June 2018

On the day Amy Winehouse died, my whole body caved in. My warped logic was that if Amy’s manager, her family, her doctors, her bodyguard couldn’t keep her alive, then honestly, what hope did we have? Us or any of the families… who reluctantly tag along on an addict’s grand tour, seeing sights we never wanted to see, meeting people we never would have chosen to sit next to at breakfast, in the cockeyed hope that one day our loved one might come home to us. Writer Sarah Walker describes the...

In the last four years I have done informational interviews with hundreds of compassionate people involved in the prevention of childhood adversity, trauma and maltreatment. Those employed by child welfare work with data every day. They may not enjoy working with numbers but they understand their importance. My conversations with many of those working to prevent adverse childhood experiences has been different. Time and time again my non-profit agency colleagues are asked, "Why do we need...

Honorary Co-Hosts: Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) Tuesday, June 5, 2018 9:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building This briefing will provide an overview on the impacts of substance use, specifically the opioid crisis, on children. It will address the efforts congress should be making to support children who watch their parents or other family members fall victim to opioids and other addictive substances. Nadine Burke Harris , Founder and Chief...

A new study, led by Samuel Harvey, Associate Professor at the Black Dog Institute in Australia, investigates the association between job strain and mental health challenges. The results of the study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, indicate that higher job strain increases one’s risk of developing a “common mental disorder” by age 50. Mental health challenges are one of the biggest reasons why people are absent from work in high-income countries. Because of this, scholars and...

ChangeLab Solutions creates healthier communities for all through better laws and policies. Check out Tools for Change , our resource catalog, for an overview of what we offer on our website. With your help , we can make healthy changes in every community. Contact us to learn how you can get involved! From #NeverAgain to #MeToo, young people are raising their voices to create safer, healthier communities—even if they’re not old enough to vote yet. Young people have been at the forefront of...

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – When it first opened in February, locals viewed it with suspicion. For starters, with its comfy sofas and flat-screen TV, the vibe at “The C.R.I.B.” – aka East New York Family Enrichment Center – is more living room hangout than social service agency. And secondly, in this rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, longtime residents don’t always view new things as harbingers of good things to come. People would poke their heads in the door and say, “What are you doing here?” And...

Jillian Broomstein starts to cry when she talks about the day her newborn son Jeremy was taken from her by New Hampshire's child welfare agency. He was 2 weeks old. "They came into the house and said they would have to place him in foster care and I would get a call and we would set up visits," she says. "It was scary." Broomstein, who was 26 at the time, had not used heroin for months and was on methadone treatment. The clinic social worker told her that since Jeremy would test positive for...

When Tramischa Cole , a homeless 24-year-old mother of one, stumbled across a Civicorps flier in 2015, she didn’t expect to be accepted into the Bay Area’s only accredited high school and job training program for 18 to 26 year olds. It’s not that Civicorps had a waiting list: Cole was worried her parenting responsibilities and lack of housing would be an issue. “I told them I’m homeless and I don’t have child care,” Cole said. “I thought everything I was telling them would be something to...

The Healing Trauma Summit is a free, online series of speakers presenting a wide range of trauma-related topics. It starts today and continues every day until next Wednesday, June 13. A recording of each presentation is available on the website 24 hours after it ends. * Keep in mind the times listed on the website are in EST *

Excerpts from an article by Shawn Ginwright Ph.D.:

Link to entire piece here . Excerpt below:

An unsolicited letter from a teen leader: May 20th, 2018 Chanaiah Maxwell Philadelphia, PA To Whom It May Concern: Not long ago, I was asked to name three of my biggest influences in the world. Naturally, as the only child of a supportive and loving single parent, the very first person I thought to state was my mother. The second person was Judy Nelson, my very first boss. Judy was no typical boss. She was in no way conventional. Judy was honest, an open ear and heart, and a true leader.