August 2016

In May, 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder invited several cast members from the HBO series “The Wire” to Washington, D.C., to help promote a Justice Department initiative called the Drug Endangered Children’s Task Force. “The Wire,” which aired for five seasons and was acclaimed for its nuanced portrayal of the war on drugs, was a favorite of both Holder and President Obama. Holder jokingly ordered the show’s creators, David Simon and Ed Burns, to produce a sixth season. “I have a lot of...

Heimat is a German word with no direct translation in English, likeschadenfreude, or zeitgeist. It describes the relationship between a person and his built environment, somewhere between the feeling of home and homeland. Since August of 2015, Germany has become home to more than 1.1 million refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers. This influx has German architects and urban planners asking the question: “Do we have a refugee crisis on our hands? Or a housing crisis combined with huge...

THE AVERAGE citizen has now heard (multiple times) the story of people with psychiatric diagnoses who are slipping through the state’s cracks, how their families are desperate but lack resources, and how the mental health system is failing us all. Yet there are two related stories that are hardly getting told: one good, and the other very, very bad. Let’s start with the latter. While so many people argue for increased access to treatment, few stop to examine those elements of which it is...

David Bornstein, a columnist for the New York Times , posted the third of a three-part series ( Putting the power of self-knowledge to work ) about communities that are integrating trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on ACEs science. (Part one — Tapping a troubled neighborhood’s inner strength , and part two — How community networks stem childhood traumas .) It’s a terrific series, with information that we can all use, and I highly recommend reading them all. Some members...

As Kim Scott, the President and CEO of Trilliam Family Services points out in his recent blog post , the not-for-profit sector has reached a critical moment in an era of healthcare transformation. There is an increasing need for cross-sector solutions to our biggest social challenges. This means that organizations working in isolation leave themselves at risk for losing connection with the communities they intend to serve. For this reason, not-for-profits must take control of the narratives...

D.C.’s affordability problem arrived and grew—rapidly. For low-to-middle income households, average monthly rent in the District has gone up by between about $50 to nearly $400, adjusted for inflation, between 2002 and 2013. The number of apartments that cost less than $800 per month, adjusted for inflation, was nearly cut in half in that same time period . Incomes, meanwhile, have remained largely the same. Now, D.C.’s government is trying to ramp up efforts that would ease some of the...

Last week, Gallup research reported that living in “white, segregated enclaves” increased one’s chances of supporting Donald Trump. Jonathan Rothwell noted that “Limited interactions with racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, and college graduates may contribute to prejudicial stereotypes.” While that’s hardly a new insight, the rise in overt racism that Trump has apparently unleashed underlines its importance. When people of various races and backgrounds share the same schools, parks,...

Back in March, I stumbled upon an interesting study one morning on CBS This Morning, addressing the question of “What makes a good life?” I had been thinking about my own clinical work and how many of my clients over the years have talked to me about their relationships. I knew I had to write a post about it and finally I got around to it. Mental health issues are often related to dissatisfaction, dysfunction or difficulties with relationships. In fact, one of the most important factors in...

Note: Crystal Amundson LCPC, RPT-S runs a private practice in Helena, Montana, where she works as a child play therapist. Crystal specializes in Play Therapy, working with children ages 2-12, alongside their caregivers. She is a previous employee and current board member at Intermountain. Her passion and expertise is in the field of early childhood mental health. Crystal prepared this case study with accompanying prompts for action by faith-based groups and community groups that hope to make...

In the past several years, more than 100,000 children from Central America have fled the violence and poverty of their home countries to travel north—often all alone—for the chance at a better life in the United States. Most reporters’ accounts of their journeys have detailed their vexing treks and the immediate aftermath of their arrivals; the media has chronicled the possibility—now largely dead—of immigration reform and the ramifications of the surge in unaccompanied minors on U.S.

Extreme stress and young brains are a bad combination, something that sets in motion feelings and behaviors that can haunt us long into adulthood. And just in time for the school year, a new study may help explain why. The Duke University study used neuroimaging to look at the biological effect of childhood stress on the adult brain. It's important research, because it parallels existing knowledge about the relationship of stress to unhealthy behavior. For families, the timing is important...

Two Capital Region school districts were awarded a $60,000 federal grant to team up in the coming school years and improve academic outcomes for their homeless students. The Cohoes City School District and Lansingburgh Central School District — while in separate counties and on opposite sides of the Hudson River — often serve the same homeless population, district officials said. Because Cohoes strictly enforces state-set occupancy limits that prohibit too many people from living in the same...