When a homicide occurs, the victim, having fallen to the ground, gets examined by professionals. A crime scene is blocked off, and detectives start to try to piece together the events that led to the loss of life. After some time, when the victim has been identified, their next of kin are contacted and given the horrific news. This was the call that ROOT, Inc. Founder and CEO Kenny Barnes, Sr. received after his son was shot and killed by a 17-year-old boy.
 
This year, 138 such heart-wrenching calls were attempted in the District of Columbia. 138 families have lost someone close to them, dealt with law enforcement to answer questions, arranged for memorial services, and grieved in their own way. In Baltimore, that number is 266…far too many troubling phone calls and news stories.
 
In the wake of a homicide, healing must come swift, and empowerment be the end goal. Such was the case for Kenny Barnes, Sr., who threw himself into the founding of ROOT, Inc. after finding out about his son’s murder. Armed with a knowledge of mental health and trained in Psychology (he has a Master of Science from the University of the District of Columbia), he formed relationships with key stakeholders to try to solve the problem of not just homicides, but suicides and genocides as well.
 
He helped develop and champion the program “Guns Aside” which offered pledge cards encouraging people to solve their disagreements peacefully. He spoke at many schools and community centers with the concrete message “Suicide, Homicide, Genocide, Guns Aside”. Efforts by community activists such as he and his cohorts have had a substantial effect. The murder rate in America has almost halved over the last two decades according to a report by the Office for Victims of Crime  
 
Still, there is much more work to be done. The trends in Washington D.C. and Baltimore have been different than the rest of the country. In these cities, and a few others like Chicago and St. Louis, there has been an increase in the number of homicides per capita. These tragic circumstances, fueled by the lack of trust in our public institutions, must be addressed quickly and effectively. For upon which the model of peace is created, its replication becomes inevitable. 

With the broadly circuitous progress of society, we have recently begun to observe a practice in which employers will grant their employees a “mental health” day. The meaning of this day is to help facilitate healing from mental exhaustion during a stressful period. Back in the days of old, you had to pretend you were physically ill, but now, at least at some companies, you can tell your boss you need some time off for you, and not be punished for it.
 
Have you ever taken a mental health day? What was the response of your coworkers? It may range from outright disapproval to a sincere congratulations. But either way, the conversation on mental health has been challenged a lot recently, and an understanding that anyone can have problems with their mental health is commonplace. Physical health and mental health are more frequently equated in terms of their ubiquity. After all, every gets a cold, right?
 
            Here is a great article from Psychology Today about when to take a mental health day.
 
Mental illness is a different story. Mental illness comes with a diagnosis. Not everyone is mentally ill. Only when symptoms manifest over a long period of time do people seek out a professional diagnosis. Sometimes, it renders its host mostly disabled and likely requiring of assistance. Mental illness usually requires medication. There are anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, anti-psychotics, and mood stabilizers. Hospitalization occurs. Insurance is sought.
 
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), approximately 1 out of every 5 Americans deals with Mental Illness a year.
 
            You can download fact sheets about the prevalence of mental illness in America here. 
 
We hear about them both so much now-a-days, and the distinction is quite subtle.  Mental health is something we all have. We are all data points on a spectrum of “completely functional” to “rock-bottom”, and our place on this spectrum changes depending on our environments and our habits. Genetics play a big part as well, because they can determine our responses to surroundings. Only when our mental health deteriorates to the point of needing health care do we cross the threshold into mental illness.

            Click here to find out more about the process of Mental Health Assessment from WebMD.
 
Of course, the main take away here is that whatever minute difference there are in the two phrases, we must understand that everyone suffers at some point. The brain is an organ just like the kidney or the lungs, and managing its health is an incredibly important step in a person’s all-around well-being. 

​Today is an important day. It’s the day I turn 33. This allows for a fair amount of self-reflection. You see, these are important numbers for us Hokies, my former age and my new one. 32 people were murdered on April 16th, 2007. But 33 people died. It is a small distinction numerically with a massive psychological difference. 32 people were murdered. 32 homicides in the span of about 9 minutes. 32 victims. 32 martyrs. 32 lifelong learners who were sacrificed. But 33 people died. 33 deaths in the span of about 9 minutes. 33 sons and daughters lost. 33 brothers and sisters perished.
 
Those who hurt others usually hurt themselves. It is the past-facing version of the Golden Rule, which is not just “do onto others as you would have done onto you” but also “you do onto others as has been done onto you”. Combined, they achieve a fuller story, the future and the past-facing remarks on the nature of actions towards each other.
 
