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Why will we asking math teacher Molly to ignore the fact that 7 out of her 28 fifth-grade students are living in homes where various forms of emotional abuse and neglect exist? Summer. School is out. What better time to ask the leaders of our education and behavioral health care systems to draw up a plan for addressing the epidemic of childhood trauma impacting a quarter of the student population. Yes, one out of four student has or will endure three or more adverse childhood experiences.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is seeking applications for funding under the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Opioid Affected Youth Initiative. This Initiative furthers the Administration’s priority to support states, local communities, and tribal jurisdictions in their efforts to develop and implement effective programs for children, youth, and at-risk juveniles and their families who have been...

CHICAGO — In a conference room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on a recent evening, a group of men sat down for a class on pregnancy and childbirth led by Dr. Craig Garfield, a pediatrician who specializes in studying new fathers. The class is one of many that Northwestern offers to new parents, including some that are designed for moms, for grandparents and — in the case of one class called “Bowser & the Baby” — for dog owners. Dr. Garfield’s parenting class is for expectant fathers ,...

NEW YORK CITY — Ninety-nine percent. The number sent an audible gasp throughout the City Council chamber. Chief of Detectives Dermot F. Shea had just read off the percentage of people of color on the NYPD’s controversial — and until now — largely secretive gang database. Shea was talking publicly for the first time about one of the New York Police Department’s most popular crime-fighting tools. He testified Wednesday before the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety in the database’s...

BROWNSVILLE, Tex. — In the loading docks, children sat in a darkened auditorium watching the animated movie “Moana.” Where there were once racks of clothes and aisles of appliances, there were now spotless dorm-style bedrooms with neatly made beds and Pokemon posters on the walls. The back parking lots were now makeshift soccer fields and volleyball courts. The McDonald’s was now the cafeteria. All this made it difficult to visualize what the sprawling facility used to be — a former Walmart...

The number of people dying by suicide in the United States has risen by about 30 percent in the past two decades. And while the majority of suicide-related deaths today are among boys and men, a study published Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics finds that the number of girls and women taking their own lives is rising. "Typically there's between three and four times as many suicides among males as among females," says Dr. Holly Hedegaard , a medical epidemiologist at the...

Years ago, when I was a medical student trying my hand at a variety of specialties, I spent two months on the surgery service. The days were rigorous, starting before 5 a.m., when I was expected at the hospital to round on patients who had recently undergone surgery. I then scrubbed in to the first operating room case of the day, at 7 a.m. Depending on the complexity of the procedure, we wouldn’t emerge from the O.R. for hours, biologic needs such as going to the bathroom or eating be...

When we hear the word tantrum, we picture a 2-year-old lying on the floor kicking and screaming. Very rarely do we use it to describe an adult having an outburst. In reality, adults can have this kind of outburst at any moment in time. We don’t typically refer to an adult as having a tantrum. We refer to them as being angry or “just blowing off some steam.” However, when their behavior becomes cyclical, predictive, or problematic the impact of their behavior should be assessed and addressed.

The below piece was published as the lead story in Aspenia , an Italian journal on international affairs. Their June issue explores the "rise of the city-state.” Around the world, nation-states are looking backward—electing populist leaders who want to set back the clock on economic, social, and cultural advancement. Our cities remain our truest beacons of progress and compassion, developing new approaches to equity, devising new initiatives on jobs, healthcare, and education, and, of...

Many who take up careers in clinical psychotherapy have a deep personal commitment – some might say calling – to help others on their journey toward better mental health. Some, like post traumatic stress expert Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (whose father was a Nazi concentration camp survivor), found powerful motivation to improve mental illness treatment, after bearing witness to the deep impact of trauma on a loved one. By nature, the work of a clinical psychotherapist can carry a high risk of...

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) signed two landmark bills into law this session related to improving outcomes for youth in the state’s foster care system. As of June 1, through H.B. 18-1306 , Colorado became the first state in the nation to dedicate millions of dollars specifically to the educational stability of students in foster care. With the new law, Colorado is committing $2.8 million this fiscal year and $3.9 million the following year to ensure that foster youth have...

Steve Sturm believes every child should have the same opportunities that his 3-year-old daughter Reagan enjoys. Things like new boots, trips to the trampoline park — and preschool. But for children known to the foster care system, too many miss out on the earliest years of their education. “There wasn’t any real focus on early ed. It was kind of an afterthought,” said Sturm, who works with the education unit at L.A.’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the biggest child...