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The Chronicle of Social Change is highlighting each of the policy recommendations made this summer by the participants of the Foster Youth Internship Program (FYI), a group of 10 former foster youths who have completed congressional internships. The program is overseen each summer by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. Each of the FYI participants crafted a policy recommendation during their time in Washington, D.C. Today we highlight the recommendation of Shay House, 22, an...

For almost two centuries now, scientists have noticed a place’s suicide rate bears troubling links to the changing of the seasons and the friendliness of its climate. In 1881, the Italian physician Enrico Morselli noted that suicide rates peak in the summer , deeming the effect “too great for it to be attributed to chance of the human will.” Two decades later, the French sociologist Emile Durkheim noticed the same effect—though he also found the suicide rate was higher in Scandinavian...

I've been thinking and talking a good deal about Rick Hanson since my recent break-up. The work I've done, that I learned from him, has made deep and profound changes in my life and healing. Healing is such a soft sounding word when what I feel is a new sense of solidness. It's as though I have a rock inside myself to lean in and on, how I feel good enough even when life is hard. I've sensed the work is important, helping me transform deep down at the core, in my bones and brain and being.

If you knew your child was engrossed in a chronicle of a schoolgirl’s suicide, or a game that ends in taking your own life, how would you respond? Be ready to answer, because this is the world we live in. We live in a world where children as young as 10 are binge-watching 13 Reasons Why . This series dramatizes a teenage girl’s suicide, through a high school boy’s encounters with cassette tape recordings she made before killing herself. I recently shared my own binge-watching experience of...

It’s almost the end of July which means we are gearing up for school here in Franklin County, MO. Walmart is stocked with all the school supplies you could ever dream of and both kids and parents are anxiously awaiting that start date. Admittedly, many kids are less excited than their parents! Well, with the start of the new school year Franklin County Cares will be beginning a 3-Year Trauma-Informed Schools Training and Consulting Program in two Franklin County Schools; South Point...

ACEs, Adversity's Impact Parents with troubled childhood more likely to have children with behavioral problems The effects of severe childhood trauma can be felt for generations, new study finds Study highlights health impact of historical trauma in Native communities How community violence affects Chicagoans' health Childhood adversity increases susceptibility to addiction via immune response Childhood abuse linked to greater risk of endometriosis What we have learned from the ACE study:...

There's a growing movement of MDs working to include recognition of people with disabilities in their profession — and how those disabilities might actually make them better doctors. KORVA COLEMAN, HOST: When it comes to the field of medicine, doctors are sometimes seen as superhumans, jumping in to handle emergencies around the clock, performing all kinds of physically demanding work. But a growing movement of current and aspiring doctors with disabilities says this narrative is a...

MERCED, Calif. — As he walks to class at the University of California, Merced, Freddie Virgen sees a sea of faces in various shades of brown. He is as likely to hear banda corridos blaring out of his classmates’ earphones as hip-hop. With affectionate embraces, he greets fellow members of Hermanos Unidos , a peer support group for Latinos that is one of the largest student organizations on campus. “When I looked at other campuses, I would find myself feeling that I didn’t belong, like I’d...

State lawmakers and advocates pushing to legalize marijuana this year aren’t just touting legalization as a way to raise tax revenue and regulate an underground pot market. They’re also talking about fixing a broken criminal justice system and reinvesting in poor and minority communities that have been battered by decades of the government’s war on drugs. The focus on justice and equity has sharpened over time, longtime pot advocates say, as it’s become clear that such issues should be...

Gateway Mountain Center's Whole Hearts, Minds, and Bodies program is a nature-based therapeutic mentoring program in Truckee, California serving youth who are receiving or could benefit from services related to mental health, including behavioral, and/or substance abuse issues. A partnership with UCSF researcher Dr. Kathleen Tebb showed that the innovative treatment model “ The Gateway Method” has measurable positive outcomes for... high-risk youth." For more information, see ...

Healing the Heart Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter July 2018 8 Lifestyle Habits May Counter The Health Effects Of Early Life Stress – Forbes The seven essential behaviors of highly creative people – Quartz Common Drugs May Be Contributing to Depression - The New...

“There is a growing recognition that, for people and neighborhoods to be healthy and successful, different sectors must work together and that investments in one sector can bring dividends to another. Housing, for example, is increasingly understood to be an important determinant in life, affecting health, access to education, and the opportunity for upward mobility.” Stuart M. Butler and Marcela Cabello of The Brookings Institution make this point in a new report, “Housing as a hub for...