September 2016

A West Virginia city is teaming up with police, schools, prosecutors, and community and faith-based groups to address drug abuse among at-risk children in what officials are calling a "first-of-its-kind" approach. The Martinsburg Police Department and Berkeley County Schools announced The Martinsburg Initiative at Winchester Avenue Elementary School on Monday, a news release said. The project will target at-risk children and troubled families, with a specific focus on opiate and heroin...

As the ACE Task Force of Shelby County was preparing to launch in early 2014, a task force member told this story to The Commercial Appeal's editorial board: A group of citizens, who lived and worked next to a river, were constantly having to rescue drowning children from the river. Finally someone decided it was time to travel upstream to find out why so many children were falling into the river. Finding concrete solutions to the "why" is the goal of the ACE Task Force. ACE stands for...

During a recent event at the White House focusing on how schools should be addressing the traumatic experiences of girls, and girls of color in particular, a Latina student talked about the childhood abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather. “I never really coped with my anger. I thought [the teachers] don’t care about you,” she said. But then she received help from counselors through a trauma-informed approach , called PACE, which stands for playfulness, acceptance, curiosity, and...

More than one-third of calls to a suicide hotline for troubled veterans are not being answered by front-line staffers because of poor work habits and other problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the hotline’s former director. Some hotline workers handle fewer than five calls per day and leave before their shifts end, even as crisis calls have increased sharply in recent years, said Greg Hughes, the former director of the VA’s Veterans Crisis Line. Hughes said in an...

Two often-overlooked medications might help millions of Americans who abuse alcohol to quit drinking or cut back. Public health officials, building on a push to treat people who abuse opioids with medications, want physicians to consider using medications to treat alcohol addiction. The drugs can be used in addition to or sometimes in place of peer-support programs, they say. "We want people to understand we think AA is wonderful, but there are other options," says George Koob, director of...

The School District of Philadelphia deserves huge congratulations for creating a new position as part of its plan to be a trauma informed education system! They are seeking an excellent candidate to serve in this critically important and cutting edge role. Following is the job description Job Summary Develops, coordinates and implements trauma-informed practices in the schools. Works with administrative, instructional and non-instructional staff, to put into place evidence-based...

“Dad, I’m too depressed to go to class.” This is a phone call Don never expected to receive from his son, Liam. How could Liam, who was always a happy go lucky child, be depressed? Don responds, “I don’t understand. What happened?” “It feels like everything has gone wrong this semester. I was seeing a girl and I wanted to get serious, but she decided to go out with my roommate instead. I was so upset I failed an exam. Now I could fail the whole class. Last week I decided to just give up and...

In nearly three years, Dominic Walker rarely looked another human being in the eye. Except for showers, he left his cell at Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles only once a week, to exercise in a small cage resembling a dog kennel. His conversations were typically shouted through cell bars to other inmates in his row. “It makes you feel like nobody. I’m here, the walls are closing in. It makes you hallucinate,” said Walker, 34, who was released in June after prosecutors dropped his...

Purpose The RWJF Culture of Health Prize recognizes communities that have placed a priority on health and are creating powerful partnerships and deep commitments that will enable everyone, especially those facing the greatest challenges, with the opportunity to live well. A Culture of Health recognizes that health and wellbeing are greatly influenced by where we live, work, the safety of our surroundings, and the relationships we have in our families and communities. The Prize elevates the...

José Quiñonez has spent most of the past decade helping the financially invisible build credit and obtain loans. Last week, his commitment to helping low-income communities, which are so often excluded from the mainstream banking system, earned him $625,000 in the form of a MacArthur genius grant. He’s one of 23 this year to win genius grants, which are given to people who have demonstrated unusual creativity, are highly accomplished in their field, and show they have significant potential.

In 2006, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) launched a bold, ten year experiment that became one of its largest philanthropic investments—the Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative which sought to lift the overall quality, equality, and value of health care in 16 communities across the country. In each AF4Q community, a regional alliance of doctors, patients, consumers, insurers, and employers worked collaboratively to transform their local health care system. Lessons from...

The First Way – Compassionate Accountability In my office, I’ve heard from clients stories of broken phones, punched walls, and even bent steering wheels. All in the name of anger. At themselves. For making a mistake. What You Didn’t Get When a parent sits down with a child who has behaved badly, used poor judgment, or made a mistake, and says, “Let’s figure out what happened,” that parent is teaching her (or his) child Compassionate Accountability. But many parents don’t know that it’s...