Annually, over 1 million youth are involved in the American juvenile justice system. They experience more mental illness, substance abuse, and sexually transmitted infections than their non-adjudicated peers. However, few evidence-based interventions exist to address these problems. Led by Geri Donenberg, Ph.D., University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC), a randomized trial called PHAT Life: Preventing HIV/AIDS Among Teens, […]
Innovative Interventions
Community-Based Health Literacy Interventions
In its landmark report, Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion, the Institute of Medicine noted that there are 90 million adults in the United States with limited health literacy who cannot fully benefit from what the health and health care systems have to offer. Since the release of that report, health literacy has become […]
La’au Lapa’au: Preserving Ancient Hawaiian Healing Practices
Laʻau lapaʻau is a traditional medical practice, as defined by the World Health Organization: “Traditional Medicine is the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment […]
National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2018)
The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) is the largest nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting individuals and families affected by eating disorders. NEDA supports individuals and families affected by eating disorders, and serves as a catalyst for prevention, cures and access to quality care. In the United States, 20 million women and 10 million men will […]
Pathways to Health Equity in Communities
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual’s health status depends […]
First Responders Helping Others with Mental Health and Reminders to Care for Themselves
Creating Safe Scenes training course from SAMHSA is designed to help police, fire, and emergency medical services personnel respond to calls involving someone experiencing a mental health and/or substance use crisis. Creating Safe Scenes presents information about mental illnesses, substance use disorders, and trauma; offers guidance on de-escalating scenes with an individual in crisis; provides […]