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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
Juvenile justice program teaches boys life lessons and accountability
By Dallas Morning News, adapted by Newsela staff
04.05.15
DALLAS — Most judges don't form personal connections with the offenders who come before the court. Judge
George Ashford is different. Each Monday, he meets with minority boys in Dallas County who have gotten in trouble
with the law to teach, preach and live by example.
Ashford, a black lawyer, is the judge of the Diversion Male Court (DMC), a six-month rehabilitation program for
minority boys. DMC is staffed by men of color and was created in response to the racial imbalances in the juvenile
justice system. Many of the young boys and girls who get in trouble with the law are black or Hispanic, while the
lawyers and judges who are tasked with helping them to reform are often white.
DMC connects minority boys in Dallas to adults with whom they can identify, and who use a variety of methods to
help them improve their behavior. DMC is unique in Texas, and there are only a handful of programs like it in the
country. Boys who participate in DMC have been accused of everything from aggravated assault to burglary, and the
program is their last chance to avoid a juvenile record.
Emphasizing Life Lessons
More than simply telling these boys to stay out of trouble, Ashford and his team teach life lessons about
accountability, respect, responsibility and empathy.
According to Dr. Terry Smith, executive director of the Dallas County Juvenile Department and the woman who
started DMC, the program helps boys mature into adulthood. ―These men are teaching them how to be men,‖ she
said.
University of Texas at Dallas criminologist Alex R. Piquero, a nationally recognized juvenile justice expert, said DMC
has an interesting approach to helping youths who get into trouble with the law. "We should continue to experiment
with new approaches and alternatives to sentencing, treatment and rehabilitation,‖ he said.
Piquero also noted, however, that programs like DMC need to be evaluated over a long period of time in order to
ensure that they are as effective as traditional court when it comes to reforming young offenders.
One mother, a volunteer minister, described DMC as ―an answer to prayer.‖ Her son is relatively new to the program.
―Him getting into trouble was real hard for me. I need him to learn to follow the rules,‖ she said. ―I wish they had it
when my nephew got in trouble. There wasn‘t anyone to show they cared.‖
Know Your Manners
DMC does not sentence boys who have committed crimes with terms of detention or probation. Instead, these boys
are enrolled in a multi-level program that promotes their personal growth.
Boys in DMC have to follow a number of rules that dictate how they behave, dress and carry themselves. Whether
the boys are chubby-cheeked 10-year-olds barely topping 4 feet tall or gangly 16-year-olds sporting wispy chin hair,
they are required to wear pants firmly belted around their hips and collared shirts that are carefully tucked in.
They are also expected to have excellent manners. ―No, no, no,‖ probation officer Herman Guerra admonishes when a
boy sits down without pulling out the chair next to him for his mother. Guerra demonstrates: ―Stand behind it; with
both hands, pull it out.‖
Helping Them To Open Up
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
Ashford wears a suit and tie instead of a robe when he talks to DMC boys, and he does not sit on the elevated
bench where judges normally command the court. With one boy, he discusses boxing; with another, auto repair.
Every conversation leads back to a life lesson.
When a small 12-year-old with glasses and a wispy voice sits down, Ashford asks what he did on the recent snow
day. The boy mumbles a short answer, and Ashford persists, trying to get the boy to open up.
―How are you doing now in science?‖ he asks.
The boy‘s grades are OK. However, James Hill, a probation officer, tells the judge that other kids at the boy‘s school
bully him.
Ashford tells the boy that because he has done everything he‘s been asked, he will be promoted to the next stage of
the program, where he will learn new character traits, perform community service and come to court every other
week.
Program's High Expectations
When Smith decided to create DMC, she approached veteran juvenile officer Mario Love.
―I actually laughed,‖ Love said, describing his first reaction to the idea.
He was doubtful that the program could work, and so were Ashford, Guerra and Hill.
―I‘m happy to say I was proven wrong,‖ says Love, who is now a passionate advocate for the program.
Since DMC began, 258 boys have been referred by the district attorney‘s office, the lawyers who normally argue for
probation and detention for offenders. Some 143 enrolled in the program, and 25 more are currently under
consideration.
DMC is demanding. Probation officers meet with each boy weekly to see if he is abiding by the 7 p.m. curfew and
how he is doing at school. The officer also administers random drug tests. Another officer who is in charge of
making sure the boy does not skip school may call the boy each morning to wake him up, and text him throughout
the day to check on his whereabouts. Each boy must keep up with his school work and is tutored if necessary.
All participants are required to learn ―character traits‖ such as trustworthiness and respect and to write a half-page
journal entry every day documenting how these traits affect their behavior.
