distances to travel for...

By Erica L. Green, The New York Times, January 24, 2021 *This article contains information that may be sensitive to some groups. The reminders of pandemic-driven suffering among students in Clark County, Nev., have come in droves. Since schools shut their doors in March, an early-warning system that monitors students’ mental health episodes has sent more than 3,100 alerts to district officials, raising alarms about suicidal thoughts, possible self-harm or cries for care. By December, 18...

Happy Acts of Kindness Week! Use #21ActsofKindnessVA on social media to join us in celebrating! Visit the Acts of Kindness 2021 website for more resources & ideas :) Use the 21 Acts of Kindness Tracker to help keep track of what you do throughout the week - color in a star for each act of kindness! You can download a PDF of the tracker HERE .

By Reuters, The Guardian, January 23, 2021 France will tighten its laws on incest, the president, Emmanuel Macron, said in a series of tweets on Saturday, after the publication of a book accusing a top French political commentator of abusing his stepson sparked outrage across the country. Macron said on his Twitter account that France needed to adapt its laws to better protect children from sexual violence and that he had asked the justice minister to chair a consultation aimed at quickly...