How One School System Is Fighting Back Against the Achievement Gap, A Better Way to Help the Homeless and More

 
What Are Massachusetts Public Schools Doing Right? The Atlantic
The Bay State may be tops when it comes to reading and math, but officials aren’t resting on their laurels. Instead, they’re directing resources towards Massachusetts’s achievement gap, which remains stubbornly high. Can a focus on social-emotional learning and childhood trauma bring disadvantaged students up to the same level as their more affluent peers?
Give Directly to the Homeless Through a New Sharing Economy App, Fast Co.Exist
Known as the “City of Goodwill,” Seattle is living up to its moniker. Thanks to one tech entrepreneur and an advocate for the homeless, residents can now use the WeCount app to donate unwanted items (think: blankets, coats, sleeping bags) directly to those most in need. With homelessness an ongoing problem in many urban areas, let’s hope this technology spreads across the country — fast.
What If Mental Health First Aid Were as Widespread as CPR? New York City’s Planning to Do It, Yes! Magazine
Often, law enforcement encounter people suffering from mental illness, yet many haven’t received the education necessary to recognize and provide assistance (instead of arrest). In response, the New York Police Department is joining forces with the National Council for Behavioral Health to provide 250,000 first responders with mental health first aid training. The ultimate goal? To prevent suicide, which currently takes 40,000 lives each year.
MORE: Dine Out, Feed the Hungry

This App Hopes to Reduce Mass Shootings By Addressing Mental Illness

In the wake of tragedy, particularly the string of mass shootings across the country as of late, we often seek out answers as to why it happened.

More recently, the national conversation has focused on recognizing mental illness. While there is not a direct correlation between mass shootings and mental illness, educating the public on the subject is one step Americans are beginning to take to prevent tragedy from striking again.

The Center of Health Care Services is joining the movement with the release of Mental Health & You (MHU), a mobile app and crisis intervention tool providing resources on mental illness, according to Emergency Management.

“We know that one in four people will be diagnosed with a mental illness in this country, but most go untreated,” says Leon Evans, executive director of the center. “We know that people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violent crime, rather than perpetrators of it.”

The app provides information on signs and symptoms of mental disorders including anxiety, depression, attention-deficit disorder, post-traumatic-stress-syndrome (PTSD) and schizophrenia. Users can also find direct links to local and national advocacy groups like the National Alliance for Mental Illness and the San Antonio Coalition for Veterans and Families, according to Allison Greer, vice president of external relations for the center.

More interestingly, Mental Health & You also includes a section devoted to debunking myths and “stigma-busters,” correcting misinformation that often is associated with the subject. It also mentions famous people who grapple with mental illness including Abraham Lincoln and actress Catherine Zeta Jones. To further dispel the taboo of mental illness, the app lists movies that illustrate the issue such as “Silver Linings Playbook.”

But most importantly, the app is a tool for individuals who may be concerned about a friend or loved one and for law enforcement looking for crisis training on how to respond to a situation with a person struggling with mental illness.

“For example, they know not to use their ‘command voice,’” Greer says.

The app features a “get help now” button that immediately connects a user with a local hotline, where trained staff available to provide advice or call in a mobile crisis intervention outreach team to help the situation. The app also has a button that can connect users with 911 as well.

MORE: After Newtown Shooting, This Critical Program Helps Police Deal with Mental Health Emergencies

People Laughed and Stared at Becca. Now Hear Her Side of the Story.