Building Blocks Of Character
Overall, the program focuses on building character. Sometimes this requires adapting to the needs of each
youth. When Love learned that a 17-year-old in the program had recently become a father, he added parenting
classes to the barber classes the boy was already taking.
―We know you‘re here because of an offense, but we need to look at what‘s lacking around you and what services
can we put into play to make you a better person,‖ Love said.
According to Ashford, the program can help kids who have developed bad habits and made bad decisions to turn
their lives around. He described how a youth's experience at DMC can lead to a dramatic change. ―He gets some
positive influences," he said. "He gets the probation officer who really shows him they are concerned about him, care
about him. They get the right kind of feedback from the judge, that, you know, we‘re really trying to help you.
Maybe some of the services kick in, the counseling addresses some issues in the home that help both him and the
parent."
―Those cases are deeply satisfying," he observed.
Uncomfortable, But Necessary Topic
Race is central to the structure and approach of DMC, and Smith recognizes that race can be an ―uncomfortable
topic." "Does that mean we ignore it?" she asked.
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
Blacks make up about 22 percent of Dallas County‘s juvenile population but about 44 percent of those in the
county‘s juvenile justice system, according to the Juvenile Department. In other words, an unusually large proportion
of African-American youth end up in trouble with the law. Experts call this "over-representation." Hispanic youth are
slightly underrepresented, meaning that the proportion of Hispanics who enter the the juvenile justice system is
below average, while white youth are highly underrepresented.
Many experts say that these numbers do not necessarily mean that black and Hispanic kids commit more crimes than
white kids do. Rather, minority boys may be more likely to be caught and punished for the crimes they commit
because they lack the resources many whites have.
Biases In The System
Darlene Byrne, a state district judge in Travis County who is president-elect of the National Council of Juvenile and
Family Court Judges, said that there are racial biases in how youths are treated in the juvenile justice system.
Experts point to the case of Ethan Couch, a white teenager who killed four people in Tarrant County two years ago
while driving drunk. Couch was 16 at the time of the crash, and it was his third alcohol-related offense, yet a judge
did not sentence Couch to serve jail time. It would have been very unlikely for a black teen to receive such a
forgiving sentence, the experts say.
Piquero said that it‘s hard to know why minorities are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, but argued that
biases may not be the whole explanation. ―It‘s real simple to look at who is in the facilities and say, ‗Oh, well the
system is totally biased,‘‖ he said. ―That may be true at some level or to some extent. We just don‘t know how
much.‖
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
Prisons by design, by prisoners
By Los Angeles Times, adapted by Newsela staff
09.04.14
SAN BRUNO, Calif. — The workshop leaders came loaded with markers in colors other than red and blue, which are
gang colors, drafting rulers crafted from museum boards, and kiddie scissors.
All the students wore orange. And on this final day, their paper models were taking shape.
Architect Deanna VanBuren adjusted a piece of tracing paper over Anthony Pratt‘s design, showing him how to mark
the entire area of the drawing to show walls and windows. She then urged him to use dots to indicate open spaces.
A tall, broad-chested man with tattoos on both arms, Pratt was among those sketching out new building plans. His
vision included an airy room with a skylight to provide lots of sunlight, and a fountain with a cascading waterfall. It
had privacy barriers for the shower and toilet. It also included a healing center with many windows and a talking
circle.
The spaces they were planning could be at a New Age retreat. But these building plans were made by inmates at San
Francisco‘s County Jail No. 5.
"A New Way Of Thinking"
Most men in there are awaiting trial on charges of violent crimes. All of them must agree to join in ―Resolve to Stop
the Violence,‖ a program based on the concepts of restorative justice.
The program includes classes and discussions about a new way of thinking about justice. "Resolve to Stop the
Violence" tries to heal crime victims and offenders alike.
The 18 men who enrolled in the four-day workshop this summer were contemplating restorative justice through
design.
As Pratt concentrated on his drawing, Keith Wilkins cut the waterfall for the 3-D model. Both are facing murder
charges. Another participant, Lamar Paschall, helped with the trees. He has been charged with kidnapping, rape and
robbery.
Some of their models were not very realistic. They included individual cells with Internet connections, and even
outdoor decks.
Some prisons like that exist in Norway. But they are not likely to become part of U.S. prison design any time soon.
Other ideas, such as centers where agreement on punishment is reached without entering a courtroom, are already
becoming a reality.
―I feel an extra sense of purpose today,‖ Paschall told his fellow classmates during the workshop. ―Hopefully this can
become fruitful and turn into something real down the line.‖
Not Everyone Is Supportive
As more people now believe that traditional criminal justice models are failing to prevent offenders from committing
crimes, VanBuren and fellow instructor Barb Toews, an academic, have joined a small chorus of designers, researchers
and even judges and wardens calling for new spaces to match the beliefs of "restorative justice."
