An ambitious initiative unveiled this week by British Health Secretary Matt Hancock may soon enable the country’s doctors to prescribe therapeutic art- or hobby-based treatments for ailments ranging from dementia to psychosis, lung conditions and mental health issues. Writing for the Times , Kat Lay explains that this unconventional strategy, described by the U.K. government as “social prescribing,” could find patients enrolled in dance classes and singing lessons, or perhaps enjoying a...

In this extended Law and Justice interview with Scotsman, Kevin Neary, founder of Aid & Abet, we discuss the challenges of safely transitioning from prison back into society, childhood trauma, addiction, offending behaviour, recovery, the need for comprehensive, relationship-based community supports where basic needs are met, the utility of the Adverse Childhood Experience evidence, neuroscience developments and the ACE Aware Nation movement in Scotland, the fact that his family were...

Starting in September of 2020, schoolchildren across the United Kingdom will learn from their teachers how to fend off loneliness. In January, British Prime Minister Theresa May appointed the first “minister of loneliness.” This week, her administration released an 84-page plan detailing the actions it will take to curb loneliness across the country, including measures that will be enacted in schools. Starting in primary school, students will have mandatory lessons in “relationships...

Frank Field (Letters, 28 September and 5 October) and Sebastian Kraemer (Letters, 3 October) are right to highlight the £750m cut to services to support vulnerable families. This is indeed a national disgrace, but has gone under the wire partly due to Brexit. Home-Start and Sure Start were truly progressive initiatives, now thoroughly undermined by these cuts. In 2011, Graham Allen and Iain Duncan Smith published a cross-party governmental report, Early Intervention: Smart Investment,...

Months after appointing its first minister for loneliness, Britain named a minister for suicide prevention as part of a new push to tackle mental health issues. Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday announced the appointment of the health minister Jackie Doyle-Price to the new role. She will lead government efforts to cut the number of suicides and overcome the stigma that prevents people with mental health problems from seeking help. While suicide rates have dropped in recent years, about...

Anyone fancy a zoom to chat about: a) the Scotland ACEs conference b) how to share ACEs amongst non-professionals c) hosting live groups to communities I am happy to organise and can doodlepoll a time thanks Dawn

Teachers should look out for physical health problems among quieter, well-behaved children, as these could be the only signs that they have suffered trauma, a major conference in Scotland has heard. US paediatrician @Nadine Burke Harris said that, while there was a growing understanding that misbehaviour was a sign of trauma or “adverse childhood experiences” (ACEs) , there were also other types of symptoms. “Behaviour is the canary in the coalmine,” said Dr Burke Harris at Making...

Hi everyone Please do let me know if you are attending todays ACEs conference in Glasgow, Scotland. I am heading up and would really love to meet friends in person :) Best wishes Dawn

Shared by the International Association of Chiefs of Police... Ayrshire police play ACE card in drive to reduce crime. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-45631525

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/current-and-future-state-of-nations-health-revealed

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/sep/11/yoga-prisons-crime-cut-reoffending The 46-year-old charity worker has been clean of drugs for seven years after breaking his two-decade cycle of addiction, reoffending and imprisonment. He now has a full-time job with the Karuna Trust , a charity working in India and Nepal, and he’s been out of prison for more than five years. He puts this down to the self-control he gained during his daily sessions of yoga and meditation while “inside”. “One...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-45327058 Suicide attempts and horrifying acts of self-harm are drawing fresh attention to the suffering of refugee children on Nauru, in what is being described as a "mental health crisis". The tiny island nation, site of Australia's controversial offshore processing centre, has long been plagued with allegations of human rights abuses. But a series of damning media reports recently has also highlighted a rapidly deteriorating situation for young people.