With high rates of many mental illnesses and not much money to treat them, are the rural counties of far-northern California destined for meager mental health services? What's lacking in these systems, and - perhaps more importantly - how did ones in similar areas overcome the same problems?
We know that kids who grow up with a lot of adversity are far more likely to suffer poor health and early death as adults. But how well do we understand the means by which early trauma is translated into health problems decades later? Researchers are still teasing apart the mechanisms at work.
From providing mental health care at the supermarket to training pediatricians in infant mental health, some in health care and social services are trying to apply the lessons of brain science and development to prevent problems that can threaten children’s health and well-being.
Three high-profile deaths that occurred over the past year are worth noting as reminders of the larger topics that should be top of mind for health writers.
For more than a year, Baltimore Sun reporter Andrea K. McDaniels and photographer Lloyd Fox have examined the unseen impact of violence — on children, caregivers and victims’ relatives.
Prevention is key when it comes to reducing the harmful long-term health affects of toxic stress and childhood adversity. But when prevention is no longer an option, could mindfulness help adult survivors lead healthier, higher-quality lives?
So much crucial brain development occurs in the first three years of life that one researcher jokes that to him and his colleagues, 3-year-olds are practically middle aged. And yet,the first three years of life often get comparatively little attention in mental health or education policies
When I tackled the topic of loneliness as a 2013 National Health Journalism Fellowship project, I honestly didn't think it would be hard to find people who were lonely so that I could write about the issue. I was right and wrong.
Childhood cancers, behavior-impacting disabilities like autism, extremely brittle bones, or compromised immune systems are some conditions that may leave kids feeling lonely.
This project was led by Catherine Stifter, a 2013 California Fellow, who takes an up-close look at the high rates of high school dropouts through the lives of four young people from the Central Valley.
