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This doctor pioneered a way to treat stress in children, a startling source of future disease [WashingtonPost.com]

Soon after Nadine Burke Harris opened a pediatrics clinic in a low-income neighborhood in San Francisco, she began grappling with the high rates of asthma and other illnesses that she was diagnosing in her patients. She wanted to understand why so many of the kids she saw were so sick. “They would have chronic abdominal pain, headaches, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, opposition defiant disorder,” she said. “It could be that all these different kids have all these diagnoses, or it...

Why Trauma-Informed Courts Are Important [JJIE.org]

Media coverage surrounding high-profile cases of campus sexual assault, officer-involved shootings, domestic violence and other incidents in recent months is sparking a national discussion around the experience of victims within our justice system and larger society. Often missing within this discussion, however, is a thorough treatment of what social science has taught us about the ways victimization can impact survivors both physically and psychologically, and how attitudes and bias can...

5 Things to Know About School-Based Health Centers [CommunityCommons.org]

Millions of elementary and secondary students across the US lack consistent access to quality health care services. Lack of insurance, money, location, and knowledge on how to access health care services are all factors that contribute to students not using these services- especially low- income students. It’s an issue that is vitally important to America’s long-term health since the health behaviors students adopt now will impact the quality of their lives down the road. That’s where...

Harrowing Scenes From the Mediterranean as Migrants Risk Everything for a Chance at a Better Life [TheAtlantic.com]

Hundreds of thousands of migrants from Africa and the Middle East continue to make their way to Europe, fleeing poverty, war, and chaos in their home countries. More than 3,000 are known to have died on the journey across the Mediterranean Sea this year alone. Thousands are now racing to make the dangerous crossing before summer ends, as European authorities and non-governmental organizations struggle to rescue and accommodate the influx. Agence France-Presse photographer Aris Messinis...

The Demon Inside; Who is Ultimately Responsible?

Imagine this scenario - A young man walks into your office for help and tells you the following story: He tells you his name is Al. He is a 20-year-old who graduated high school and is now working two jobs trying to make ends meet. He works as a dishwasher and a cashier at an auto supply store. He hopes someday to be an anesthesiologist. He seeks your guidance because he was recently fired from one of his jobs after shouting at his boss who had treated him unfairly. He recently moved to town...

Many U.S. teachers can’t afford to buy a house [PBS.org]

Perhaps another salary-related grievance for teachers: Depending on where they live, buying a home can be far out of reach. In a new report , the National Housing Conference, a nonprofit that advocates for affordable housing, analyzed 210 metro areas and whether workers in public education — from bus drivers to teachers — could afford to buy or rent a home. (The report did not account for a second income in the household.) High school teachers had a median income of $56,882, making it...

Wisconsin Childrens' Health Lagging Women's Health [WPR.org]

The 2016 Health of Women and Children Report by the United Health Foundation found that when it comes to the health of women and children, Wisconsin ranks at number 15 out of 50. That’s a "middle-of-the-road" ranking according to Dr. Ana Fuentevilla, chief medical officer at Unitedhealthcare Community & State. Wisconsin is well behind neighboring Minnesota and Iowa, which are ranked at numbers five and eight respectively, but ahead of surrounding states like Illinois and Michigan, which...

Youngsters being 'left behind', says children's commissioner [BBC.com]

Many youngsters in Wales are being "left behind" with Brexit "uncertainty" set to make the situation worse, the children's commissioner has said. Prof Sally Holland believes those with mental health problems and in poverty are most at risk, while some being home-educated go "under the radar". In her annual report she has called on the Welsh Government to publish a specific programme to help. A spokeswoman said it would study the report and "respond in due course". Prof Holland pointed to the...

Kid Cudi Sparks a Conversation on Depression, Race, and Rap [TheAtlantic.com]

Reviewing Danny Brown’s new album Atrocity Exhibition yesterday, I wrote about how we’re in a moment when rappers like Brown are regularly defying stigmas against admitting to depression, addiction, and other mental-health issues. Wednesday brought another powerful example from Kid Cudi, the Ohio rapper known for songs like “Day and Night.” He has checked himself into rehab for depression and suicidal thoughts, and he isn’t trying to hide it on. On Facebook he wrote , Its been difficult for...

How Hollywood Whitewashed the Old West [TheAtlantic.com]

As movie genres go, the Western is a workhorse. It draws from a well of cultural symbols meant to capture the essence of America, including the freedom of the open frontier and the righteous self-determination of man. Standing tall inside this cinematic shorthand is the cowboy himself, a figure commonly understood to be an excellent shot who rides horses and who, above all, is white. This narrow image is foundational to the genre, which includes films such as John Sturges’s 1960 classic The...

Where Childcare Is an Economic Engine [TheAtlantic.com]

At the end of a long day of work at a small sports-marketing firm in Atlanta, a very pregnant Micki Velmer is driving to pick up her 3-year-old son, Burke, from childcare when her car overheats and breaks down. Velmer’s husband, Jason, soon swings by to get her and then get both of them to the Frazer Center before it closes and starts charging late fees. Still, Velmer is uneasy. In just a few short weeks, once their second child is born, the Velmers will be paying more than $2,800 a...

Texas police train to defuse encounters with veterans [Stripes.com]

Two police officers watched Christopher Araujo pace back and forth, a gun in his waistband. Araujo was in Texas, but his mind was in Iraq. “I’m here to help, bro,” one of the officers said. “You need to stay outside the wire,” Araujo snapped back, his perimeter secured. The pistols stayed in the holsters. “I can get you in touch with some care,” one of the officers calmly said. “Why don’t you come on out?” Araujo snapped out of his daze: “Yeah, I can do that.” The Roy Butler Training Academy...

Adversity Is Not Destiny

Childhood adversity can activate the human stress response system, which is primarily made up of the hormones/chemicals cortisol and adrenaline. In the developing brain of a child, prolonged activation of the stress response system can cause these chemicals to actually become toxic. Think of that – a child’s brain being bathed in toxic chemicals due to abuse, neglect, or chaotic household dysfunction. It’s called toxic stress. It’s real, not imagined, and it’s physiological, potentially...

Can Childhood Traumas Make You Old Before Your Time? [Consumer.Healthday.com]

Childhood trauma might promote faster cellular aging in people, a new study suggests. Adults who had experienced stress as kids appeared to have an increased risk of shorter telomeres, which are found at the ends of a person's chromosomes. And that might increase the risk of illness and early death in adulthood, said lead researcher Eli Puterman. He is director of the Fitness, Aging & Stress Lab at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Puterman added that the increased...

California Legislature Orders Juvenile Justice Data Overhaul [JJIE.org]

Alex Sanchez knows the temptations of joining gangs for young Central American immigrants. He fled to the United States in 1979 as an unaccompanied minor (he was 7, his brother 5) to escape the Salvadoran civil war. Eventually he got involved in gang violence, went to prison and was deported before returning to the United States illegally. He was granted political asylum in 2002 and in 2006 became the executive director of Homies Unidos , a nonprofit violence- and gang-prevention...

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