July 2017

The crowd was overflowing at a nondescript convention center in suburban Maryland, a few miles from the Baltimore airport. The event had originally been capped at 350, but organizers had to make plans for an overflow room, seating an additional 150 people. Despite that, registration still maxed out days before the conference took place. Any event that brings together three regional leaders in the same room -- in this case, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and...

Staff members at Northside Elementary School want to do more to support students suffering from trauma. The La Crosse Public Education Foundation has awarded a $4,000 grant in support of the trauma-informed school project, in which staff would be trained in techniques to help children who are experiencing adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse, neglect or mental illness, or are living in a home with violence or substance abuse. The school is asking for an additional $4,000 in donations...

The Scottish government has announced a greater emphasis on crime prevention as part of its new justice strategy. Justice Secretary Michael Matheson published the new priorities as he started the demolition of Scotland's only women's prison at Cornton Vale. Two new community-based custody units for women will be located in Glasgow and either Fife or Dundee. The new units will focus on recovery and keeping women closer to their families. A smaller prison will also be built at Cornton Vale for...

In an oddly placed story, the Arts and Entertainment section of the Star Tribune in Minnesota covered the cost of phone calls for inmates after the FCC decided that it would not support caps on cost for inmates to make calls. The article starts out talking about the Netflix series, Orange is the New Black, but this issue isn't fiction, it's impacting families all over the United States. In criminal justice reform this issue could easily get lost when larger issues like mental health are so...

I have just written the linked piece for the Aspen Journal of Ideas. It probes something that I think will be of deep interest to this audience, namely, how to enable change. To that end, the piece suggests that we have had a mistaken approach to date. We have focused on the positives of change. Instead, we need to focus on loss -- which is way harder and usually ignored. Ponder this new approach. Thoughts welcomed as always. ...

Two days before the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump stepped out of his personal jet and into a hangar at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport to promise a crowd of more than 9,000 supporters that, if elected, he would halt arrivals of Somali refugees. Minnesota has the largest Somali population in America—estimated to be around 46,000—as well as comparatively large populations of Ethiopians, Liberians, and Nigerians. "You've suffered enough in Minnesota," Trump told the audience,...

Health equity means everyone has a fair shot at living the healthiest life possible. Personal responsibility plays a key role in health, but the choices we make depend on the choices that are available to us. For example, you might know it’s important to eat healthy foods, but what if you live in a neighborhood without a good grocery store? Or the nearest grocery store is far away and you don’t have access to a car or public transportation? Or your family doesn’t make enough money to buy...

This past month America’s first mental health court celebrated its 20th anniversary. The behind the scenes story, which led to the creation of Broward’s Mental Health Court, is a case-study of the need to preserve and expand Medicaid from a criminal justice perspective; and what happens when people in need of mental health and primary care are left behind. Aaron Wynn, a young man living in South Florida, was preparing to leave for college. According to his family, Aaron loved the ocean, his...

Learning how to cultivate the realities of neuroplasticity” in very practical ways is at the heart of the ongoing dialogue between neuroscience and mindfulness. Here is a quick listing of the sessions, containing over seven hours of training: Session 1: The Buddha Meets Neurobiology Session 2: The Anatomy of Being Human Session 3: Extraordinary Mental Health Session 4: The Mystery of Identity Session 5: The Neurobiology of Mindfulness Session 6: The Game Is Love In addition to the...

Don Draper was a survivor of childhood trauma. But, when we first met Don, the protagonist of the acclaimed television series Mad Men, we met a man who had it all. He was at the pinnacle of his career, happily married to his gorgeous wife, Betty, father of two adorable children, and living in a big house in one of the fanciest suburbs of Westchester. His haughty, arrogant and aloof facade was easily mistaken for genuine confidence. We soon found out, however, that Don was a man with flaws.

A report from Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality reveals that adults view black girls—starting at age five—as less innocent and more adult-like than white girls of the same age. The study focuses on the “adultification” of black girls, shining a light on bias aimed at black female children. “What we found is that adults see black girls as less innocent and less in need of protection as white girls of the same age,” says Rebecca Epstein, lead author of the report and executive...

A new initiative is helping police officers sharpen and exercise the most powerful weapon at their disposal: their brains. As part of the brain power series on TODAY, special anchor Maria Shriver took a look at a groundbreaking program in the Dallas Police Department that was implemented to help officers in the wake of the shooting last summer in which a gunman killed five Dallas policemen during a protest. With police officers often facing extreme stress and trauma on a regular basis, the...