33 then, feels to me to be the number of understanding and forgiveness. If we can understand the mind of the committers of these atrocious events, we can learn to adapt. And if we forgive, we can learn to prevent. This is what this year means to me, learning to prevent, in the names of the 33.

​Science is an amazing thing. Not only can it send us to the moon, develop treatments for cancer, and burgeon new technologies, but it can also systematically reduce violence of all kinds. This is the science of the Public Health approach to dealing with gun violence in urban areas and beyond. It contrasts with the traditional model of law enforcement and mass incarceration, which does not result in the reduction of violence, but merely satisfies the human urge for revenge and retribution.
 
The Public Health approach has been sweeping the country, with several instances of the same basic model of community engagement in places like New York and California. Imagine a holistic approach to reducing violence where mental and behavioral specialists work with government officials and members of law enforcement to engage with the community to positively impact the lives of those effected by violence. The results will speak for themselves: http://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/390501-gun-violence-is-a-disease-has-dc-found-a-solution
 
In our Nation’s Capital, an approach like this has already been used with tremendous success, and now it is being taken up with greater scope by the city government in the form of the Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results (NEAR) Act, which was passed unanimously in 2016. The status of its implementation is so far incomplete, but the progress being made is intent on longevity. The Safer, Stronger DC website has a great overview: https://saferstronger.dc.gov/page/near-act-safer-stronger-dc
 
It harkens back to ROOT, Inc.’s very own Community in Action program, that was developed to reduce violence with the help of the science of psychology. From some of our own literature: “The ROOT Inc. Community in Action/Guns Aside Initiative can provide a holistic approach by addressing the problem using a grassroots strategy of our Community in Action model. This entails engaging the community and developing alliances within the community to proactively promote a sense of stability within the community. The opportunities for the youth and their families to have access to recreational, youth-centered activities, mental health services, tutoring, mentoring, physical education, life skills development, substance abuse counseling, and other services foster a sense of empowerment.”  
 
To the ROOT causes of violence we go and soldier on until this terrible crisis of gun violence is eliminated.

One thing I have noticed in my research efforts around the issue of gun violence is how many good ideas there are out there. Ideas that verifiably make a positive impact on communities in the form of the programs that holster those ideas. One such idea is that of violence interruption, which has found success in Chicago, with the Cure Violence initiative (www.cureviolence.org), and in Baltimore with the Safe Streets program (https://health.baltimorecity.gov/safestreets). These programs leverage knowledgeable and caring community members against the scourge of street violence, and have shown marked success of reducing the frequency of shooting incidents. Both programs have seen fluctuations in funding due to the fact that they have to rely primarily on grants.
 
However, these two cases are ultimately success stories. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has secured over $5 million for the Safe Streets program through state and city funds and has a goal to increase the number of sites to ten. Cure Violence has expanded into cities such as Philadelphia and New York and claims a 70% violence reduction rate. They were also just ranked #10 NGO in the World by NGO Advisor (https://www.ngoadvisor.net/).
 
But while some initiatives gain success, other do not. Such is life in the realm of donations and grants, not all programs can sustain themselves through the chaos that comes with it. Two examples of youth-led organizations that have tried to improve relations between youth and police, and ultimately had to cease operation due to lack of funding are the New Lens project (http://www.newlens.info/about_new_lens.html) and the Inner Harbor Project (http://www.theinnerharborproject.org/), both from Baltimore City.
 
Ambitious in their scope and successful for a time, both programs relied on youth to be Peace Ambassadors in some sense, and to mediate conflicts before they get out of control. The Inner Harbor Project saw a sharp decrease in the number of arrests and incidents in the community they served. How can we help programs like these maintain their funding?
 
One simple answer is to educate ourselves about the programs that do exist, what their success rates are, and then who to communicate their successes with.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day everyone! As we reflect on those who have made a lasting impact on every person ever, we ask ourselves, "How can we give back? We understand how caring and patient these folks are, how can we truly pass across our deep feeling of gratitude?"

This year has seen teachers strike in four different states (Kentucky, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona). Why? Stagnating pay, loss of benefits, poor teaching conditions. To show our appreciation for teachers, we should begin by listening to their grievances and being honest about what we can should give to teachers in terms of salary and benefits. Luckily, a lot of data exists on the current situation state-by-state, and we can use this information to give feedback to different states about how well they treat their teachers, and even which teachers are more likely strike in the future given their tough situation. 

                                            Check out this article by The Brookings Institute to find out more!

