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Texans with substance use disorders who work with a peer recovery coach for a minimum of 12 months remain abstinent or reduce their substance use, improve their housing and employment status and reduce their overall use of health care services, according to a new report from social work researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. Addiction to alcohol or drugs affects millions of people in the United States, and drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under age...

I’m digging through reports and punditry to make sense of health care reform when I realize that while we’ve been debating single-payer systems and high-risk pools, no one’s talking about the most serious health threat: climate change. I know what global warming is doing to our ecosystems. My Twitter feed is a stream of climate disaster revelations. Given the serious implications droughts, floods, and fires pose to our health, shouldn’t climate change be part of the health care discussions?

My wife and I are blessed to live in our neighborhood, a part of Seattle called Madrona that calls itself “The Peaceable Kingdom.” We live on a block with neighbors we love. We have potluck dinner parties every month. We share rides and tools. We exchange home repair know-how, pie crust recipes, general advice. We give and get the tomatoes from our gardens and the plums from our trees. We walk across the street just to visit. It’s a little idyll of neighborliness. And if I’m honest about it,...

An oversized poster of the Seinfeld character Kramer watches over Phil Rizzuto’s daily routine. When Rizzuto, named for the famous New York Yankees shortstop, swallows his 6 a.m. pills, Kramer is looming over him, looking quizzical. Same for the 9 a.m., noon, 6 p.m., and midnight doses, each fistful of pills placed in a carefully labeled Dixie cup. “I live on medication,” he says. [For more of this story, written by Karen Weintraub and Rachel Zimmerman, go to ...

When people think of us, many envision a wealthy beach community dotted with hip boutiques and bistros overlooking beautiful sunsets. But here in Santa Monica we face stark, complicated issues—including homelessness—like any other city. In fact after seven years of stability, our homeless population spiked significantly this year (2017) to 921. This is a 26 percent increase over 2016. It’s part of a regional homelessness crisis in Los Angeles County , which also saw a 23 percent increase...

The following statement from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is in response to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) score of the Senate’s proposed legislation repealing the Affordable Care Act . The non-partisan estimate concludes 22 million people would lose coverage by 2026 under the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked for more than 40 years to ensure that everyone in America has access to affordable, high-quality health care. Being...

Philadelphia ACE Task Force (PATF) staff members like to call 2016 “The Year of the Work Groups.” These subsets of the Task Force—focusing on community education/ACEs messaging, workforce development, practical interventions and research—became incubators for ideas, programs and partnerships that helped energize the larger ACEs movement in the city and beyond. Launching a New Website One of the most visible activities was the launch of the PATF’s new website, PhiladelphiaACES.org , which...

Date: July 11th Time: 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST Location: Parenting with ACEs Group , Online Flyer: Attached below. Please share. Dr. Claudia M. Gold has practiced general and behavioral pediatrics for 25 years and specializes in early childhood mental health. She is on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Boston Infant-Parent Mental Health program, William James College, and the Austen Riggs Center where she is a Human Development consultant. Dr. Gold is author of the following...

WHY? HELP OTHERS THAT NEED SUPPORT TO GET BEYOND WHY ADVERSITY HAS HAPPENED.... OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE SKILLS WORKING ASIDE CHILDREN, YOUTH AND PARENTS Continuous Quality Improvement Training Webinars Wednesdays July 19th & 26th $60.00 total for both days... 3:30p.m.-5:00p.m. Pacific Standard Time Zone Train your whole staff with no travel expense or time away from the office! Our registration process is easy and provides an opportunity for everyone in your office to benefit from the...

THE GENERAL PUBLIC became aware of the Standing Rock Sioux’s fight to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline last fall when, week after week, videos surfaced showing protesters being attacked by dogs, sprayed with water hoses and pelted with an arsenal of rubber bullets, bean bag pellets, and long-range sound devices that blast “powerful deterrent tones.” Rumored among activists but unknown to the public and much of the press, law enforcement had another tool up its sleeve that has only recently...

Focused on the issues most important to their constituents, mayors have to ensure public resources get used wisely and in a way that achieves results while respecting the law and democratic values. As mayors from across the nation gather for The United States Conference of Mayors’ Annual Meeting this weekend, here are five that are practicing good governance in small and mid-sized cities. [For more of this story, written by Neil Parmar, go to http://nationswell.com/good-governing-mayors/]

Muzzy Rosenblatt takes issue with the conventional way of sheltering the homeless. As the executive director of the Bowery Residents Committee (BRC), a provider of shelter and services to New York City’s homeless population, he wants to go beyond just putting up beds. Instead, he proposes a whole new consideration of how shelters are both run and funded. In a new volume entitled What Matters: Investing in Results to Build Strong, Vibrant Communities , from the Nonprofit Fund (NFF) and the...