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I believe I can speak for millions of mothers in America, Republican and Democrat alike, when I say that the 13 men in the Senate drafting its version of the contentious health care bill to repeal and replace Obamacare can skip the whole breakfast in bed thing for Mother's Day. That's not what we need from them. What current and future American mothers need right now is much more attention to their health -- especially an increase in our survival rates in childbirth. Mother's Day is an...

A new study has found that kids with chronic physical illness are more likely to have depression and anxiety in adulthood. For their study, researchers at the University of Sussex and University College London reviewed data from a large number of medical studies, looking for associations between eight chronic physical illnesses in childhood, such as arthritis, asthma, and cancer, and emotional problems experienced later in life. [For more of this story, written by Janice Wood, go to ...

Rich Besser was a fourth-year medical student when he found himself performing his first (and last!) solo emergency Cesarean section at a hospital tucked within a rural Himalayan village in Manali, India. He had come to Lady Willingdon Hospital eager to learn about health problems facing people within the developing world, and worked under a gifted local surgeon, Dr. George “Laji” Varghese . Providing care for the underserved population there was no small feat. For instance, the power would...

The outpouring of responses to my blog about my Mom’s addiction (https://traumainformedlancaster.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/what-my-moms-addiction-taught-me-about-shame-resilience-and-grace/) has made me realize how many families are in this same struggle. As I’ve told some of the people who contacted me to thank me for sharing it: it’s been a long road to this place and I’m still learning and faltering and crying and getting back up every day. But, if my sharing the struggle this vulnerably...

Just beautiful. Check out the images and art! Mamas Day is a celebration of all mamas, everywhere! We know that mamahood is not one size fits all. But most popular images of mothers exclude mamas based on their sexual orientation, race, income, immigration status and more. And Mother’s Day, one of the biggest commercial holidays in the United States, often reinforces traditional ideas of family and motherhood that there's only one way to be a family. That's why we created "Mamas Day" in 2011...

There are many ways in which this artificial "Hallmark" holiday can be hard. There is a perception that everyone is celebrating, that everyone has a mother and that the mother we have (or had) was the image of perfection -- our mentor, our source of guidance, our rock, our stability. For many of us, that is or was not the mother we had. And, many of us tried to be better and different mothers ourselves -- sometimes with enormous success and sometimes with less positive outcomes. We had...

Frank Farry is a state representative in the 142nd Legislative District in Pennsylvania, as well as a volunteer firefighter. He created a crisis hotline to provide support for first responders. Courtesy Pennsylvania House of Representatives/Courtesy Pennsylvania House of Representatives The people who leap into action first during crises — police, firefighters and paramedics — have established hotlines in many places for fellow emergency workers who find that they need help too. One of the...

An article by Jocelyn Simonson - and a great way to celebrate mother's day. “Money kept them in. Black love got them out.” That is the slogan of Mama’s Bail Out Day , an effort of grass-roots organizations from across the country to bail out mothers and other caretakers who are sitting in jail simply because they cannot afford to pay bail. From Oakland, Calif., to Montgomery, Ala., to New York City, nearly two dozen organizations affiliated with public defenders, local Black Lives Matter...

This new resource from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network is hot off the presses! This Guide was developed for youth who have experienced—or know someone who has experienced—Complex Trauma. Older youth, adolescents, and young adults can explore the information in this Guide on their own to help them better understand Complex Trauma and the effects. Clinicians, caregivers, and other adults can also use the Guide to have conversations with youth about Complex Trauma and about the...

Drinking among U.S. high school students has plummeted in recent years, a new government report shows. High schoolers who say they drink dropped from about half of students in 1991 down to around one out of three in 2015, an analysis of data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals. Binge drinking also declined among high school students, from about 32 percent of all students in 1999 to about 18 percent in 2015, the report found. Binge drinking involves consuming five...

Earlier this year, we urged the Trump administration to continue federal investments in juvenile justice. In the last three decades, the field has benefited greatly from federal support of research, innovative programming and evidence-based approaches designed to improve outcomes for youth, families and communities. After co-hosting a national conference in April that explored how research is shaping youth policy and practice across the U.S., we are convinced more than ever that the wisest...

Understanding the primal period, from preconception through the first year of life is vital for anyone who works therapeutically with people, including infants, children, families or adults. The intensive includes doing many shorter exercises in triads, with hands on support, as well as cognitive learning, including handouts, videos and live teaching.