Blog

When communicating with the public or policymakers, nonprofits have long relied on a certain way of telling their stories and showing why the work of human service providers and advocates is so critical. But a new narrative is taking shape and many practitioners and advocates are leveraging the idea of “reframing” in order to be more effective in painting a picture of the scope and breadth of human services and how it impacts all members of society. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of...

In Walla Walla, Washington, a banner made by penitentiary inmates stretched across Main Street. One side announced, “October Is Children’s Resilience Month.” The other read, “Resilience Trumps ACEs.” For Teri Barila, Coordinator of the Walla Walla Community Network, that 35-foot stretch of cloth is just one of the small ripples that, when added up, create a tide of change across the state. Barila was struck by hearing Rob Anda, co-investigator of the ACE Study, at a conference in 2007. He...

Yard work is one of the banes of my existence, and this was especially true when I was young. I hated yard work so much that I would rather have had dental work done in a back alley van than work in the yard. One of the activities I detested the most was pulling weeds. My parents told me that I had to go around and pull the weeds out of the ground by hand — I had to bend down and play tug-of-war with them until the entire weed finally gave in a let go of the earth. Then I discovered another...

A rthur Miller’s classic 1949 Pulitzer Prize–winning 
play Death of a Salesman opens with musical direction: “A melody is heard, played upon a flute. It is small and fine, telling of grass and trees and the horizon. The curtain rises.” The play follows Willy Loman, past 60, as his grasp on life crumbles amid job troubles. When, at the end of Act II, he reaches his beaten-down end, the melody soars again, this time a requiem. “Only the music of the flute,” writes Miller, “is left on the...

The Economic Innovation Group recently published the Distressed Communities Index . As the most distressed largecity in the United States, Cleveland dove into a Rust Belt shame spiral . The EIG managed to re-light the river fire. The Mistake on the Lake burns again. That's too bad, because the DCI is deeply flawed. While the DCI does not measure population change, such data can help explain why places where manufacturing once blossomed seem to rule the bottom of every list. Such cities tend...

Medicare is America’s gold health standard, right? It is a shining example of success, eclipsing its fraternal twin, Medicaid, to the extent that health-care proposals not clearly related to either are rather successfully branded as “Medicare-for-all.” However, elderly women might be the first to question that characterization. Medicare alone has proved inadequate for the needs of many elderly people, especially in the ranks of the “oldest old,” or those over 85 years of age. And given the...

Note: This is the third of a three-part series about human trafficking and health care. Find the first part, about the challenges of identifying trafficking victims when they seek medical attention, here . Find the second, about what can happen to victims when they get a chance to run, here . There are people living and working in the United States who are forced to work or to sell their bodies for someone else’s profit. It can be difficult to help the victims of human trafficking — they’re...

Even on her worst days, Tracy Young goes to her appointments at the San Fernando Mental Health Center. The counseling and medication, she says, keep her depression and schizophrenia at bay. “I come here faithfully,” said Young, 50. “I have to come here or I be feeling I just want to give up.” Young isn’t nearly as religious about her physical health, despite painful arthritis, a persistent backache, and a family history of cancer. Until this month, she hadn’t seen a medical doctor in more...

Like most mental health writers, I have compared depression to illnesses like diabetes in the past, and stressed the biochemical aspect of mood disorders in my efforts to reduce stigma. Somehow talking about the gene G72/G30 located on chromosome 13q (that may predispose individuals to depression and bipolar disorder) makes it more legitimate, as if the gene proves we aren’t making it up. However, the more I read about how abuse, trauma, and chronic stress –unresolved issues of all kinds —...

I chuckle when I hear this phrase: “To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” The quote is attributed to Mark Twain. It has a lot of meaning to the brain. It applies to those who are engaged in the battle against childhood trauma as well. Once we gain knowledge about ACEs, and start our advocacy to help by promoting ACEs, the world starts to look like it is consumed by trauma. But that’s not the case. Our brain goes to work, and all of a sudden we are consumed by the knowledge...

Being a victim of violence may increase a woman's risk of blood vessel disease and possibly stroke, a new study suggests. "Both society and the health care sector need to be aware of the importance of exposure to violence and its impact, not only on social well-being, but also on women's long-term health," said study author Dr. Mario Flores. He is a research assistant at the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico City. The study included 634 healthy women, average age 49, in Mexico...

Medium, the online writing platform, is hosting a series of Digital Town Hall Meetings focused on criminal justice reform. This will be Medium’s first attempt at this type of event. “Imagine a live-blogging event, but instead of hearing from only a couple journalists, anyone on the platform can ask questions and share their own expertise." The first meeting, discussing why people of color are disproportionately represented in the federal prison system and why some police officers abuse their...