Restorative justice ideas were first promoted in the 1970s by global practitioner and theorist Howard Zehr, now a
professor at Eastern Mennonite University‘s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. The goal was to make the needs of
victims central, and by doing so have an effect on broader healing for all.
Critics of restorative justice say the process is subjective and could lead to proposed remedies that are wildly
different. As a result, some victim organizations and strict prosecutors reject it.
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
But the practice has spread throughout the United States as well as globally. Evidence is growing that it helps reduce
school expulsions, keeps youths out of prisons and prevents youths and adults who have already been sentenced
from re-offending.
Step Number 1: Reaching Out
VanBuren, an Oakland-based architect, was working for a big firm when she heard of a grieving father on a podcast
who has turned into a restorative justice supporter. VanBuren was deeply moved.
After his son was murdered by a teenage gang member, Azim Khamisa reached out to the boy‘s grandfather, as well
as the assailant, so they could all heal. The two men launched the San Diego-based Tariq Khamisa Foundation to
address the roots of youth violence.
Soon after, she heard the founder of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth speak at a West Oakland school, where
the number of African-American students being suspended and expelled had dropped sharply.
They teamed up and VanBuren designed her first stand-alone restorative justice room — in a portable trailer at an
Oakland school. She had found her calling.
Looking At It Differently
Toews, meanwhile, got her start as a restorative justice practitioner in the 1990s while doing her voluntary service
and was hooked. In 2000, she conducted a workshop in a Pennsylvania prison with 13 inmates serving life sentences,
most of whom had committed murder.
The men were reluctant to share their feelings. So she told them: The traditional system is like a boxing ring, with a
winner and loser and outsiders determining the outcome.
―What would a room look like,‖ she then asked, ―where you could face anything you‘ve done and be accountable for
it?‖
Together, they created a vision and called it the ―Do No Harm‖ room. A picture window with a mountain view. A
door that locks from the inside. Plants and rugs.
Later, Toews wondered, ―If we treated it as a potential for something literal, if the environment were different, how
might that change how we do justice?‖
She was exploring the question as a graduate student a few years ago when VanBuren tracked her down. ―I could
not believe that someone had similar interests to me,‖ Toews said. ―It was the craziest, luckiest thing.‖
Lofty Dream Models
On the final workshop day, the inmates scrambled to piece together their models with glue sticks and tape.
Deandre Hill, convicted of a felony for being in possession of a firearm, and Christopher Gillis, facing murder and
commercial burglary charges, sat side by side. They envisioned a cell with a computer that allowed for
communication with family. Natural light, as in all the models, was key.
―The most important thing is to be accountable, but in order to work on yourself you have to be comfortable,‖ said
Gillis, who is planning a restorative justice circle to ―make up for the harm‖ he had inflicted on his 16-year-old son
through his absence and violent tendencies.
Then it was time to present their models to the larger pod and a panel of outside reviewers.
As his teammates stood beside him, Dante Hayes, facing charges of burglary and burglary to commit rape, showed a
design with a tree in the atrium representing growth and ―the ability for us to grow.‖ A kitchen would feed all
visitors.
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
New Prison Designs Encouraged
In a closing circle after the presentation, Pratt, who recently participated in a restorative justice-style circle with his
girlfriend, said his whole outlook had changed: ―Instead of being barbarians and just beating each other upside the
head, we can be like family.‖
VanBuren said she is encouraging big architecture firms that design prisons to hold similar workshops with inmates
and guards.
―The goal is to empower those inside the institutions and prod architects to actually talk to the people they are
designing for,‖ she said. ―That‘s how an architect would practice in any other setting.‖
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
Summer jobs program leads to less violent teen crime, a study says
By The Philadelphia Inquirer, adapted by Newsela staff
12.21.14
By The Philadelphia Inquirer, adapted by Newsela staff
12.21.14
More jobs for teens may lead to less violent crime, according to a recent study of a summer jobs program
conducted by a University of Pennsylvania researcher.
The decrease in the number of violent crimes was not only because working teenagers are too busy to get into
trouble. Even 13 months after the jobs ended, the teens who participated in the study were arrested for fewer violent
crimes than other youths.
Teens selected for the study were chosen randomly and each worked for eight weeks. The employed teens were
arrested for violent offenses 43 percent fewer times than their non-working peers.
Soft Skills Matter
The findings by Sara B. Heller, a professor of criminology at the University of Pennsylvania, were published last week
in the journal Science. The teenagers participating in the study were generally from lower-income families and onefifth of them had previously been arrested.
The research was conducted in Chicago with the support of the city's government. Heller, who led the research, said
it was not immediately clear why the summer jobs seemed to have a lingering positive impact on the participants
after it concluded in the summer of 2012.
