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By Rick Ganley and Mary McIntyre, New Hampshire Public Radio, October 17, 2019 Reports of child abuse and neglect reached a record high in New Hampshire during the last fiscal year. That's according to data released last week by the Division for Children, Youth and Families, the state's child welfare system. NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley spoke with the DCYF director Joe Ribsam about what this data mean for measuring the agency's progress and how DCYF plans to do better. [ Please...

By Jud Brewer, Dr. Jud, October 2019 With a growing public interest in and research base underlying mindfulness, clinicians are increasingly interested in learning what it is, how it works, what research is credible, and how to help their patients. This seminar series will help primary care providers understand how our brains form unhealthy habits that lead to common yet difficult to treat conditions such as obesity and anxiety, what mindfulness is (and isn’t), how mindfulness works in the...

By Noel King, National Public Radio, October 17, 2019 NOEL KING, HOST: Actress Lupita Nyong'o became a household name playing Patsey in "12 Years A Slave," and then "Black Panther" brought her worldwide fame. Her characters are strong, and they are undeniably gorgeous. But growing up as a dark-skinned girl, she didn't always feel beautiful. Now she's written a children's book called "Sulwe" about a little girl a lot like herself. LUPITA NYONG'O: Five years old, I had a younger sister who was...

Mental health issues are a growing concern in today’s modern world. Around 450 million people suffer from mental illness of some kind, but only one in three of those people actively seek treatment. We do know that interaction with nature provides benefits for mental health and being around nature has been shown to have a positive effect on those suffering form anxiety, depression and stress. Formal ecotherapy programs are on the rise – but in our increasingly urbanised world, how can we help...

Offering all students free lunch helps boost academic performance, a new report, which looked at meal programs in New York City middle schools, shows. The study, out of Syracuse University’s Center for Policy Research, assessed the impact of universal free lunch on students who previously didn’t have access to such a meals program. Researchers found “statistically significant” bumps in reading and math state test scores once students attended schools with universal free lunch. One way to...

By Nynke R. Koning, Frederike L. Büchner, Robert R.J.M. Vermeiren, Mathilde R. Crone, and Mattjs E. Numans Background Despite being common and having long lasting effects, mental health problems in children are often under-recognised and under-treated. Improving early identification is important in order to provide adequate, timely treatment. We aimed to develop prediction models for the one-year risk of a first recorded mental health problem in children attending primary care. Methods We...

By The Lancet Public Health, October 17, 2019 On Oct 1, 2019, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) published Just Societies: Health Equity and Dignified Lives, the report of the Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities in the Americas—a Commission established by PAHO, chaired by Sir Michael Marmot, and tasked to analyse the effect of drivers influencing health, while proposing actions to address health inequalities in the region. The report finds that, although there have been...

This is a very interesting podcast from NPR's Hidden Brain. https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510308/hidden-brain

By Steven Porter, HealthLeaders, October 17, 2019 Healthcare policymakers and industry players alike should devote more attention and resources to meeting kids' health needs, says R. Lawrence "Larry" Moss, MD, FACS, FAAP, president and CEO of Nemours Children's Health System, based in Jacksonville, Florida. The undertaking is an important long-term strategy to boost outcomes and strengthen the U.S. economy overall, Moss said during a presentation to fellow executives at a recent...

By Ellen Bardash, The Daily Republic, October 17, 2019 Among the usual crowd of khaki and red outfits at the South Dakota Women's Prison, hints of purple were seen on staff and incarcerated women alike on Thursday. In the middle of National Domestic Violence Month, the small purple ribbons many wore were in honor of the first domestic and sexual violence-focused event held at the prison. Known as the Empowerment Campaign, the event at the Pierre facility brought in several people with...

By Susie Armitage, YR Media, October 16, 2019 When Bree was booked into a juvenile detention center as a teen, they were subject to a strip search. “The staff had to take off my clothes and started patting me down, touching me, and making me feel uncomfortable,” said Bree, who asked that their last name not be used for privacy reasons. As a youth advocate with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, Bree recounted their experience of incarceration in a report. “I felt violated, like I...

By Kay Lazar, The Boston Globe, October 15, 2019 Traumatic events and toxic relationships during childhood can cast long shadows, often damaging mental health well into adulthood. But a growing body of research suggests sustained, positive relationships with caring adults can help mitigate the harmful effects of childhood trauma. And specialists say pediatricians, social workers, and others who work with kids should take steps to monitor and encourage those healthy relationships — just as...