July 2018

My eighty-two year old mother has told me five times in the past three months, “I have secrets I am going to take to the grave.” When I’ve prodded her for more info, she’s informed me she will keep the secrets into death and that was the end of the discussion.

Most times it is those random acts of kindness that save, uplift and nurture another human. It does not take much effort, just living with awareness and mindfulness.

In this episode, I sat down with the Executive Director of The Tristate Trauma Network, Melissa Adamchik, MA. You can find out more about the outstanding work they are doing, along with links mentioned on air, at Tristate Trauma Network.

New York City is the safest big city in the nation. Can it get even safer? The city is betting it can, with a novel strategy that goes far beyond traditional crime-fighting. The strategy, embodied in the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety , is being employed in 15 of the most dangerous public housing complexes in the city. The idea is to lower crime by making these neighborhoods better — places where residents live in well-maintained buildings, have necessary services, are engaged...

Taylor, Texas, is a suburb around 30 miles northeast of Austin that boasts its history as a railroad hub and small-town authenticity . In 2016, more than half of Williamson County—where Taylor is seated— voted for Donald Trump . But recently, county officials decided not to help the president in his push to expand the detention of unauthorized migrants, including those seeking asylum. On June 26, in a regularly planned county court meeting , the future of Taylor’s T. Don Hutto detention...

Two weeks after arriving in the US seeking asylum, E, 23, found herself in a detention cell in San Luis, Arizona, bleeding profusely and begging for help from staff at the facility. She was four months pregnant and felt like she was losing her baby. She had come to the US from El Salvador after finding out she was pregnant, in the hopes of raising her son in a safer home. “An official arrived and they said it was not a hospital and they weren’t doctors. They wouldn’t look after me,” she told...

Once considered a private matter, domestic violence is now increasingly recognized as a public problem with vast immediate and long-term physical, emotional, social, economic, and other impacts. Recognizing that quality and safety of our partner relationships are shaped by conditions in our community environments and the actions of multiple sectors, Prevention Institute and Blue Shield of California Foundation will award one-year planning and capacity building grants to five...

Some 544,000 people in the United States have no shelter every night, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Families make up more than one-third of this total . Beyond exposing them to weather, crime, and unsanitary conditions, homelessness can also damage people’s self-esteem , making them feel helpless or hopeless . Being homeless is a traumatic experience, in part because of the associated stigma . Recovering from homelessness may therefore involve not just...

Are you spending time with the right people for your health and happiness? While many of us focus primarily on diet and exercise to achieve better health, science suggests that our well-being also is influenced by the company we keep. Researchers have found that certain health behaviors appear to be contagious and that our social networks — in person and online — can influence obesity , anxiety and overall happiness. A recent report found that a person’s exercise routine was strongly...

Easthampton, Mass. – For the 5 million formerly incarcerated people living in the U.S., landing a job means more than just personal success: It means finding a place in their communities and being able to care for their loved ones again. It’s well known that the obstacles to finding a job are severe for formerly incarcerated people. The scale of this problem, however, has been difficult to measure – until now. In Out of Prison & Out of Work , the Prison Policy Initiative calculates that...

Do you ever feel like you need a friend’s support? But then stop yourself from reaching out? For all of us, healthy relationships matter . In fact, deep relationships are essential to being a healthy human being. For trauma survivors—or those who are experiencing or have experienced post-partum depression or mood disorders (which is also trauma)—the act of deepening relationships can be particularly difficult. Reaching out in a time of need or asking for help doesn’t come easily to those who...

It’s imperative that healthcare and law enforcement professionals understand the ACE concept and how it’s interconnected with human trafficking. Because they are in an array of locations and circumstances where they encounter victims on a regular basis, they are in perfect positions to help victims and to also help prevent traffickers from continuing to get away with this heinous crime. I’m retired from clerk positions I held for 27 years. Before that, I was sex trafficked for 18 years from...