One reason may be that the teenagers learned "soft skills" on the job, such as conflict resolution and self-control.
Each youth was paired with an adult mentor who may have helped teach the skills. Heller called the results from the
study "surprising and really exciting."
―We don‘t have a lot of success stories for reducing violence among disadvantaged youths,‖ she said.
Study's Findings Are Promising
There is minimal evidence from other studies that teen job programs can decrease crime rates, according to Dan
Bloom. He is a director for a New York-based nonprofit research group called MDRC, which aims to solve problems
related to poverty. While a few programs have been found to lower crime rates, they all put the kids in housing
programs and were costly, he said.
The Chicago program was called One Summer Plus and cost less than $3,000 per youth. Of that amount, about half
went toward paying the participant's wages. The teens were paid $8.25 an hour, the minimum wage in Illinois, for 25
hours of work per week. The rest of the budget went toward paying the mentors and for the administrative costs of
running the program.
―You just don‘t expect for a short-term, relatively low-cost program to have such enduring effects,‖ said Evelyn Diaz,
commissioner of Chicago's Department of Family and Support Services, which oversaw the project.
Bloom was not involved with the One Summer Plus research, but said Heller's study was designed well and its
findings are promising.
He also believes that Chicago's mayor, Rahm Emanuel, deserves credit for being willing to see if a program like this
could be effective in the city. Heller, the study's author, said the same.
―There are some policymakers who are afraid of finding out if programs they like don‘t work,‖ Heller said.
What About Long-Term Effects?
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
The study followed 730 teens who were picked at random from among 1,634 applicants. While the selected teens
were employed, the rate of arrests for violent crimes was slightly lower in that group than among the remaining 904
teenagers. It was not until after the jobs were over that the biggest differences in arrest rates emerged, however.
Sixteen months after the program started, there were about five arrests for violent crimes per 100 youths who were
offered jobs. The rate was much higher for teens not in the study, at nine violent-crime arrests per 100 youths.
Heller said it was too soon to know for sure whether the benefits of the program outweigh the costs. Researchers
still need to collect information on the long-term effects the program has on employment. Still, Heller said there is
evidence that the program could have other important benefits, like reduced costs to the justice system and less
suffering by victims.
The jobs program did not appear to reduce the rate of nonviolent crimes. Heller said the jobs that teens held taught
them soft skills, like those necessary to resolve conflict. Yet, since nonviolent crimes do not involve conflict, the skills
they learned in the program might not have been as useful in preventing nonviolent crime.
"We Don't Give Up On Any Child"
Teens in the study held a variety of jobs, including serving as a day-camp counselor, cleaning vacant lots, planting
community gardens, and performing office work for nonprofit groups and government offices. Some of the
responsibilities teens had during office jobs were tedious tasks, like paper-shredding.
―We explained that everybody‘s first job is a horrible job,‖ Diaz said. ―You‘ve got to do some of that.‖
The program assigned one mentor to every 10 teenagers. The adults were available to give advice at all times of the
day.The mentors played an important role in the program and some went beyond the call of duty, Diaz said.
When one teen got in trouble with the law and had to go to court, the mentor even went to court too and appeared
before the judge. The mentor defended the teenager and told the judge that the teen should stay on probation
instead of going to a detention center.
The One Summer Plus study took place with the belief that it's not too late to make a difference in a teenager's life.
―Lots of people will write off teenagers, especially if they‘ve already gotten in trouble with the law,‖ Diaz said. ―We
don‘t give up on any child.‖
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
Teens who believe they'll die young turn to crime, study says
By Dallas Morning News, adapted by Newsela staff
05.21.14
DALLAS — Growing up in a rough North Dallas neighborhood, Jordan Henderson envisioned just two options for his
future – jail or the graveyard.
"I always thought it would be much better to be dead than in jail," Henderson said.
With little to look forward to, the 18-year-old began to get involved in drugs and other criminal activity. He prayed
that he‘d live to see 21.
Henderson‘s choices shouldn‘t come as a surprise, according to a recent University of Texas at Dallas study.
Researchers found that teens who believe they will die young are more likely to commit crimes — and more serious
ones at that.
Question Of Age
The study, released last month, asked more than 1,300 serious juvenile offenders in Arizona and Pennsylvania one
question: How long do you think you‘ll live? Their answers ranged from 16 to 200 years old. Researchers then
checked in periodically with them over seven years and asked them whether they had committed new crimes.
The youths who went on to commit the most crime were the ones with a short-term mentality, who didn't think
they'd live very long. Notably, there was also a group of juvenile criminals — those who could imagine they had a
future — who successfully reformed.
