August 2016

We all do it. We take sides and the side we typically take is that of the victim. I recently posted a blog titled “ Angry Man. ” As I watched the interaction unfold, my mind wanted to support the poor theater manager being subjected to the tirade. I watched the manager try to protect the rest of us patrons from the foul language, the angry words and the loudness of his complaint. Empathy for the victim drives many of us to this state of empathy, one so powerful that we turn to hating the...

Mental health conditions are more common among prisoners than in the general population. Estimates suggest that as many as 26 percent of state and federal prisoners suffer from at least one mental illness, compared with nine percent or less in the general population. And prisoners with untreated mental illness are more likely to be arrested again after they are released. But prisoners’ access to health care, including mental health care, varies from prison to prison. This is partly because...

A scathing Justice Department report on unconstitutional police practices in the city includes a section not often seen in federal findings — a lengthy description of how the department has mistreated youth. The police force does not use best practices for engaging adolescents, which results in the use of unreasonable force and erodes trust within the community, said Justice (DOJ) officials in the report on Baltimore’s police force. An officer used a Taser on a young girl without probable...

Many educators view a new school year as an opportunity for improvement, a fresh start and a chance to reset, especially with respect to student discipline. Several years ago, as a public middle school math teacher serving disadvantaged students in a large metropolitan area, I quickly learned that even the first few moments of the first class were critical to establishing an appropriate environment for students to thrive. As educators everywhere prepare for a new school year and contemplate...

Assembly attendees from A Better Chance/A Better Community of Halifax County, NC. Tiffany Shields is the third person in from the right. ____________________________ A young woman from North Carolina, Tiffany Shields, attended her first conference ever August 4-5 at the University of Maryland, College Park. She stood up and told the room that she was nervous about coming, didn’t expect people to be especially welcoming, and thought she’d probably be bored at least part of the time. Instead,...

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is taking a serious and close look at healthcare provider "burnout" and how to address it by fostering more joy in work. The most joyful, productive, engaged staff feel both physically and psychologically safe, appreciate the meaning and purpose of their work, have some choice and control over their time, experience camaraderie with others at work, and perceive their work life to be fair and equitable. Sound familar? Their collection of...

Some of the voices inside Caroline White’s head have been a lifelong comfort, as protective as a favorite aunt. It was the others — “you’re nothing, they’re out to get you, to kill you” — that led her down a rabbit hole of failed treatments and over a decade of hospitalizations, therapy and medications, all aimed at silencing those internal threats. At a support group here for so-called voice-hearers, however, she tried something radically different. She allowed other members of the group to...

The Baltimore Police Department routinely violated the constitutional rights of citizens, used excessive force, and discriminated against African Americans, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a detailed investigation released Wednesday. “The relationship between the Baltimore Police Department and many of the communities it serves is broken,” the 163-page report states . “Officers seemed to view themselves as controlling the city rather than as a part of the city. Many others, including...

It’s going to be a long haul for African-American families to catch up to where white families are today, economically speaking: exactly 225 years from now, if we’re being optimistic. That’s according to a new report by the Corporation for Enterprise Development and Institute for Policy Studies , which estimates future wealth disparities among U.S racial groups using data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finance (SCF). The total amount of money in the average person’s pockets,...

The CDC reports nearly two-thirds of adults have suffered childhood trauma. Cathy Fialon and Shenandoah Chefalo both know firsthand the impacts that trauma can have. Fialon first saw it working in the family division of the 13th Circuit Court and again working as a lawyer for youths impacted by trauma. Chefalo saw it working as an office administrator in criminal defense law. A twist of fate, and a childhood trauma webinar, brought the two together to bond over their frustration at the lack...

It is encouraging to hear Dallas ISD and districts across the country working hard to integrate social emotional health education back into our schools. However, without two key factors in place, these efforts will not succeed. There is no curriculum that is going to provide the reset that we are looking for in our schools (or in our country for that matter). The first factor that cannot be ignored is that as adults, we must practice what we preach. Explicitly teaching social emotional...

A Kentucky man charged with burglary met his one-month-old son for the first time while in court, thank to the judge presiding over his case. James and Ashley Roeder are co-defendants charged in a February burglary case in Louisville. Judge Amber Wolf had issued a no-contact order for the couple, but upon realising Mr Roeder had yet to meet his newborn son, she made a temporary exception to facilitate the introduction. “I saw her try to hold the baby up when he came out for his case to be...