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By Nila Bala and James Dold, The Hill, August 27, 2019 Over the last three decades, through both Democratic and Republican administrations, thousands of children have been warehoused in prisons with adults. We have usually ignored the cages these children are in because they were convicted of crimes in the adult criminal justice system. But we cannot ignore the fact that regardless of what they have done, they are still our children. Congress has a chance to enact reforms that assist...

California is about to launch an ambitious campaign to train tens of thousands of Medi-Cal providers to screen children and adults up to age 65 for trauma, starting on January 1, 2020. It is well-established that the early identification of trauma and providing the appropriate treatment are critical tools for reducing long-term health care costs for both children and adults. Research has shown that individuals who experienced a high number of traumatic childhood events are likely to die...

By David Leffler, The Washington Post, August 19, 2019 At 9 on a chilly February morning in Austin, Elizabeth Minne met in her office with a former counseling client and her mother. The three were all smiles, catching up for the first time in ages. As their laughter faded, they recalled their weighty introduction five years before, when Minne’s mission to create a comprehensive mental health-care system for Austin’s schools was still in its infancy — and her client, Sarah Luna Newcomer, was...

On July 3, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 188 also known as the Creating a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act. The CROWN Act amends the California Education Code and the Fair Employment and Housing Act’s definition of race to include traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles. Protective hairstyles include, but are not limited to, “braids, locks, and twists.” The legislation makes California the...

Researchers from the University of California at San Diego recently conducted what they said is the first nationwide investigation into nurse suicides in more than 20 years. They found that both male and female nurses had higher rates of suicide than men and women in the US . The findings are consistent with the increasing rates of suicide across the country. The US suicide rate has risen in recent years, increasing by 28% in the past two decades , to the highest it's been since World War II...

WASHINGTON — Senator Elizabeth Warren on Friday proposed a sprawling set of policies relating to Native Americans and indigenous tribes, accusing the federal government of years of neglect and calling for major economic development initiatives and new legal protections that would give tribes more control over criminal justice and development on their land. Warren proposed wholesale changes in the way the federal government interacts with Native American tribes. She pledged to revoke the...

By Mark Eichmann, WHYY, July 26, 2019 When a child experiences trauma like a domestic violence incident at home, the impact on their life can last weeks, months or even years. It can also have an immediate effect on their success in the classroom. Gov. Carney signed a law on Friday that’s designed to provide more support for those students — immediately following a traumatic incident. The Take Care Delaware law calls for police or emergency care providers to inform school officials if a...

But if we want to prevent shootings, asking about motive will just get you a useless answer to the wrong question. If you use the lens of the science of adverse childhood experiences, the answer reveals itself, and usually pretty quickly.

By PR Newswire, Yahoo Finance, July 30, 2019 NEWARK, N.J., July 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report released today details the challenges New Jersey faces in addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and sets forth opportunities and actions for a coordinated statewide response to mitigate their lasting effects on children's health and well-being. ACEs are stressful or traumatic events, including abuse, neglect, domestic violence, household mental illness, household substance misuse,...

A new initiative aims to address the secondary effects of the opioid epidemic on children. The program expects to reach around 600 kids across Indiana, including here in the Evansville area. The project's goal is to train mentors to support children living in homes with people addicted to opioids. The Indiana Youth Institute (IYI) has been awarded $1.25 million for the project. [To read the rest of this article by Isaiah Seibert , click here .] [Image courtesy Indiana Youth Institute.]

Native American issues are rarely discussed on the presidential campaign trail, but for the first this year, a candidates’ forum entirely on Native concerns will be held next month in Sioux City, Iowa. So far, five Democratic candidates have confirmed they will attend the August 19 and 20 discussion about the sovereign rights of tribes, housing, and the protection of Native land, among other issues. So far, the candidates who have confirmed that they plan to attend the forum are Vermont Sen.

A genome-wide association study (GWAS) and bioinformatic analysis of more than 165,000 U.S. veterans confirms a genetic vulnerability to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), specifically noting abnormalities in stress hormone response and/or functioning of specific brain regions, report scientists in a paper published July 29, 2019 in Nature Neuroscience . In the new paper, a diverse team led by Murray B. Stein, MD, MPH, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine and Public...