October 2018

Imagine trying to write your name so that it can be read in a mirror. Your brain has all of the visual information you need, and you're a pro at writing your own name. Still, this task is very difficult for most people. That's because it requires the brain to perform a mental transformation that it's not familiar with: using what it sees in the mirror to accurately guide your hand to write backward. MIT neuroscientists have now discovered how the brain tries to compensate for its poor...

Efforts by the private sector have potential to close the gap in health equity in the United States. That was the message at the recent Culture of Health (COH) Conference, one of several yearly convening meetings under the three-year Building a Culture of Health: A Business Leadership Imperative initiative, a joint program developed between Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Business School (HBS) under the leadership of Principal Investigator Howard Koh , Fineberg...

There is one sure form of guidance you can follow every moment of the day, even in today's most turbulent of times, to ensure that you follow the path in life that is truly right for you, truly good for you. The simple way of describing this form of guidance is: making self-loving or self-compassionate choices for yourself in the present moment . Be guided by your heart-sense regarding your every thought and action . When things don’t turn out the way you want them to, instead of blaming and...

"If we knew about this we'd be doing things differently. Surely. And as it turns out, how naïve was I? We did know about it." "ACEs mean we can to start to understand better why we're stuck. ACEs is not about other people. It's about us." "Can I tell you, I'm 65 now. Life's quite messy. That's the way it is." "The important thing is, we need to start where we are and do what we can." "Sometimes we need to stand in front of tanks. And I don't want to upset anyone but just be aware, sometimes...

The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) has launched an initiative to support those who are Brain Story certified in moving their knowledge into action. Since launching the Brain Story Certification course in 2016 over 17,000 Canadians have enrolled, 1,500 from the US and 1,500 internationally, that's over 20,000 people enrolled! To this end, CCSA is organizing a 2-day event in Ottawa in March 2019: the “Brain Builders Lab”. This event will bring together Brain Story alumni...

Chances are, you’ve heard or read something about toxic stress—maybe from the media, from a physician or other medical professional, or from a family member, friend, or neighbor. You may feel overwhelmed by all of the toxic stress information out there. And, unfortunately, it’s very easy to find misleading or incorrect information. The Center on the Developing Child created this Guide to Toxic Stress to clear up the confusion and help you learn the facts about toxic stress step by step. [For...

After my first daughter was born, my abuser's grandfather gave us a check to buy necessities for our newborn. Not a single cent of that money went to diapers or onesies. Instead, my abuser took the check and spent the money on himself. That wasn't the first time he took what wasn't his. He was constantly in and out of work, and he often left it to me to cover the bulk of our rent, utility bills, and sometimes even his car payments. If I ever raised concerns about his spending, on expensive...

In response to an alarming rise in the number of students who have experienced trauma and mental health issues and who do not succeed in school, the National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) and the Successful Practices Network (SPN) announce the release of the Trauma-Skilled Schools Model. The Trauma-Skilled Schools Model was developed to address two serious challenges faced by our nation's schools: The growing negative impact of childhood trauma and the absence of clear and doable action...

Soon after news broke that the Trump administration could further roll back civil rights protections for transgender students, one New York City teacher sent an email blast to her fellow educators. She was searching for materials to use in biology class that reflect people of different gender identities, but couldn’t find anything. Many city educators may similarly grapple with how to support transgender students after it was reported that the Trump administration is considering whether to...

According to thousands of years of tradition, Buddhists meditate to understand themselves and their connections to all beings. By doing so, they hope to be released from suffering and ultimately gain enlightenment. In recent decades, researchers have been gaining insight into the benefits of practicing this ancient tradition. By studying more secular versions of mindfulness meditation, they’ve found that learning to pay attention to our current experiences and accept them without judgment...

When documentary producers first approached Beverly Walker about featuring her family in a film, the Milwaukee mother and grandmother knew what that meant: cameras trailing them, her cherished privacy breached. But her husband, Baron Walker, by then having served nearly two decades of a 60-year sentence, saw an opportunity. “I thought it could be quite helpful, though at the moment I didn’t know to what extent,” says Baron, who had been sentenced in 1996 for being party to a pair of bank...

The obesity rate for youth ages 10 to 17 ranged from 8.7% in Utah to 26.1% in Mississippi, according to the most recent state-by-state data from the 2016-17 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). Nationally, 15.8% of youth in this age range have obesity. Nine of the 10 states with the highest rates are in the South. Nine of the 10 states with the lowest rates are either in the West or Northeast. Prior to 2016, the NSCH was significantly redesigned. Due to changes in the survey’s mode...