June 2018

New York City’s Public Design Commission (PDC) reviews the design of “anything that is visible,” explained Justin Moore, the commission’s executive director. “Sewers, we don’t look at.” On top of the city’s parks and public buildings, the commission is finally taking on public housing. In May, the PDC released Designing New York: Quality Affordable Housing , a guide for developers, designers, and community members that lays out the commission’s ideas. There are eight design categories,...

Arkansas just became the first state to implement work requirements for its Medicaid program. Similar Medicaid waivers have been approved for t hree other states, and seven more are pending, spurred in part by the Trump administration’s guidance last year. Now, if able-bodied adults on Arkansas’ Medicaid rolls don’t go to work, study, or volunteer for 80 or more hours a month, they will lose their health insurance coverage in three months. A study by the Urban Institute in May estimated...

The author wrote on the condition of anonymity because of the gang-related threats she and her family face in the United States and in El Salvador. I came to this country from El Salvador in 2014 seeking safety for myself and my son. Instead, I found myself locked in a family immigration detention center. It’s an experience that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. When I heard news stories of nearly 3,000 children separated from their parents at the border, my heart broke for them. Now President...

Weekend after weekend, the wave of emergency department (ED) patients would arrive. Oral and maxillofacial surgeon Jonathan Shepard would treat shattered jaws, knife wounds and other facial injuries at the hospital in Cardiff, Wales. These injuries stemmed from brawls in bars and nightclubs where broken glasses and bottles were wielded as weapons. Strangely, Dr. Shepard found that only 23 percent of these assaults treated in the hospital were reported to law enforcement. Harnessing the Power...

In August 2015, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha was having a glass of wine in her kitchen with two friends, when one friend, a water expert, asked if she was aware of what was happening to the water in Flint, Mich. Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician in Flint, knew that the city had changed its water source the previous year. Instead of channeling water from the Great Lakes, residents were now drinking water from the nearby Flint River. She had been aware of some problems with bacteria after the switch,...

FOCUS Pittsburgh knew it was onto something when it piloted its model for strengthening communities — starting with the knowledge that social service help will not stick unless trauma is confronted. In 2015, FOCUS chose the 2900 block of Webster Avenue in the Hill District to start a block-by-block approach of bringing people together toward healing. The group is only into its second area — the 900 block of Bryn Mawr — but people around the country are validating that it is onto something. A...

Recently we have been working to bring awareness to dating violence and sexual assault prevention . Most people don’t know how terribly common sexual assault is, or what to do about it. Intimate partner violence may be even more prevalent than sexual assault. Reports show that 1 in 5 women have experienced sexual assault. But nearly 1 in 4 women have experienced severe physical violence from an intimate partner, says the National Domestic Violence Hotline . One in 3 women have experienced...

Research is illuminating the neural patterns behind pain’s infinite variety. Illustration by Anna Parini Brain imaging is illuminating the neural patterns behind pain’s infinite variety On a foggy February morning in Oxford, England, I arrived at the John Radcliffe Hospital, a shiplike nineteen-seventies complex moored on a hill east of the city center, for the express purpose of being hurt. I had an appointment with a scientist named Irene Tracey, a brisk woman in her early fifties who...

The Attachment & Trauma Network (ATN) is seeking experienced educators and other experts to present workshops at our 2nd Annual Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Conference(CTSS2019) , Feb 17-19, 2019 at the Washington Hilton in Washington DC. Deadline is this Saturday, June 30. Here's the link to submit your proposal online. With over 70 workshops and an expected attendance of over 800 educators from all across the US and even internationally, CTSS2019 is focused on growing the...

Parenting a child with emotional disturbance or another mental health issue, being a foster parent, and adopting a child from a trauma background... all of these can seem like living in tornado alley! (view the video and you'll understand the reference!) I am so thankful for my friendship and partnership in mission with ML Rutherford, our Residential Operations Manager in Helena, Montana. A while back we sat down and talked heart-to-heart about the difficulties that face parents and care...

The Arkansas Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resilience Workgroup partnered with the University of Arkansas - Little Rock Master of Public Administration's (MPA) spring 2018 capstone class to conduct research and analysis to help guide the workgroup's strategic planning process. Several members of ACEs Connection graciously agreed to be interviewed by the students. We want to say thank you to everyone from ACEs Connection who lent their experience and insight for this project. The class of...

Editor's note: Our publisher Leonard Witt is doing an Ask Me Anything today at 11 a.m. ET . Tune in on Reddit NEW YORK — After it happened, the beating, the arrest, the sudden violence on the way to school, the high school sophomore wasn’t the same. She was afraid to leave school alone. Whenever she saw a police officer on the street she felt panicky. She would call her mother, who would try her best to calm her down. She avoided the spot where it happened, taking the long way to school. She...