Blog

From Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, May 13, 2020 Shelter-in-place orders are meant to help protect our communities from the current coronavirus pandemic. But for some people, home isn’t always a safe place. For those who are experiencing domestic violence, or believe they know someone one who is, what options are available to stay both physically healthy and safe from violence? In this fourth episode of our COVID-19 series of The Brain Architects, host Sally Pfitzer...

By Rachel Swan, San Francisco Chronicle, May 3, 2020 When Gov. Gavin Newsom pumped $42 million of emergency funding into foster care, he steered a small portion — about $1.8 million — toward young adults who might otherwise be cut loose from services and thrust into a deadly pandemic. Advocates say the money isn’t enough to help people learning to navigate the world on their own. People like Emmerald Evans, 21, who went grocery shopping with a friend right as the shelter-in-place orders...

By Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, April 15, 2020 Late last month , a photo circulated of delivery drivers crowding around Carbone, a Michelin-starred Greenwich Village restaurant, waiting to pick up $32 rigatoni and bring it to people who were safely ensconced in their apartment. A police officer, attempting to spread out the crowd, reportedly said , “I know you guys are just out here trying to make money. I personally don’t give a shit!” The poor got socially close, it seems, so that the rich...

In a mid-April conference call led by the Campaign for Trauma Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP), participants from around the country—many of them active in ACEs, trauma and resilience networks—discussed the wave of trauma that is certain to slam communities in the wake of COVID-19. They also cheered a bit of hopeful news: the announcement of $3 billion in federal funding, the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund, a portion of the CARES Act. The funds are flexible block grants for...

By Lucy A. Bilaver, Judy Havlicek, Matthew M. Davis, JAMA Pediatrics, May 11, 2020 Children in foster care have the highest rates of chronic conditions of any child population. While the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being remains the gold standard for data on special health care needs (SCHNs) of children in foster care, the data do not permit comparisons between children in foster care and other types of care. We address this gap by describing current rates of SHCNs and...

From National Council for Behavioral Health, May 11, 2020 Now, more than ever, whole-person care is critical to the COVID-19 response. Integrated care teams face challenges in responding to the COVID-19 crisis as frontline staff navigate the surge in care and position their teams to meet new population health needs. Let’s work together to build solutions that cross cultural, geographical and population-specific barriers. We are excited to extend the opportunity to 10 organizations to...

Worker Wellness & Managing Stress University of California-San Francisco has a Resilience and Emotional Well-Being Video Series , including Self-Compassion for Stress Reduction and How to Prioritize Your Own Well-Being for Health Care Workers - though many of these strategies can be applied to other professions! Key Ingredients for Building Trust While Working Remotely from The Engine Room covers strategies for building trusting relationships with colleagues in the virtual environment.

There have been several recent projections about the dramatic impact the spread and devastation of the corona virus, shelter at home, social distancing and economic hardships will have on many, many people of all ages across our globe. Experts are warning of huge increases in depression, suicide, anxiety, substance abuse and other emotional and physical adversities from the virus’s impact on society. Many want to urge legislatures to fund treatment for this future spike. True, the...

By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, The New Yorker, May 12, 2020 It is now clear that the twin prescriptions of social isolation and shuttering large parts of the national economy have lowered the death toll of the novel coronavirus in the United States from the direst predictions. But in a country where the “social safety net” is more a distant memory than a source of actual provision or support, large swaths of the public now face the threat of hunger and homelessness. Each passing week brings...

By Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, May 2020 On June 4th, we’ll be discussing what U.S. communities can learn from cities and countries around the world, like Scotland and Bhutan, that are reorienting policies, programs and budgets to put the well-being of people and the planet at the center of all decisions. Join us to learn: How to shift to a well-being approach in your community What a well-being approach means for equity How a well-being approach has informed COVID-19 response Speakers...

From PBS News Hour, May 11, 2020 Congress has appropriated roughly $175 billion so far to help hospitals and other health care providers weather the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. But some are still struggling to keep up with the need, and racial disparities in the American health care system are magnifying the problem. William Brangham talks to Tim Egan and Lynette Houston of Chicago’s Roseland Community Hospital. [ Please click here to read the full transcript .]

By Rachel Garlinghouse, Scary Mommy, May 11, 2020 When I first heard pediatrician and California’s current surgeon general Dr. Nadine Burke Harris speak about Adverse Childhood Experiences, I was floored. Her TED Talk has been viewed well over 7 million times to date and for very good reason. Adverse Childhood Experiences are traumatic events that occur in childhood that are responsible for a slew of mental, physical, and social problems, and they are pervasive. Dr. Harris reports in her TED...