March 2019

In the wake of high-profile school shootings, many schools over the past decade have invested scarce educational funds into putting more police in schools. School districts have shown a near obsession with “hardening” schools despite federal data revealing that the real crisis of schools isn’t violence, but a broad failure to hire enough support staff to serve students’ mental health needs. Today’s students are experiencing record levels of depression and anxiety and many forms of trauma.

Weeds return when roots are not pulled. In the same way, our clients’ traumatic symptoms return when we fail to identify and treat the root causes. When this happens, traumatized children and experience first order change or change that is not permanent. Join Dr. Scott Sells for a free webinar to help families "get out of the weeds."

The next installment of Villa of Hope's webinar series for the Alliance for Stronger Families & Communities is "Adaptive Change to RECOVER Efficiency & Strength to Build a Culture of Change & Empowerment." It takes a humble and courageous leader to do this work!

Join us in Hagerstown, MD, for the next training in our series focused on trauma informed strategies for the community! Unconditional Care features three dynamic speakers focused on how addressing issues of self- care and self-awareness lead to the outcomes we all are striving for children, families and neighborhoods. Group rates are available for organizations registering ten or more attendees, contact Kerry Fair at 240-513-6370 or kfair@besterhope.org to arrange. Our last several trainings...

Echo conferences have a reputation for being chockfull of innovative approaches and cutting edge science. We featured Dr. Vincent Felitti and ACEs science in 2013, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk in 2015, and hosted the first national trauma-informed schools conference in 2016. What we have prepared for 2019 is no exception. I guarantee it will be unlike any conference you have attended before. The innate wisdom of the body has long been understood by traditions like yoga and harnessed for...

At a March 6 hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) addressed the impact of family separation on the mental and physical health of children at the border. Her questions to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen focused on the impact of toxic stress caused by family separation on short and long-term health outcomes for children. Sec. Nielsen was unfamiliar with the concept of “toxic stress.” Here’s a short description of the 6-minute exchange...

Of the 16 million American adults who live with depression, as many as one-quarter gain little or no benefit from available treatments, whether drugs or talk therapy. They represent perhaps the greatest unmet need in psychiatry. On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a prescription treatment intended to help them, a fast-acting drug derived from an old and widely used anesthetic, ketamine. The move heralds a shift from the Prozac era of antidepressant drugs. The newly approved...

Princeton, N.J. —The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) today announced the 12 communities chosen as finalists for the RWJF Culture of Health Prize. The Prize recognizes communities that are bringing partners together around a shared commitment to health, opportunity, and equity. Selected from nearly 200 applicant communities, the following 12 finalist communities are one step closer to the national Prize: Broward County, Fla. Carrollton, Ga. Del Norte County & Tribal Lands, Calif.

If they had known, they never would have bought the house on Bayou Glen Road. Sure, it was a beautiful lot, tucked in a bend of the creek, backyard woodsy and wild, the neighbors friendly and the street quiet. A little piece of nature just 20 minutes from downtown Houston. It was exactly what John and Heather Papadopoulos — recently married, hoping to start a family — were looking for in 2007. They didn't think much about the creek that ran along their yard, aside from appreciating the birds...

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has made a call for universal, high-quality child care a central theme in her campaign to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., introduced legislation this week that proposes cost-sharing between the federal government and states to provide affordable, high-quality child care up to age 13. The idea of good, affordable child care and preschool appeals to many parents of young children, but how...

C ornel West said we have a history that is “inseparable from though not reducible to victimization.” This is just as essential as it is difficult to keep in mind when white high school dropouts own more wealth than black and Latino college graduates . Black children in America today are constantly being told that they do not belong and they are not enough. The past several years have forced me to reflect on what it means to be not only a black man in this country but a black educator for...

In recent months, there has been a surge of legislative actions for children’s health advocates. New laws have been passed that provide funding for programs and research initiatives essential for improving the health and well-being of children and families across the country. Here, NICHQ provides an update on the legislation, as well as a brief analysis of the impact on children’s health. We share this update to help our readers stay informed about policies that influence children’s health...