May 2016

A negative experience as a child can have a big impact on a person’s health, and the Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition wants to begin figuring how those experiences are affecting the people of Juneau — and spreading the word about the link in the first place. “The ACEs study seems to be well-known within specific communities (like behavioral health) but broadly, in the community, it’s not well known,” said Hilary Young, Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator for Juneau Youth Services and...

The Pledge of Allegiance ends with an especially significant guarantee: “liberty and justice for all.” But, according to a new report, states are failing their citizens on the promise of equal justice under the law. The 2016 Justice Index , created by the National Center for Access to Justice at Cardozo Law School, seeks to look beyond just the treatment of citizens by juries and judges, and to instead evaluate how well states ensure that all residents have equal access to the civil legal...

“ Financial Capability Month ,” an Obama administration effort affirming a national commitment to “equipping individuals with the knowledge and protections necessary to secure a stable financial future for themselves and their families,” has just come to an end. A fundamental element of financial capability is financial access. And, as the issuers of benefits to millions of Americans without a traditional bank account, federal and state governments provide this point of access through a...

When Avalon Dugan got out of treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, she had a choice: head back to the mainstream high school where she spent her freshman year or enroll in a tiny high school on the campus of the rehabilitation facility. Dugan choose the school for kids in recovery—a decision she says has helped her stay sober for over a year. Hope Academy, a charter school that has been operating out of Fairbanks Addiction Treatment Center in Indianapolis for 10 years, offers services for...

Congress unanimously passed a bill Monday to remove the last pockets of archaic racial terminology such as “Oriental” or “Negro” from federal law, replacing them instead with more modern terms. The law targeted two anti-discrimination subsections of the U.S. Code that used outdated language to describe racial groups. In one section of the Department of Energy Organization Act, “a Negro, Puerto Rican, American Indian, Eskimo, Oriental, or Aleut or is a Spanish speaking individual of Spanish...

The Help Yourself to Help Others Summit for First Responders was held on the St. Petersburg College - Tarpon Springs’ campus on Saturday, April 30, 2016. Peace4Tarpon partnered with the college to bring this free event to area first responders: law enforcement, fire rescue, emergency medical technicians, providers, students and community. Associate Provost Rod Davis welcomed the participants to the campus and Peace4Tarpon Director Robin Saenger opened the summit by thanking the first...

Stephanie was eight years old when her heroin-addicted father was sent to prison for armed robbery. When she attempted to give her dad a hug during her first visit to the prison where he was being held, an armed guard immediately chastised her, snatching him away to another room, where she was only able to speak to him by phone through a glass window. In a video released by the Children of Incarcerated Parents Initiative, she says she never questioned why her father was serving time,...

Cook County Jail is exploring a powerful program that could change lives. The population of the Cook County Jail is more than 9,000 inmates. Of them, it's estimated about 30 percent have mental health issues. At a time when state, county and city mental health centers have all but vanished, Sheriff Tom Dart has made it a priority to address the issue. In what used to be the boot camp facility, a new day is dawning for these inmates. It is now called the mental health transition center. Many...

Michael Burghardt couldn't sleep. His legs were shaking, his bones ached and he couldn't stop throwing up. Burghardt was in the Valley Street Jail in Manchester, N.H. This was his 11th stay at the jail in the last 12 years. There had been charges for driving without a license, and arguments where the police were called. This time, Burghardt was in after an arrest for transporting drugs in a motor vehicle. Burghardt, 32, has been taking methadone for 10 years to help his recovery from heroin...

Five blogging activists who have never met launched a social media campaign, almost spontaneously that is giving women with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) visibility and support - and is getting support as well. I'm overwhelmed by the response. We simply wanted people to know women get PTSD and that this reality should be reflected in popular images shown on Google (or Bing or Yahoo) searches. The support has been incredible. People have posted pictures on Twitter, written blog posts...

Talk about an inspiring duo. In an interview for “Good Morning America,” Prince Harry and First Lady Michelle Obama stressed the importance of seeking treatment for mental health conditions. They also slammed the negative stereotypes attached to mental illness, especially when it comes to members of the military. “[Mental illness] is not a life sentence,” Harry told anchor Robin Roberts. “If you open up and speak about it and get the right help as soon as possible, then you can find coping...

On most mornings these days, Bari Greenwood’s 4-year-old daughter wakes up in her bunk bed, gets dressed by herself and eagerly waits to be taken to daycare. For most 4-year-olds, these moments in a daily routine would hardly be worth mentioning. But Greenwood recounts them with the wide smile of a proud mother, for each is a hard-fought victory and a sign of remarkable progress. Greenwood adopted her daughter in July 2015 but had cared for her for more than a year before that, when Child...