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Many states have made moves to end the fruitless cycle of arrest and incarceration by moving nonviolent defendants out of prosecution and into more productive intervention programs. One New Orleans judge has seen just how effective this approach can be. Petite, with thick-framed glasses and short, stylish hair, Judge Desiree Charbonnet has an upbeat, officious manner appropriate for someone who presides over a courtroom. During her eight years on the bench, she has cultivated efficiency to...

The towering red brick islands of Stuyvesant Town; the geometric blocks of the Williamsburg Housesaffordable housing in New York City is so often pictured from the outside, a series of buildings around which crime and despair and poverty abstractly swirl. Its a fraught system, and a changeable one. Yet while city government and advocacy organizations negotiate the need for progress against the scarcity of finances , one thing remains constant: these buildings are places that people call...

A group of middle and high school students in Compton have filed a first-of-its-kind federal lawsuit saying violence at home and in their neighborhoods has impaired their ability to learn at school. The students, along with three teachers who are also plaintiffs, allege the Compton Unified School District has failed to recognize and address their trauma-induced disabilities, and therefore has denied their legal right to an equal education. [For more of this story, written by Robin Urevich,...

On February 22, Dr. Josh Gettinger (Family Medicine doctor & Faculty with MAHEC Family Medicine Residency) along with Melissa Baker (Director of Community Population Health at MAHEC) gave a presentation to a group of retired individuals about the science of ACEs. This was part of Hermann Gucinski's class at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville campus. "The Best Science Changes the Way We See the World" ... this was the title of the first slide, over an image of the...

As someone with post-traumatic stress, I've experienced a good deal of anxiety, wound tightness and being easily startled. But with age, I see anxiety less as a threat and more as a thermometer telling me my temperature has changed. It would be a total lie to say I welcome or enjoy anxiety. Because. No. I do not. But I am grateful to what anxiety is attempting. I wrote about my own changing relationship with anxiety for Psych Central. Here's an excerpt: "I refuse to hate you. Im not going to...

As a research topic, Intimate Relationships are not well understood in Indian Country. This article, [ LINK HERE ] soon to be published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, is a first small step in addressing this gap. Decades ago, I spoke about the difficulties of parenting when you had no examples to emulate. As a boy, I changed diapers, fed babies, soothed fussiness and performed scores of other child care tasks. During one of our early morning talks, my Mother told me that she was...

A Thrive Summit was held this week in Ketchikan, Alaska. Childhood Trauma was the topic. It's great to see communities coming together in an effort to understand the impact of childhood trauma in their collective lives. AGENDA LINK HERE

When Rosa Ana Lozada trains probation officers in San Diego County, she asks, How many of you have heard the term trauma-informed care? Then she says, The good news is that youre already doing it. This is how we hope youll be more mindful about how to do it. The four-hour training, which covers early childhood trauma and its reach across the lifespan, behavioral symptoms of trauma and effective strategies to avoid re-traumatizing youth, has reached more than 700 of the countys 1100 sworn...

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has been been tasked by President Obama with tackling heroin and opioid abuse in rural America. It turns out he has some personal experience with that problem in his family. Secretary Vilsack talks with Here & Nows Robin Young about the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agenda for 2016. Note: This is the first part of a two-part conversation. Part two will air tomorrow in the 1 p.m./3 p.m. Eastern hour of the show. Interview Highlights: Sec. Tom...

State governments are at the front lines of the countrys epidemic of drug overdose deaths. Thats why it is important that the National Governors Association says it will come up with protocols for dispensing prescription painkillers that are among the biggest sources of addiction and abuse in the country. The protocols, or guidelines, would restrict how and under what circumstances doctors could prescribe a category of pain drugs known as opioids. They might, for example, impose limits on...

Across the U.S., more than 20 million people abuse drugs or alcohol or both. Only about 1 in 10 is getting treatment . People seeking treatment often have to wait weeks or months for help. The delays can jeopardize the chances they'll be able to recover from their addiction. In Baltimore, Health Commissioner Leana Wen has been pushing for treatment on demand, so that the moment people decide they're ready for help, it's available. It's something other health officials have sought to achieve,...

WARNING: This is part of a series of stories to be published over the next few weeks that contain potentially trauma-triggering material. Mary G., whose story as a sex trafficking survivor in Duluth was told by ICTMN in 2012 (Native Girls Are Being Exploited and Destroyed at an Alarming Rate), had terrible problems convincing the administrators of her Section 8 housing to allow her daughter Hope to live with her. Hope, also a trafficking survivor, has convictions for prostitution as well as...