July 2018

As anti-immigrant sentiment erupts in Western democracies from Germany to the United States , some cities are still finding ways to make immigrants feel at home. I conducted hundreds of interviews with immigrants in New York, Paris, and Barcelona intermittently for over a decade to understand how each city integrates—or excludes—its migrants. My new book, A Place to Call Home , explains why some cities and their residents do better at incorporating foreign-born newcomers in the local...

Most health professionals understand postpartum depression (PPD) and other mood disorders are a serious mental health concern. Raising awareness of postpartum mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) is so important for two reasons. First, professionals need to be more proactive with evaluation and diagnosis. Women very often hide their struggle with overwhelming anxiety, worry and depression. Just because a new mom arrives for a checkup, nicely dressed and with her makeup on, it’s not safe to...

Victims of human trafficking are subjected to ongoing trauma and they have such a hard time embracing their survival because they get stuck focusing only on the traumas. They carry a much heavier load of shame that no one person can carry alone. So they try to forget it and bury it. They keep it all tucked away in the past and try to pretend it never happened. Revisiting the past for the purpose of examining it and healing from it is too painful for them. So the traumas keep haunting them,...

Unhealed trauma can lead children to act out their wounds and create trauma for the whole family. Parents feel hopeless and lost as their entire family experiences the effects of trauma. One father shared: “As the dad, I am supposed to protect my child from hurt and pain. When my daughter started cutting on her arms with our kitchen knives, I was a deer in headlights. I didn’t know what to do.” Feedback loops are a technique used by therapists to rethink child trauma through a family systems...

So, sit back and enjoy our "conversation between friends" with trauma therapist, Paulette Tomasson, as she discusses her vast therapy modalities from experiential to equine therapy and so much more. We discuss trauma, resilience/drive to survive, the blossoming of self-reflective men overcoming their sex addictions, internet pornography, critical need for parental controls on all devices, and embracing/celebrating our "note in the symphony"!

Committee reports for the fiscal year 2019 funding bills for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (Labor/HHS) call for the Office of the Surgeon General to report on the connection between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and negative long-term health outcomes, including future substance misuse. The House Appropriations Committee report contains stronger and more specific language than the Senate report—it directs the Office of the Surgeon General to submit a...

Efforts to pass paid family leave are gaining momentum across the country. Just last month, Massachusetts became the sixth state , along with the District of Columbia, to pass legislation mandating it in some form. As attention to the importance of paid family leave, intensifies, however, it is vital that the needs of all families be considered—including parents with disabilities. On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate held a hearing to discuss potential federal family policies, featuring two...

Apple has introduced new software designed to help users restrict the time they spend on their phones — just change your settings and your favorite app will lock you out after a certain number of hours. It’s been especially welcomed by parents who fret about the habits of their “screenagers” — young people who seem permanently attached to their mobile devices. Even Silicon Valley insiders demanded that Apple make its devices “ less addictive .” Some researchers have gone so far as to declare...

A wide array of criminal charges send people to jail in northeastern Mississippi: the familiar DUI or robbery, or the less expected, such as public profanity or possession of beer in a dry county. But no matter the charge, odds are that if you land in lockup here, you will buy your freedom from Corbett Bonding. Brian Corbett has sewn up the bail bond trade in this largely rural corner of the nation’s poorest state, minting millions from people charged with minor offenses. Operating out of a...

Do not misbehave. Do not sit on the floor. Do not share your food. Do not use nicknames. Also, it is best not to cry. Doing so might hurt your case. Lights out by 9 p.m. and lights on at dawn, after which make your bed according to the step-by-step instructions posted on the wall. Wash and mop the bathroom, scrubbing the sinks and toilets. Then it is time to form a line for the walk to breakfast. “You had to get in line for everything,” recalled Leticia, a girl from Guatemala. [For more on...

Nearly four years have passed since a 28-year-old white police officer shot and killed Michael Brown on the streets of Ferguson , the working-class suburb near St. Louis. Civil unrest, a militarized police presence, and unrelenting national publicity have brought energy and organized introspection to long-festering policing and justice issues. Ferguson may have been ground zero, but evidence of a wide range of police and judicial abuses extended broadly to suburban municipalities surrounding...

Resilience is awesome, but also poses some risks and challenges. In 2012 a special edition of the Social Justice Studies academic research journal explored some of the risks. An intro and 5 academic research articles go very deeply into the topic of the "Dangers of Resilience Promotion." All the articles can be downloaded free at this link. https://journals.library.brocku.ca/index.php/SSJ/issue/view/70 I will attempt to summarize those 6 articles here in common language, cuz the articles are...