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July 12 marked one month since the horrific mass shooting that claimed the lives of 49 LGBTQ people and allies at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Most were young and Latinx. Those who lost loved ones are just beginning to try and make sense of the senseless and start the healing process. While the initial shock experienced so acutely by LGBTQ people and people of color may have started the process of grief, the collective trauma lives on. The need for inclusive LGBTQ-specific health centers...

Doyou believe that positive thinking can help you achieve your goals? Many people today do. Pop psychology and the $12 billion self-help industry reinforce a widespread belief that positive thinking can improve our moods and lead to beneficial life changes. In her book The Secret Daily Teachings(2008), the self-help author Rhonda Byrne suggested that: ‘Whatever big thing you are asking for, consider having the celebration now as though you have received it.’ Yet research in psychology...

LooLoo Amante had nowhere to live after her freshman year of college, so she bought a Scion with tinted windows and, at just 19 years old, slept in the driver's seat. She had little money for food, let alone a costly meal plan, so she sometimes asked friends to grab her a banana or apple from the dining hall. Even some of her closest friends had no idea that homelessness was part of the college experience for Amante, an advertising major who ran on the cross-country team and served as San...

The USA ranks ninth among the world’s 19 wealthiest nations in terms of overall child well-being - despite having the world’s largest economy, according to a Save the Children report released Friday. The Child Prosperity Index looks at indicators in eight areas affecting children around the world, including health, education, income, safety, employment, gender equality, infrastructure and the environment. The report is being released ahead of the G20 Summit in China this September. G20 is a...

A large majority of American adults thinks it's OK for doctors to discuss gun safety with their patients, a new study reveals. The online survey included more than 3,900 respondents. The researchers found that 66 percent said it was at least sometimes appropriate for doctors to talk about guns with patients. Twenty-three percent said it was always appropriate for doctors to talk to patients about guns, 14 percent said it was usually appropriate, and 30 percent said it was sometimes...

It was a particularly cold day in Macon, Georgia. I prepared myself for the long wait to get into Central State Prison to visit my son. Wearing my “prison uniform” and donning a men’s coat that would keep me warm enough I stepped out of my vehicle — quarters, check; driver’s license, check; patience, check. The line was long today. What many people don’t realize is that most prisons don’t have interior areas to wait to get through security. We have a sidewalk with a small metal cover as wide...

One of the hardest parts of being a farmer is the lack of control over things like weather and international markets. A world-first online mental health program is hoping to give farmers similar skills to cancer patients, who also have to deal with uncertainty and unexpected developments. Lead researcher and developer Kate Fennell said the website would not only help farmers who lived with a mental illness, but could also be used to prevent problems in the first place. [For more of this...

A new online knowledge center offers expert information on supporting the mental health and emotional well-being of students of color. It was created by the Steve Fund, a nonprofit focused on student of color mental health issues and is available free of charge. “Our goal is to provide carefully vetted information on how to better support the mental health and emotional well-being of students of color,” says Evan Rose, president of the Steve Fund, adding: “We are thrilled to launch this new...

Victor Pierce has worked on the assembly line of a Daimler Trucks North America plant here since 1994. But he says that in recent years he’s experienced things that seem straight out of another time. White co-workers have challenged him to fights, mounted “hangman’s nooses” around the factory, referred to him as “boy” on a daily basis, sabotaged his work station by hiding his tools, carved swastikas in the bathroom, and written the word “nigger” on walls in the factory, according to...

When it comes to the emotional well-being of children, we tend to think of girls and boys as more alike than they are different — they need the same kind of nurturing. But girls develop differently from boys, especially after they reach puberty, and they experience different pressures. That makes them vulnerable to some different emotional and behavioral challenges. - See full article posted on Children's Mental Health Network from Child Mind where they explore issues that affect girls more...

In the last two years, the director of an Islamic funeral home in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, buried six young men. Heart attacks, some neighbors said, but the whispers and witnesses said something else: heroin. The families of the men would not discuss the causes of death. “They tell us straight up, ‘Don’t say anything,’” the funeral director’s son, Kareem Elmatbagi, said. Drug overdose is considered suicide, a sin in Islam, and therefore a source of shame for many in the Arab-American...

Every young life starts out with promise, and the adults who love a child yearn for that child to have a bright future. But what if a simple barrier at an early age sets a child up for failure? Difficulty in reading is such a barrier. Poor reading skill is a predictor of, among other things, involvement in the juvenile justice system. “The literature shows a clear correlation between a grade-level reading problem and, later on, incarceration in the juvenile justice system,” said Ralph Smith,...