―What that tells us is you can‘t just say all of these serious offenders are all bad and they‘re all going to be bad
forever,‖ UTD criminologist Alex Piquero said.
Piquero, who led the study, said letting kids know ―that your life now is not destiny‖ can make a difference.
―That‘s the take-home policy message from this. It‘s not a bleak thing,‖ he said. ―We can turn some of these kids
around if we give them these opportunities and we give them these consistent messages.‖
For a long time, Henderson felt he had neither. All the adults he knew had no college education, and many dealt
drugs to make money, he said. Earlier this year, Henderson was arrested for distribution of marijuana.
―I basically had no visible hope,‖ he said. ―I thought to myself, this is the lifestyle that everybody before me shows,
this is the lifestyle that everyone around me is doing and this is the lifestyle I have to choose."
He added, ―I was involved in that lifestyle not by choice, but because I felt I was condemned to that lifestyle.‖
Worried About Today
That‘s a mentality that 15-year-old Merl Lovings of DeSoto, Texas, can relate to. His father is serving a 15-year prison
sentence on a charge of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, and he said he has a cousin his age who is in
jail.
Last year, he said he stole a BB gun and intended to sell it.
―For the short term, man I was just like, if I do this I can get my brother some shoes and I can probably get an outfit
or something,‖ said Lovings. ―But long term, I wasn‘t really thinking about it.‖
Lovings believes he‘ll live to be about 50 or 60, but right now, he worries a lot about how to provide for his 6-yearold brother and 5-year-old sister. He recently began selling candy at school and around his apartment building to
contribute to the family‘s income.
He spends less time focusing on his own future, and has vague ideas of joining the Navy or pursuing a rap career.
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
Piquero said that‘s a typical mindset for many juvenile offenders. ―They have to basically survive today, and they can‘t
even think about 30 years from now,‖ he said.
Piquero said he hopes the government will do more to give disadvantaged teens the opportunity to be productive
citizens, and put a bigger emphasis on education and jobs.
But he said parents and teachers can also have a huge impact by consistently telling teens that success is possible
and encouraging them to develop long-term goals.
"Hope And Encouragement"
Chad Houser has seen how the opportunity to do an honest day‘s work, combined with a simple pat on the back,
can make all the difference.
Houser is executive director of Dallas-based Cafe Momentum, a nonprofit restaurant that provides internships to
young men coming out of jail. Since the program started in 2011, he said many of the ex-offenders he works with go
to school without textbooks and worry about their next meal. They live in neighborhoods overrun with trash, and
with guns around every corner.
In their world, an early death isn‘t just a possibility it‘s a reality they accept. Houser said he‘s never heard a teen talk
about living beyond age 20.
But he watches their attitudes transform with the chance to prepare food and serve guests at top-notch restaurants.
For the first time in their lives, many feel a sense of approval and the joy that comes in living up to expectations.
They begin to have something to live for — and work toward — instead of accepting their dismal circumstances as
fate.
―It works in every case,‖ Houser said. ―When you give them hope and encouragement and literally, as silly as it
sounds, a pat on the back, a ‗good job,‘ it changes their entire disposition.‖
As for Henderson, his arrest turned out to be a decisive moment for his future. He enrolled in school and now has a
full scholarship to Fisk University in Tennessee.
Henderson now hopes he can live into his 90s to see his children and grandchildren have real opportunities.
―I pray that I live to see the generational curse I‘m so accustomed to be broken,‖ he said. ―To be that difference
maker, to be that one person who decided to make a change … that, to me, would be the hope I never got.‖
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
Harsh parenting can have ill effects on a child's mind
By Philadelphia Inquirer, adapted by Newsela staff
12.18.13\
PHILADELP'HIA —Mothers and father everywhere are capable of grabbing their child's arm too roughly or speaking
too harshly.
This goes for rich parents, as well as poor ones. But low-income parents, who struggle with overwhelming stress from
hunger or joblessness or poor housing, treat their children harshly more often, researchers say.
And their children suffer from it in ways science is just beginning to understand.
Although not legally defined as child abuse, harsh or authoritarian parenting causes toxic stress in children,
researchers say. It can change the structure of their brains and the way their brains function. It also increases the
chances of bad behavior, and may lead to heart disease and other health problems.
Damages Brain Development
―This is an incredibly important public health issue,‖ said Joan Luby, professor of psychiatry at the Washington
University School of Medicine in St. Louis. After studying 145 children over 12 years, she wrote an article about the
effect of poverty on children‘s brains in the journal JAMA Pediatrics in October.
Think of harsh parenting as being as destructive as lead poisoning, said Daniel Taylor, a pediatrician at St.
Christopher‘s Hospital for Children in North Philadelphia.
