January 2016

I attended Syl Jone's play BECAUSE at the Mixed Blood Theatre last week.   It's a moving piece that explores living with mental health issues from multiple perspectives leaving the audience with a personal sense of what it's like to be this person, live with this person and understand this person .   Syl is now the Resident Fellow for Narrative Health at HCMC (I think every hospital should have such a position - how else can these stories be told?) I asked Syl at the play if he...

I lived in Kotzebue, AK, for four months. One reason I was attracted to the community was an opportunity to introduce the concept of childhood trauma and ACEs. I did that. The Northwest Arctic School District had a wonderful and compassionate superintendent, Dr. Norm Eck. I had a few conversations with Dr. Eck about ACEs and how it affects children as they become adults. Dr. Eck accepted the information and had plans to examine it more deeply, but eventually retired and the spread of...

Under pressure from the courts to reduce his state’s prison population, California Gov. Jerry Brown has thrown his support behind a plan that’s likely to slash the number of teens who get prosecuted as adults. If approved by voters, the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016 would block district attorneys from charging a suspect under 18 as an adult. Instead, a judge would decide whether teens accused of a violent crime should stand trial as an adult. Those measures are...

Is there ever a “good” youth arrest? Even without the use of excessive force, arrest can prove traumatic and destructive and the effects long lasting. One police leader from a small Pennsylvania town recounted the story of a young person who lost his promising future, with a merit-based scholarship to a four-year college, when police arrested him and charged him with a curfew violation. He spent no time in a detention center, but his criminal record, even for a status offense,...

A court settlement reached this week transforms the way Indiana treats prisoners with serious mental illnesses, ending practices that often worsened their symptoms and sometimes led to suicide, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana. Under the agreement, prisoners with serious mental illnesses will receive better access to mental health care and, with few exceptions, will no longer be held in solitary confinement in state correctional facilities. The...

Amid the stats and figures, dot-driven maps of New York City and questions about the minutiae of neighborhood issues, a hearing at the City Council on Thursday included more than the usual amount of personal revelation from Council members. One spoke of his struggles with alcoholism that nearly derailed his life as a young man. Another of a family friend who died of opioid addiction. Another, the suicide of a friend. Listening attentively to the outpouring was Chirlane McCray , the first...

Registration is open for our webinars! The Devereux Center for Resilient Children has posted its FREE webinar schedule through June 2016. Register now to learn the most up-to-date information on promoting resilience in infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school-age youth, adults, and families!   http://www.centerforresilientchildren.org/home/informational-webinars/  

What Neuroscientists See on the fMRIs of Bullied Brains

Some people may be naturally gregarious and easily find themselves socially connected. For most of us, feeling truly integrated into a social scene takes some effort. Luckily, there are predictable patterns to social success. Do certain things, and people will be drawn to you. [For more of this story, written by Kira Asatryan, go to http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2016/01/28/the-7-habits-of-socially-connected-people/]

Oakland will launch a citywide effort Thursday to triple the number of college graduates coming out of public schools, an ambitious and expensive “cradle to career” plan that aims to reverse cycles of poverty and hopelessness by raising expectations that all children can thrive in school. The centerpiece of the Oakland Promise initiative is an infusion of grants, ranging from $500 college savings accounts for children born into poverty to college scholarships of up to $16,000 for...

With a sigh, Johnny Perez rises from his plastic chair, unfolds his lanky frame and extends his wingspan until the tips of his middle fingers graze the walls. “It was from here to here,” he says. “I know because I used to do this all the time.” Until recently, these measurements—10 feet by 6 feet—fit his entire life. Two years ago, Perez was released on parole after serving 13 years at Rikers Island penitentiary and prisons in upstate New York, three of...

Prison officials rarely allow journalists to walk through their prisons, and even rarer is the warden who lets a reporter into his solitary-confinement unit. The voices of the men and women confined inside these prisons-within-a-prison are often the last ones that any prison administrator wants outsiders to hear. But the potential power of these prisoners’ stories to draw public attention—and propel politicians to act—was on display earlier this week, when President Obama...