The Department of Justice announced this week that an additional 11 tribes will be added to a program that allows tribal police and courts to exchange criminal information with federal databases. The Tribal Access Program, as it’s known, launched in August of 2015, and initially 10 tribes received training and equipment to obtain and submit records to national databases. [For more of this story, written by Kate Wheeling, go to ...
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) has been law since 2008. MHPAEA provided that health plans could not limit mental health or substance use disorder benefits in a way that was more restrictive than how most medical/surgical benefits were limited. This sounds simple enough, but in this year alone there has been a White House task force , voluminous Department of Labor guidance , a SAMHSA best practices manual , and an Energy & Commerce Committee hearing to find...
In our efforts to promote children’s health and wellness, we need to ensure that they grow up at a healthy weight. Preventing children from being overweight or obese requires action in the earliest years since experts agree that reversing these trends later in life can be very difficult. It is currently estimated that one in four children are overweight or obese by the time they enter kindergarten. Racial and ethnic minorities and those families who are poor are at higher risk of being...
Around two out of three women with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa will eventually recover in their lifetime, according to a new study at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). “These findings challenge the notion that eating disorders are a life sentence,” said Kamryn Eddy, Ph.D., of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program. [For more of this story, written by Traci Pedersen, go to ...
Prevention Diaries reveals the unexpected (yet foreseeable) parts of daily life that shape our health. Health happens in our communities and homes, not just at a doctor’s office, and many illnesses and injuries are preventable through commonsense solutions – saving lives and reducing burden on families, communities, and taxpayers. Prevention Diaries outlines why prevention is the solution to many social challenges, and what we can do to advance prevention. Topics include violence, the food...
In late March, Donald Trump opened a rally in Wisconsin by mocking the state’s governor, Scott Walker, who had just endorsed his Republican opponent, Ted Cruz. “He came in on his Harley,” Trump said of Walker, “but he doesn’t look like a motorcycle guy.” “The motorcycle guys,” he added, “like Trump.” It has been 50 years since Hunter S. Thompson published the definitive book on motorcycle guys: Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. It grew out of a...
The Chadwick Center for Children & Families at Rady Children's Hospital San Diego has just released a set of trauma-informed guidelines with concrete strategies for approaching secondary traumatic stress (STS). While these guidelines were created for intended use within child welfare systems, they may be easily adapted into other child-and family-serving organizations. These guidelines were created as part of the Chadwick Trauma-Informed Systems Dissemination and Implementation Project...
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) has been law since 2008. MHPAEA provided that health plans could not limit mental health or substance use disorder benefits in a way that was more restrictive than how most medical/surgical benefits were limited. This sounds simple enough, but in this year alone there has been a White House task force , voluminous Department of Labor guidance , a SAMHSA best practices manual , and an Energy & Commerce Committee hearing to find...
Earlier this month, the surgeon general released a report on the state of alcohol, drugs, and health in the U.S. “Facing Addiction in America” is the first report of its kind, and one of its primary objectives is to change public perception of addiction. As Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy wrote, "For far too long, too many in our country have viewed addiction as a moral failing. This unfortunate stigma has created an added burden of shame that has made people with substance use disorders...
Doctors have long known that black people are more likely than white people to suffer from diseases such as high blood pressure. A study suggests that racial discrimination may be playing a role in a surprising way. The study, which involved 150 African-Americans living in Tallahassee, Fla., found that knowing someone who had experienced racial discrimination was associated with genetic markers that may affect risk for high blood pressure. The genetic markers "seem to interact with" being...
While far from ideal, my childhood provided me with great memories of the holidays. I recall special days of decorating cookies with my Aunt Shirley, sharing a bowl of homemade Chex mix with my Grandpa Haughee while watching football, candlelight services at church, and special meals where family came together. We were a firmly entrenched middle-class American family, and one of the few times of excess and celebration centered around the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It seemed a...
It is true most of the time that out of anguish grows hope bursting into the consciousness of all those feeling helpless around the tableau of violence. And so in 2008 San Diego community members were horrified and devastated by the shooting deaths of Monique Palmer and Michael Taylor then in less than 3 months the shooting death of Hannah Podhorsky all just high school students. These community members determined to support the families but also the traumatized community Pastor Rene Colon,...
What is happening to America’s white working class? The group’s important, and perhaps decisive , role in this year’s presidential election sparked a slew of commentary focused on, on the one hand, its nativism, racism, and sexism , and, on the other, its various economic woes . While there are no simple explanations for the desperation and anger visible in many predominantly white working-class communities, perhaps the most astute and original diagnosis came from the rabbi and activist...
The faces above and the stories below are a snapshot of the devastating opioid epidemic sweeping across the United States. Publicly acknowledging that a family member suffered from an addiction to drugs, or died of an overdose, has long been a taboo subject — one best kept secret among family and a few knowing friends. That is changing. As the death toll from the opioid crisis mounts, families are increasingly weaving desperate warnings into the obituaries of loved ones about the horror that...
The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday awarded $6 million to Drexel University to improve opportunities and outcomes at seven schools in West Philadelphia. The grant came as part of the department's Promise Neighborhoods competition, under which $33 million will go to support children and families nationwide. [For more of this story, written by Kristen A. Graham, go to http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20161221_Drexel_gets__6_million_to_help_7_Phila__schools.html]