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Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF), the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), and the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities (Alliance) are working collaboratively, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to identify and nationally disseminate best practices for partnership models to improve broad health outcomes by addressing both medical and social needs. This request for information (RFI) is specifically exploring partnerships between community-based organizations (CBOs)...

Back in December, I wrote an article, entitled “ A Prescription For Compassionate Healthcare ” that highlighted what medical professionals can offer to patients who are facing health crises. I mentioned a nurse friend named Ondreah Johnson who was anticipating hip replacement surgery. She came through the procedure with flying colors and established a support system of friends and family to aid in her recovery. She is ambulating with a cane and is still not 100% but getting there. She...

Inner conflict is a vague term that doesn’t communicate the actual dynamic or real world symptoms suffered by a self-conflicted person. Due to a general lack of practical information regarding inner conflict, many try to address the wide array of symptoms without understanding the inner conflict itself. Symptom intervention often fails because the original inner conflict – the cause – remains unaltered. This post will: • Clearly define inner conflict • Provide real-world examples of inner...

I wanted every individual suffering from chronic illnesses to understand the emerging science on not only how early adversity can lead to adult chronic illness, but how we can heal.

MOGADISHU — In Somalia, an exercise program for survivors of sexual violence is helping participants overcome trauma. It's a trendy program in an unlikely place. In classes across the Somali capital of Mogadishu, youths practice breathing, meditation and stretching. Dressed in matching blue track suits, the color of the Somali flag, they hold difficult poses. Read more...

Something is trying to get itself written. You can feel it: There’s a bulge in the ether, a protuberance in the brainpan. Something is trying to get itself written, and it has elected you—by what process, God only knows—as its writer. Can you do the job, complete the commission? It’s going to take some ninja skills. The energy accumulates, shapelessly, buzzingly, around no clear point. Les Murray has called it a “painless headache,” this pre-writing electrical build that must be “tapped” or...

Donning a protective gown, rubber gloves and a face mask, Dayna Gurley looks like she’s heading into surgery. But Gurley is a medical social worker charged with figuring out why her client, a man who uses more health care services than almost anyone else in Houston, has been in three different hospitals in the last month. The patient, who asked not to be identified, has chronic massive ulcers, AIDS and auditory hallucinations. He rents a cot in another person’s home but is more often...

It’s a little after noon. Usually by this hour, David Weiss would be waking for the second time, still groggy from his antipsychotics. He’d have gotten up once at dawn, maybe made himself an egg with toast. He might have gone into the back bedroom to scan his ham radio or played a few chords on his guitar. Then he’d go back to sleep. But on this day, he had somewhere to be. It’s easier to get up on days like this, days with a purpose. And so at noon, he is sitting in an abnormal- psychology...

This week, our “Americans at Work”photo essay features photographs of the NorthWest Bible Church’s Between Jobs Ministry in Spring, Texas, made by photographer Elizabeth Conley : “While the nation has been enjoying the benefits of cheaper gas at the pump, oil-producing states have seen the negative effects. The latest numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show that between October 2014 and May 2016, there’s been a decline in oil and gas employment of 26 percent. For more...

A slide, swings, maybe a seesaw or sandbox: These are the usual elements of today’s playground. We’ve become so accustomed to their uniformity that it’s hard to believe that playgrounds used to be something different. From their beginnings in the late 19th century until the 1980s, public playgrounds were spaces that would likely horrify today’s American parents. Cities set aside areas for children to build things with wood, hammers, and nails—without parental supervision. Funky sculptures to...

Dr. Valerie Maholmes: A home-visit program for parents previously investigated for child abuse, dramatically reduced the percentage of young children who were removed from their homes and placed in foster care, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Central to the program are videotaped segments of parent-child play sessions. A trained specialist then gives parents feedback on the interaction, encouraging parents to reflect on their children’s social or emotional...

As the presiding judge of Broward County, Florida’s Misdemeanor Mental Health Court , I believe it is important to promote access to community care and recovery. Therefore, mental health literacy is a key facet of court process. In this regard, I provide community mental health resource books and brochures from the Broward Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and its Family-to-Family educational program. Moreover, in a trauma-informed court that serves men and women who...