It’s safe to say that people who have a mental illness have to put up with a lot more than just their diagnosis.
Before Becca Calla was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Pervasive Mental Disorder, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and Tourette’s Syndrome (which is a neurological disorder) at age 16, she faced a constant onslaught of staring, teasing and verbal abuse. As if that wasn’t hard enough for a young girl, she also had to manage moving from shelter to shelter — and even faced homelessness at one point.
However, since her official diagnoses, she’s been able to receive the help and treatment that she needs. As you can see in her video submission below for Change the View 2014 (a contest that invites Ontario youth to submit short videos that help normalize mental health issues), not only does she cope with her disorders, the happy-go-lucky teen completely owns them.
MORE: Once the Target of Bullies, This Teen With Tourettes Is Making Sure No Other Kid Suffers
“I’ve been playing violin for 10 years. There are so many things I never thought I’d be able to play that I can now play in my sleep,” Becca says as she seriously shreds her violin. “Now, I know how to release my energy in a healthy way instead of getting angry all the time.”
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, mental disorders — ranging from mood to eating disorders — are extremely common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older (one in four) and just over 20 percent (or one in five) children suffer from a seriously debilitating mental disorder — whether currently or at some point during their life.
Despite mental illness afflicting such a large segment of the population, broader society doesn’t always accept these individuals, who are often plagued by stigma as well as discrimination.
But treatment, awareness, and education can make a big difference. As Becca says, “Ask anyone that knows me now. I’m the happiest girl because I know I’m getting the right support and help I need.”
 

Yes It’s True. Subsidizing Housing for the Homeless Can Save Them — and Taxpayers’ Money

It’s so simple. If you really want to stop homelessness, start by giving people a place to live. That’s the mission of the 100,000 Homes Campaign, a national movement created by the nonprofit Community Solutions that works with communities across the country to connect the most vulnerable homeless individuals with housing. These apartments are highly subsidized — paid for mostly by the federal government, with contributions of 30 percent of any income these individuals receive as rent, no matter how much that amount changes over time. In return, the formerly homeless have a solid starting point to get back on their feet, along with a connection to any supportive services that they want or need — from addiction counseling and medical services to budgeting tools and more.
The idea of providing “housing first” has already proved itself in Utah, where the rate of chronic homelessness has been reduced by 74 percent over the past eight years, putting the state on track to eradicate homelessness altogether by 2015. In Atlanta, the same initiative moved 800 people off the street in 2013. And now the campaign is gaining momentum in Tennessee, where 200 individuals were placed in homes in just 100 days in Nashville. All together, participating communities have connected more than 83,000 Americans, including at least 23,000 homeless veterans, to apartments. And the best part? The program is actually saving taxpayers money.
MORE: Phoenix Just Became the First City to End Chronic Veteran Homelessness. Here’s How
Studies have shown that the public cost of providing permanent supportive housing for the most vulnerable homeless people — meaning those with addiction, mental illness or chronic diseases like cancer — is less than simply allowing these individuals to stay on the streets. The biggest reason is health care. Homelessness causes illness, as well as exacerbates existing mental and physical ailments and addictions, leading many individuals to seek out expensive medical services, much of it on the taxpayers’ dime. “The inability to tend to your basic healthcare needs results in people on the streets ending up in emergency rooms and ending up in in-patient hospitalizations. And one night in the hospital is a whole month’s rent on most places,” Becky Kanis, director of the 100,000 Homes Campaign, told Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes. “We are paying more as taxpayers to walk past that person on the street and do nothing than we would be paying to just give them an apartment.”
AND: This Hero Isn’t Just Alleviating Homelessness; He’s Preventing It
On its face, this movement may seem counterintuitive. As Cooper told Kanis, “It does seem like you’re rewarding somebody though, who’s — you know — drinking or doing drugs or just being irresponsible.” But Kanis disagrees. “I see it as giving them a second chance. And most people, given that second chance, do something about those behaviors.” Indeed, the 60 Minutes report cites a University of Pennsylvania study, which found that when homeless people in Philadelphia were given housing and support, more than 85 percent remained in homes two years later. These individuals were unlikely to become homeless again. While the program isn’t 100 percent successful — in fact the 60 Minutes report follows one individual who can’t seem to shake his addiction — the changes in those who take advantage of their second chances are nothing short of remarkable. Just look at the before and after photos. “There is something that’s really dehumanizing about living on the streets in so many ways. And then, really, in a matter of days, from having housing, the physical transformation is almost immediate,” Kanis says. “And I don’t think that there’s anybody, once they see that, that would say, ‘Well, let’s put them back on the streets again.’”
ALSO: How Can We Beat Homelessness? Predict It Before It Happens