This kind of parenting often involves ―quick ‗do-as-I-say‘ orders from Mom or Dad," Taylor said. Without the
buffering effect of a loving, supportive attitude by their parents, it causes the release in children of stress hormones
such as cortisol. Stress hormones are released when the body perceives it is in danger, and these hormones can be
toxic to developing brains.
They can cause damage to a child‘s amygdala, the part of the brain that regulates emotion. The child may become
hyperactive, get into fights, have a short attention span, and cannot calm down, Taylor said.
Toxic stress also may damage the hippocampus, a part of the brain that affects memory, he said. So these children
may have trouble remembering things, which reduces their ability to read and do well on tests.
If toxic hormones are released constantly, children will suffer elevated blood pressure, sugar levels and heart rate.
This puts them at high risk for developing heart disease, said social worker Marcy Witherspoon, an expert on child
welfare and brain development.
Harsh parenting crosses the boundaries of race and income. But Taylor and others believe that poor neighborhoods
likely hold countless generations of families suffering from damaged brain development.
―If a child‘s developing brain was being damaged by high lead levels, landlords would be sued, houses repaired,‖
Taylor said. ―If a child‘s brain was being damaged by mercury in the water, the system would be changed."
But, he asked, ―Who is going to pay, who is responsible for ensuring our children are not affected by the toxin of
child poverty in America?"
"I Control Myself"
Dave, who grew up in a poor family, participated in a recent parenting workshop run by Witherspoon. He said he
suffered from toxic stress during his childhood during which, he said, ―my over-disciplining, yelling, cursing mother
ripped me apart.‖
He's now a single father who lives in Philadelphia with his two young children.
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―My mother would always tell me I‘d never amount to anything,‖ Dave said. ―I was depressed.‖
He is fearful that he‘d pass along toxic stress to his children. ―There are only two ways you come out of a situation
like mine," Dave said. "You‘re either a victim and let the bad experiences control you, or you become better in spite
of it.‖
Dave believes that, in part by writing poetry and by drawing, he made peace with his upbringing and prevented
passing down toxic stress to his kids.
Dave said he is proud that even if he is angry with his children, he doesn't embarrass them.
―I don‘t say they‘re bad, only that they‘re doing something bad. I control myself,‖ Dave said.
Not all poor children suffer from toxic stress.
Some parents do a good job of protecting their children‘s brains by being engaged and attentive, said Maria
McColgan, medical director of the Child Protection Program at St. Christopher‘s.
On the other hand, middle-class people are quite capable of delivering toxic stress to their children, a 1998 California
study showed.
More recently, a Philadelphia study showed that more than 33 percent of Philadelphia adults experienced emotional
abuse during childhood. But high levels of abuse go along with high poverty.
Stopping The Cycle
Parents don‘t have to be harsh to do damage. A poor mother distracted by lack of food can become incapable of
connecting with her children. This emotional neglect can also cause toxic stress, said Bruce McEwen, a neuroscientist
at Rockefeller University in New York.
For good mental health, parents and children need to engage in ―serve and return‖ mode, meaning that a child says
something or makes a sound and a parent always responds, like serving and returning a tennis ball. Doing this
supports development of language and emotions, McEwen said.
But, he added, if a parent stops responding, ―it‘s a form of emotional abuse.‖
Despite the pain of toxic stress, there is some good news: ―You can heal from it,‖ said Witherspoon, the expert on
brain development.
―As long as one adult in a child‘s life has his back, believes in him, creates hope for the future, that‘s a positive,‖ she
said.
In Witherspoon's parenting classes, parents are taught to stop and give their children attention for the things they do
correctly, she said.
They‘re made to recognize that they create toxic stress in their children because they themselves were victims of it.
This knowledge helps them stop treating their children the way their parents treated them, and stop the cycle.
Parents need advocacy, empathy and support to stop taking their stresses out on their kids, Witherspoon said.
―To help,‖ he said, ―I say to parents, ‗Life sounds really hard. Tell me about it.‘‖
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
Depression, anxiety and social phobias rising in kids, educators say
By Sharon Noguchi, San Jose Mercury News
02.18.14
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A popular and accomplished Los Altos High student received a parent‘s text message at school
last year, to come home to talk about her grades. The student and star athlete had earned all A‘s — except one D.
She asked to be excused from English class to go to the bathroom, but she never returned. She had collapsed,
suffering a disabling emotional breakdown.
The student, who didn‘t want to be identified because of the stigma of mental illness, is not alone.
Educators are seeing more and more students suffering from depression, anxiety and social phobia. The acuity of
mental illness among students has sharpened, they say, and it‘s striking ever younger children, though many quietly
bear the stress for years before snapping.
