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In the first version of her story, Grace Costa says that, on the night after Christmas, in 2012, her ex-boyfriend broke into her house, hid behind her bedroom door, and then attacked her as she and her two grown children—a son and a daughter—were about to eat dinner. In the second version, it’s still the night after Christmas, but it might be 2013, and only her daughter is at home with her. There’s a half-eaten apple on the floor of the kitchen; she remembers...

Expectant moms who participate in group prenatal care rather than individual care appear to reap significant health benefits for both themselves and their babies, according to a new study led by the Yale School of Public Health. The findings show that young women who received group prenatal care were 33 percent less likely to have babies who were small for gestational age. Furthermore, group-care moms had a lower risk for preterm delivery and low birthweight. Their infants also spent fewer...

Education issues can be difficult to grasp; they can feel  overwhelming, intangible, or even irrelevant. Sometimes, the best and most effective means of conveying education stories are through charts, graphics, images, and videos. Here are some of the visuals from around the Internet this past year that helped visualize what mattered—student debt, early-childhood education, regional inequality in schools, campus protests, and so on—in a way that was engaging and provocative.

Justin King spends most of his hours in a cinderblock dormitory room for minimum-security prisoners, sleeping on a metal bunk bed and being constantly monitored by surveillance cameras. But on a crisp California morning with coastal fog hanging on the hillsides, King, who is serving time for selling methamphetamines, and three of his fellow inmates at the Mendocino County jail huddle together in a 175-acre vineyard to  pick plump sangiovese grapes . The only visible difference between...

We talk a big game, as a nation, about how much we value our kids. After all, “the children are our future,” right? But here’s the thing: our investments and policies don’t yet line up with this value. Spending on children makes up just 10 percent of the federal budget, and that share is likely to fall . The outcomes are clear: Child well-being in the United States ranks 26 on a list of 29 industrialized nations in a UNICEF report. We must do better! So here’s...

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/tragedy-whitney-houston-and-her-daughter-surprising-factors-can-make-people-4600-percent-more

The Heal Write Now Center Open House is tomorrow from 1-4 p.m. in Weymouth, MA. here, we gather to create hope, health and happiness. All workshops held or hosted at the center focus on the following: healing creativity mindfulness More than half of us have or will experience traumatic stress. Many of us live with post-traumatic stress. All of us grieve, face loss, go through major life transitions and have emotions and experiences worthy of sharing.   Here's what is offered every...

265 Moms, dads, brothers, sisters and selves were shot by very young children this year. This is the first time data on people shot by children has been collected in America. There are 28 states that hold gun owners criminally liable if children access their guns. There is at least one state that fines doctors (Florida- the initial bill called for a five million dollar fine and & 5 years in prison for the doctor ) for counselling parents to take preventative measures with their...

When the Youth Health Empowerment Project, a Philadelphia program for youth aged 13 to 24, did ACE surveys of those who visited their drop-in center over three weeks, it found that 81 percent had a score of 4 or more. That’s a significant result, because, based on the  CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study , an ACE score of 4 greatly increases the risk of health and social problems, including heart disease, alcoholism, cancer, autoimmune diseases,...

A trafficking survivor shares personal and professional insights in a book written for those who care about young people’s safety and well-being. Savannah Sanders experienced years of sexual abuse before running away from home as a teenager. Once on the streets, she used drugs and attempted suicide before meeting a man who coerced her into performing sex acts for money. But it wasn’t until age 25, while reading an article online, that Sanders first realized she had been...

Ironically, the UK's Guardian has the most comprehensive news coverage about U.S. police killings, and it's updated regularly. This post has links to other databases, including the Washington Post and Mapping Police Violence.

A person who once steeped herself in envy of anyone who was successful changes her approach, by understanding her longing and her fear. It's good info for us who have ACEs that trigger our fears all the time.  .....In this way, my perspective on my envy began to shift rather rapidly. Suddenly, instead of intense jealousy, I perceived intense longing. When crowds of envious inner thoughts brought on waves of envious inner feelings, I trained myself to instead tune right in to the...