Upstream

Reflecting on Sandy Hook

December 14, 2018

By Paul Gionfriddo, MHA President and CEO

I was sitting at home doing some writing in 2012 when I turned on the noontime news. There was only a small news item at first – there had been a shooting at a Connecticut elementary school in Newtown, and there were at least a couple of confirmed casualties.

National Research Meeting Highlights Adversity as Threat to US Wellbeing

June 16, 2015

By David L. Shern, Ph.D. and Andrea K. Blanch, Ph.D.

The Power of Community

May 19, 2015

By Andrea Blanch, Ph.D. and David Shern, Ph.D.

Two weeks ago, Liberia was officially declared “Ebola free.” Liberia was ground zero of the Ebola epidemic, with confirmed cases in all 15 counties and almost 5,000 Ebola-related deaths. Chronic poverty and years of civil war had devastated the country’s health care system. At the height of the epidemic, containing the disease seemed almost impossible. But the last reported case was in March.

What Did We Learn from Sandy Hook?

May 5, 2015

By David L. Shern, Ph.D. and Andrea K. Blanch, Ph.D.

Kansas City Gets it Right

April 28, 2015

By Andrea Blanch, Ph.D. and David Shern, Ph.D.

New Thinking on Mental Illness Diagnoses

April 7, 2015

By David Shern, Ph.D. and Andrea Blanch, Ph.D.

In a recent New York Times Op-ed, T.M. Luhrmann expands on a recent paper by the British Psychological Association on redefining mental illness. She makes several important points about mental health symptoms and our strategies for addressing them.

Doing well by doing good

March 24, 2015

By David Shern, Ph.D. and Andrea Blanch, Ph.D.

Whenever doing the right thing and doing the smart thing coincide, it increases the chances that something will happen. Elsewhere, we have presented data demonstrating that investments in prevention, especially in early childhood, have lifelong positive impact. They also save money. Econometric models by the Washington State Institute of Public Policy estimate that these prevention programs save many more dollars than they cost. They are smart public investments as well as the ‘right’ thing to do.

Celebrating Tim

March 17, 2015

By Paul Gionfriddo

There are half a million homeless people with serious mental illnesses in desperate need of help yet underserved or ignored by our health and social-service systems. That number can seem overwhelming, but for me, it’s all about one person: my son Tim.