―I was very good at putting up a facade,‖ said the Los Altos High student, now a senior, who later was diagnosed
with major depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a diagnosis that her parents resisted for six months
and that many who knew her couldn‘t believe.
―I was raised on how to sell myself, which buttons to press, which phrases to drop,‖ she added, until one day
―everything just shattered.‖
The increasing stress isn‘t just afflicting children of Silicon Valley‘s affluent and educated, who attend top schools
among driven, college-bound peers. Though not yet reflected in lagging and incomplete national statistics, the trend
appears to cut across social class, income level, ethnicity and academic ability.
―We see all demographics,‖ said Gloria Dirkmaat, special education director in the San Mateo Union High School
District.
Overfelt High on San Jose, California‘s East Side has seen a spike in student panic attacks. Anxiety disorder rose this
past fall among teens in nearby schools as well.
―We are seeing children who are coming in with greater needs around mental health, and also seeing them at an
earlier age,‖ said Judith Cameron of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District.
Not all schools have reported an increase in mental illness. But not every school has staff attentive to each student‘s
well-being, nor do they have therapists and psychologists at hand.
That is changing. Since a rash of student suicides at Palo Alto high schools four years ago, the district has trained
teachers, put in place safeguards, offered more counseling and now is training all students in how to intervene with
those who may threaten to kill themselves.
San Ramon Valley schools added a counselor at every secondary school this academic year to deal with mental
health. And a Morgan Hill school beefed up therapists for depression among fourth- and fifth-graders. Two years
ago, the San Mateo Union district created two classes for students with social phobias. It runs two more classes for
those with anxiety or depression, in addition to two classes for students with more complicated emotional problems.
They‘re all full, Dirkmaat said.
What‘s behind the rise is uncertain. Theories include economic distress, dysfunctional families, absent and
preoccupied busy parents, technology obsession, social media and extraordinary pressure on kids to excel.
―They‘re not expected to be great; they‘re expected to be stupendous,‖ said Cristy Dawson, assistant principal at Los
Altos High, about the ultracompetitive college-going culture. ―This valley is all about getting ahead.‖
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
Sometimes, anxiety grows into phobias. ―Kids are so depressed or anxious, they‘re not getting out of bed; they‘re
becoming agoraphobic,‖ afraid to appear in public, said Helen Hsu, a supervisor at the city of Fremont‘s Youth and
Family Services, which provides therapists to several schools.
A former Aragon High student, now 18, left the San Mateo school as a freshman because he had become
increasingly afraid to attend school. Two years in boarding schools didn‘t help. He returned to the district and
enrolled in Haven, a class for students with fears like his.
―I stepped through the door, and it was a bit like my heart would stop,‖ said the student, who also asked not to be
identified, about his first day at Haven. But thanks to the program, he graduated, got a retail job and enrolled this
semester at College of San Mateo.
The stigma surrounding mental illness discourages some parents from seeking help.
―I‘ve had parents refuse to sign permission for counseling for one boy,‖ said Hsu, whose agency conducted a training
for Fremont Unified home-health teachers. ―They were afraid it would negatively affect his college application.‖
Statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health indicate that the incidence of teen mental illness was stable for
10 years through the early 2000s, the latest data available. Those surveys show that 25 percent of teens have
suffered anxiety at some time in their lives, 11.2 percent major depression and 2.4 percent agoraphobia.
But mental health professionals and educators say those statistics are out of sync with what they observe.
―I see an incredible rise in the stress in families,‖ said Barbara Neal, principal at Morgan Hill‘s Nordstrom Elementary
School.
The high-pressure run-up to college claims many victims.
―There‘s a consistent urgency that you have to be the best,‖ said Los Altos High School junior Borna Barzan, 16, who
co-leads a school club called Let‘s Erase the Stigma to teach fellow students about mental health.
But Brenda Carrillo, student services coordinator in Palo Alto Unified, said it‘s important not to blame academic
pressure for depression.
―A mental health condition doesn‘t necessarily come from high expectations,‖ she said.
With support from the school, the Los Altos student has brought her depression under control. She noted that
students face pressures from peers and social media — such as the must-look Facebook page where seniors‘ college
acceptances are posted, whether they want it or not — but also from within. While overloading themselves with
advanced-placement classes and extracurricular activities, ―everyone really focuses on the future, like college and
jobs,‖ she said.
―But no one‘s looking at themselves and asking, ‗Am I happy?‘‖
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
Should schools screen students for mental health problems?
By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff
01.16.14
MIAMI — After his father was diagnosed with cancer, a 15-year-old Champaign, Ill., teen spun out of control. He
skipped school, yelled at teachers and punched holes in walls. Sometimes, he retreated to his room paralyzed by an
overwhelming sadness.
