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Climate models have suggested that the safe boundary for climate change was surpassed in the late 1980s Photograph: Alamy By Damian Carrington, The Guardian, September 13, 2023 Earth’s life support systems have been so damaged that the planet is “well outside the safe operating space for humanity”, scientists have warned. Their assessment found that six out of nine “planetary boundaries” had been broken because of human-caused pollution and destruction of the natural world. The planetary...

By Hannah Frye, Image: Victor Bordera/Stocksy, mbghealth, September 11, 2023 The concept of a mental health day may be foreign to some, but essential to others. Whether you call it a wellness day, a bounce-back day, or just a day off when you’re feeling down, the idea behind it remains the same: One day to do nothing but focus on your mental health and feeling better by the end of it than you did at the beginning. Think of it like a vacation for your brain. To make sure you get the most out...

Images: Artem Perevozchikov/iStock/Getty Images Plus, Gearstd/Getty Images By Karen Weese, FastCompany, September 14, 2023 It didn’t seem like much—only $100. But Tiffany Simone didn’t have $100. And she couldn’t get her kids back any other way. Simone had voluntarily placed her two children, 8-year-old Russell and 11-year-old Destinie, into the care of the state because she had no one who could watch them while she was hospitalized for a medical emergency. She assumed she would pick them up...

The brain doesn’t fully develop until about the age of 25. This fact is sometimes quite surprising and eye opening to most adults. It can also be somewhat overwhelming for new parents and professionals who are interacting with babies and young children every day, to contemplate. It is essential to realize however, that the greatest time of development occurs in the years prior to kindergarten. And even more critical to understand is that by age three 85 percent of the core structures of the...

Many may wonder about the trends of 2023 for modernized hair care and styling. I have provided a list of innovative hair care and styling that will fit the needs of both women and men. I have included hair care tips that will assist those who are experiencing physical and mental health distress (i.e. Alopecia and Seborrheic Dermatitis (SD)). These hair care tips will alleviate the burdensomeness of the aforementioned symptoms. Some of these techniques include hair masks, hair growth oils,...

Ivan Encelewski, executive director at Ninilchik Traditional Council, fishes for salmon with a gillnet on the Kenai River in Alaska. Provided photo. By Nancy Marie Spears, The Imprint, September 5, 2023 Research released today highlights an issue rarely discussed in the field of child welfare, but vital to the health and well-being of Indigenous children and families: their stewardship of the natural environment. The unique study focuses on many generations of the Alaska Native Ninilchik...

By Seth D. Kaplan, Illustration: Bryce Wymer, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2023 Americans have much less social trust than they used to, scholarship and polls suggest. The public has precious little faith in everything from the federal government to organized religion to the media to people of divergent political sympathies. “Our [country’s] stock of social capital—the very fabric of our connections with each other—has plummeted, impoverishing our lives and communities,” concludes...

By Jack Saul, Photo: from article, Psychotherapy Networker, September/October 2023 As you enter the dimly lit space, you sit down in one of 10 chairs arranged in a circle. Others file in and choose their seats, each person facing several others. You wait. Then, you begin to hear the voices of other men and women, invisible to you, speaking from all sides of the space. The voices rise above the ambient sounds and music in the background. First, you hear a young man. His voice is prerecorded,...

Shneaqua Purvis in front of Tompkins Houses, the public housing project in Brooklyn where her sister was shot to death in their family home in 2002. Joel Arbaje for The Trace By Laura Esposito, the Trace, September 7, 2023 Shneaqua Purvis grew up to the sound of gunfire. As kids in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in the 1980s and ’90s, she and her sisters would all duck their heads and crawl under the kitchen table when the shooting started. Their first-floor apartment was next to an alley so...

By Gray Babbs, Em Balkan, Jae Downing Corman, and David J. Meyers, Photo: from article, HealthAffairs, September 11, 2023 In July 2023, the US House of Representatives made bold and decisive moves to erode gender-affirming health care coverage, marking the beginning of a new frontier in the battle for transgender rights. The House passed two bills and released a third bill that would impact gender-affirming care coverage for Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, the Indian Health Service (IHS), and...

By Laura Gallant, 9/14/23, https://positiveexperience.org/blog/ Having access to child care is fundamental to practicing positive childhood experiences (PCEs) and creating access to all Four Building Blocks of HOPE. Affordable child care creates less financial stress leading to less stress in the home. Children have a safe environment to play and learn in during the week, creating routine and stability. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) included funding for...

We often have conversations with our children about the first day of school, but we don’t always take the time to discuss the first school bus ride. Having to board the bus can induce feelings of fear and anxiety, whether it’s the first day of school ever or just the first day of a new school year. It’s big, it’s bright, it’s loud and it’s full of strangers. Preparation can help ease negative feelings children might experience. Here are a few tips to make the first school bus adventure less...