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Hi folks, April is, National Child Abuse Prevention Month, an annual observance in the United States dedicated to raising awareness and preventing child abuse. Here's a song I wrote reaching out to the victim/survivors of child abuse. There is hope & healing my friends . “If we could somehow end child abuse and neglect, the eight hundred pages of DSM... would be shrunk to a pamphlet in two generations.” Jon Briere Take care, Michael Skinner : "Brush Away Your Tears" - ...

With mental health beds in short supply, emergency rooms increasingly have become the care of first and last resort for people in the grips of a psychiatric episode. Now, hospitals around the country are opening emergency units that calmly cater to patients with mental health needs. For decades, hospitals have strained to accommodate patients in psychiatric crisis in emergency rooms. The horror stories of failure abound: Patients heavily sedated or shackled to gurneys for days while awaiting...

When you’re a people pleaser, setting boundaries can feel painful. We worry we’ll hurt someone’s feelings. We fear we’ll fracture the relationship. We think saying no is rude or cruel or not compassionate—and we see ourselves as the opposite of these things. And we simply don’t have much practice with setting boundaries. And so, it’s so much easier to simply not set them. It’s so much easier to stay quiet. But it’s certainly not healthier. Many view boundaries as walls. But, according to...

I t is unacceptable and a national disgrace that there have been at least 35 suicides of Indigenous people this year – in just 12 weeks – and three were children only 12 years old. The Kimberley region – where my mob are from – has the highest rate of suicide in the country. If the Kimberley was a country it would have the worst suicide rate in the world. A recent inquest investigated 13 deaths which occurred in the Kimberley region in less than four years, including five children aged...

Some states have made great strides in reforming their juvenile justice systems, moving away from incarceration to community-based alternatives. For more information on Community-Based Alternatives, go to JJIE Resource Hub | Community-Based Alternatives But how do states and local agencies fund the range of community services that many advocates believe are needed? In Fort Worth, Texas, a closed youth facility became a new source of funds, said Samantha Harvell, principal policy associate at...

The amendment is brief—a mere 52 words—and its core sentiment appears utterly innocuous: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." But the Equal Rights Amendment has been anything but anodyne since its original defeat in the late 1970s. Today's reignited movement has much in common with the earlier fight—including the vehement and powerful opposition of the religious right. Amid the Women's March and #MeToo...

Last week, Bloomberg reported that the Rockefeller Foundation may be axing its Resilient Cities program, started only in 2013. The program is designed to help cities address the effects of climate change including by establishing response systems that are well thought through even in the face of incidents which are virtually unprecedented. According to Bloomberg, the effort may be closed as soon as this summer. While the article sardonically bore the label “climate changed,” Bloomberg’s...

With historic demographic shifts in Congress this year, there is even more momentum to address broken policies that can improve the lives of families across our nation. The Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community (Family Prosperity) is bringing policy, practice, philanthropy, research, and private sector leaders together to capitalize on the energy and opportunities materializing at the local, state, and national levels to improve family-supportive policies. Family Prosperity is...

“I grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood,” says NICHQ Project Specialist, Avery Desrosiers, MPH. “As a result, I didn’t feel the color of my skin until I was almost 20 years old. I didn’t understand what my whiteness meant.” Desrosiers spent several months in Cape Town, South Africa where she studied the strategies used during Apartheid to oppress Black South Africans systematically, and the lasting impact that had on communities. She recalls the stark contrast of mansions...

When we grew up with childhood trauma, we’re sometimes justified in blaming others for struggles we have today. There’s no way to avoid placing blame on parents and others who abused and neglected us. But blame taken too far can poison the healing process and leave us disempowered and unclear how to move forward. Healing often involves developing a more realistic perspective around blame; no matter who caused the trauma, the solution begins with us. In this video, I talk for the first time...

All things considered, Ella Mae Vail said her stay at the Weber County jail was probably the best interaction she’s had with law enforcement. Most of the correctional officers used her preferred name and pronouns and seemed to care about her well-being. But for all the good, there was some bad. Like how Vail, a transgender woman, was so scared of being housed among men in the general jail population that she hurt herself to be placed in a mental health ward. Or how before she was assigned to...

FROM THE AIR, drone photography exposes the economic divide within cities. Roads, canals, and fences become barriers that split the land separating the rich and poor. Stark images from Johnny Miller’s series “Unequal Scenes” highlight the uneven development of cities. Makeshift shacks butt against developments in Mumbai. Lots sit empty in Detroit while an adjoining neighborhood flourishes. An electric fence buzzes around an affluent community in South Africa. The landscape shows how...