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I read the Facing Addiction in America, the Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs and Health with a combination of enthusiastic appreciation and dismay. Those impressions were further reinforced recently on hearing the SG, Rear Admiral Vivek Murthy in person, at the Patrick Kennedy Forum on addiction in Chicago. I see the report as a major step—a diagonal one. It moves us significantly forward, but it is also a movement sideways. It both fulfills and fails short of its humane intention...

Most of us understand that a baby’s earliest months and years are the most critical for brain development. But did you know that a baby’s relationships with parents and caregivers actually stimulate that process? That’s right: An infant’s connections to nurturing, trusted adults help build the foundation for emotions, language, behavior, memory, physical movement – you name it. Right from the start, as parents, we need to bond with these brand-new little people, teach them how the world...

Six juvenile offenders and their parents or guardians brought a class action lawsuit against the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office in New York, alleging that, between October of 2015 and August of 2016, dozens of juveniles were subjected to solitary confinement in the Onondaga County Justice Center in Syracuse. In all, the plaintiffs claim to have spent a combined seven and a half years in solitary at the center, during which time they were restricted to a 60-square-foot cell for at least 23...

A leading authority on First Nations health is calling on healthcare practitioners to recognize intergenerational trauma when treating Indigenous patients. Dr. Evan Adams is the chief medical officer for the First Nations Health Authority in B.C. He told the's CBC's The Early Edition the historic oppression faced by Indigenous people can linger as trauma in subsequent generations. "Trauma really is a wound," he said. "Often, trauma is psychic in nature, not physical ... and it can be an...

Deadline extended: January 13, 2017, 11:59 PM CST Conference Dates: April 17 - 19, 2017 ResilienceCon goals include: 1) shifting research, prevention, and intervention on violence and other adversities to a focus on strengths and resilience, and 2) “disrupting” the usual conference format to create a more interactive, forward-looking, think-tank approach. We hope to contribute to a path forward to a more strengths-based approach to research, prevention, and intervention. To this end, we are...

I think many people, if not MOST people, who actually have very high ACE scores and don't know this part of their story, already know very clearly that trauma (even though they might never have used this exact word to describe their experiences) exists in their lives. What most of us have never had before is (1) a CONTEXT that can give us some sense of true meaning for this trauma, (2) a clear idea of the consequences on many levels for what this trauma "has done to us", and (3) a way out of...

From her home in Helsinki, Maria Jain began a correspondence with a death row inmate in the US. Now, they've co-created an art exhibit that explores the need for justice reform, the potential for personal transformation, and the intricacies of healing. We talk about our lives growing up. The era was the same, the 80’s and the 90’s; the places were very different. I grew up in Finland; he grew up in Texas. I share about my difficult teenage years when I turned to self-harming. I talk about my...

Around six months ago, the photographer Salvador Espinoza began spending a lot of time riding the Q100 bus through Queens, New York. The bus departs from Queens Plaza in Long Island City, winds north through Astoria, and ends at Rikers Island, the jail complex in the East River. The Q100 is the only form of New York City public transit that reaches the jail, Espinoza says. If inmates have no one to bring them home upon release, they’re handed a MetroCard and directed to the bus. As a kid...

[Photo by Beeblebrox at en.wikipedia ] Editor’s Note: MAPP, Mobilizing for Action through- Planning & Partnerships, is a local coalition that aims to use and build upon our strengths to improve our individual, family and community health. Health is defined broadly to include cultural, economic, educational, environmental, mental, physical and spiritual health. Tis the season of resolutions. I always hate to see how people start off with such positivity and idealism, plan to be stronger...

Napping for an hour in the afternoon may provide a mental boost for older adults, a new study suggests. This extra daytime sleep was linked to improved memory and ability to think clearly among the Chinese study participants, the researchers said. The study included information from nearly 3,000 adults aged 65 and older. The investigators looked at the participants' nighttime sleep habits and whether or not they took a nap in the afternoon to determine if this extra rest during the day had...

If you think you’re hearing the word “empathy” everywhere, you’re right. It’s now on the lips of scientists and business leaders, education experts and political activists. But there is a vital question that few people ask: How can I expand my own empathic potential ? Empathy is not just a way to extend the boundaries of your moral universe. According to new research, it’s a habit we can cultivate to improve the quality of our own lives. Over the last decade, neuroscientists have identified...

Tissue Alert! After telling the men sitting in the circle of chairs about my assault, I described its aftermath—the high-pitched anxiety and fear , the flashbacks and nightmares , the strain on my relationships, the bitterness of feeling reduced to a narrow identity : rape survivor. Their faces radiated with unmistakable empathy . The tall man in the baseball cap leaned forward. “What would you say to your rapist if he walked through the door right now?” he asked. I knew exactly what I would...