When a school administrator suggested he seek help, the student said no, he didn't need it. Eventually diagnosed
with major depression, he finally agreed to participate in group therapy sessions at his school.
As stories about school violence increase, experts say many teens are struggling with untreated mental illness.
However, school mental health screenings are not required, although federal health officials recommended them
nearly a decade ago. An Associated Press review of policies around the nation shows that screenings vary widely
from state to state, as well as within school districts.
Schools screen for all kinds of rare diseases, but not for common behavioral disorders that can be costly to the
individual, the family and society, said Mike Dennis. Dennis, of Chestnut Health Systems in Normal, Ill., teaches health
care professionals in 49 states how to assess and treat patients with mental illness and substance abuse. The lack of
universal mental health screening "doesn't make any sense from a public health perspective," he said.
School Therapy Sessions
The 15-year-old Illinois student was not diagnosed through a school program. But in the school therapy sessions,
he's learning practical tips to identify what sets him off and also to calm himself down before he acts out.
"I think it is a good idea because a lot of people think they don't need help but they actually do," said the teen.
The federal government does not keep track of school mental health screening, so it's unknown how many schools
offer it.
"No state is providing high-end services in all of their schools," said Sharon Stephan, co-director of the Center for
School Mental Health. The University of Maryland-based center provides training for schools and mental health
providers.
Baltimore and Chicago have strong screening and treatment programs. Teachers in one South Florida school district
screen children as young as kindergarten by filling out a short questionnaire. In Minnesota, students answer
anonymous surveys about drug use and depression. In Olympia, Wash., 21,000 students were screened for substance
abuse and mental health problems in 2010. But in 2012, only 7,500 were screened due to a lack of funding.
Mental health problems typically start during adolescence. If left untreated, they can lead to substance abuse,
dropping out of school and, in adulthood, difficulty maintaining steady jobs and relationships. Yet many people are
not diagnosed until later in life. The U.S. Surgeon General reports that 10 percent of children and adolescents suffer
from serious emotional and mental disorders that significantly affect their daily lives.
Worries Of Stigmatizing Students
However, mental health screening in schools can raise complex issues and emotions. Some people warn that
universal screenings will over-diagnose students and stigmatize them.
"People have to be very cautious when they are talking (casually) about screening these kids. How do people feel if
they are over-identify or under-identify?" said Linda Juszczak, president of the School-Based Health Alliance. "The
consequences to that are big."
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PACKET: Crime/Mental Health
Others say mass screenings could uncover mental health problems that schools don't have the resources to treat.
Behavioral Health System Baltimore developed a system that targets the most at-risk students by using a team of
school officials and community mental health experts.
The team identifies children who may need help based on factors like whether they have a parent in prison or a
parent who struggles with substance abuse. It looks for those struggling academically and behaviorally, including
those with high absence or suspension rates. The team then may offer counseling or family therapy.
In South Florida, a fourth-grader was hospitalized for a week last August after threatening to attack a teacher's face
with a pencil. The child, who was diagnosed with two different disorders, was put on medication and returned to
school. A counselor is also working with his mother on parenting skills.
Dr. Seth Bernstein, a psychologist who consulted on the case, called it a missed opportunity. The child was never
screened for social and emotional or behavioral problems because screenings weren't offered at his school. A year
earlier, a program that offered academic support and family counseling had been cut at his school and 69 other
elementary schools in Palm Beach County.
Too Quick To Medicate?
In contrast, Matthew Palma, 10, attended play sessions as a kindergartener. He was identified through a project that
screens 3,000 kindergarten kids and first-graders in Palm Beach County each year. Children who have trouble
expressing themselves or making friends attend play therapy weekly for three months.
The program, which costs $560,000 a year, is in 12 schools — about 10 percent of the schools in the district. But
progam leaders say they get daily requests to expand. Matthew's mother says his confidence improved dramatically
and he isn't afraid to talk to adults or raise his hand in class.
However, even when services are offered, some parents are reluctant to use them.
Michelle Anderson said her son's third-grade teacher at a Davenport, Iowa, elementary school referred him for a
mental health screening. A psychiatrist diagnosed him with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, commonly called
ADHD, and prescribed medication. Anderson eventually took him off the medicine after she said he repeatedly came
home from school sobbing and overwhelmed.
She pushed the school to instead test her son for learning disabilities and found he had a problem organizing
information. But the school refused to give him extra help in the classroom. Earlier this year, he was prescribed an
antidepressant, but she never filled the prescription after her pharmacist warned of side effects for teenagers, which
include suicidal thoughts and seeing or hearing things that are not real.
"It just seems like they want to medicate rather than provide education support," said Anderson, who is now homeschooling her son.
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