                  Is your state on the list? They might have difficulty and need a small apple to make things better ;)

Ever wonder what shift is occurring in our schools to make it easier for students to deal with their Adverse Childhood Experiences or Adverse Community Environments (pair of ACEs)? After all, dealing with the ACEs of students helps to alleviate some of the strain of a violent past or environment and assists in breaking the traditional cycle of violence.

Trauma Informed Practices (or TIP) are practices for schools, public health initiatives, mental/behavioral health practices, youth services, and law enforcement to be able to coordinate with the knowledge of normally stigmatized traumas. Some of the practices they have put into place are:

1. Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum: People can experience trauma at any time in life, so being able to give youth the tools to deal with them in the context of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is extremely important. This means curriculum for students and teachers alike. It also means that principals are given the tools to be able to enact practices according to their school's needs.

2. Peace Corner: a much better variant of wearing a dunce cap while sitting alone facing a wall, the "Peace Corner" is a place for students to go to to self-regulate their emotions. They may complete a short questionnaire where they circle which emotion they are feeling overwhelmed by and briefly explain why. This helps students recognize their emotions and develop strategies for managing them.

3. One-on-One Mentorship: sometimes that best resource is a person who has already been through it. Providing a mentor to each and every student is an incredibly valuable way to check in with kids on a regular basis. It helps inform staff about what is going on in the mind's of the students. It can also go a long way to making each student feel connected and reduce their risks of being victimized by violent behavior later on. 

4. Teacher Support: different methods for developing Social and Emotional Learning for teachers can also go a long way. If a teacher is feeling overwhelmed, they may act in an ill-advised manner toward their students or other teachers. Having staff support can help teachers feel confident that their actions towards students and co-workers will always be as positive as possible.
​
A great example comes from Fall Hamilton Elementary school in Nashville, TN: Click here to read and watch!

Ah, the teacher, the unlikely companion in the race to save us from ourselves. We ask a lot of our teachers. They help raise our children, they provide mentorship, they buy supplies, they serve as a therapeutic ear to their students needs. Sometimes, they do this without heat in the classrooms, or without safe drinking water from the fountains.  Indeed, we ask a lot of our teachers, but now they are asking something from us: to LISTEN!

Teachers went on strike in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and most recently Arizona. Further strikes are to occur in Colorado. They are doing so after years of stagnate wages and lack of proper upward adjustments in education funding. And no, not all school districts are created equal. The strikes come from the bottom percentiles in terms of losing out on education funds since 2008:

                                                             Read this Article from Vox to find out more!

From my experience as both a student and a teacher, I can tell you how important proper funding is. As a student in Northern Virginia, I went to a top notch high school with plenty of diversity, arts, sports, and academics. Our buildings were under constant construction while I attended, but they turned the school into a remarkable campus with all the amenities.

As a teacher in Baltimore City, however, I experienced a shortage of chairs, which led to students sitting on the radiator, which broke the radiator so everyone had to wear coats in the classroom during the cold days. The Math Cart, which we had to use to give state sanctioned tests, would have to be manually hauled up and down the stairs when the elevator wasn't working due to frequent electric outages and sometimes small fires. The water fountains could not be used for fear of lead poisoning. The bathrooms had stalls without doors.

It is amazing the difference in the quality of learning when schools have the resources they need to conduct business. Most people agree, according to a poll on the recent teacher strikes:

                                                       Read another article from Vox on the public opinion poll!

People are listening, are politicians?

I feel like I never graduated. April 16, 2007 changed the lives of many at Virginia Tech after a troubled student took the lives of 32 of his classmates and teachers. I was taking a Geology test at the time. I remember having a bad case of Senioritis. So bad that the night before the shooting, having skipped Geology for almost two weeks straight, I saw the syllabus reminding me of my test and thought with passion, "I would do anything for this semester to be over..." My passionate thought was answered in the cruelest of ways, a seldom confessed fact that has burned regret in my brain.

After the test was completed, I remember going to the library to study for a Quantum Mechanics exam that I had coming up. As I entered the elevator, I saw a sign next to the doors that read something like..."there has been a shooting on campus, two people are in the hospital and a suspect is in custody." A man taking the elevator with me commented, "If they just allowed guns on campus, this would never happen." I remember thinking that he was right, but that the same was true if no one had a gun, those two arguments clearly cancel each other out. This began my exploration into the Public Health and Prevention Science world of research, which is why I work for Reaching Out to Other Together (ROOT) and The Least Recognized Gun Violence Expert in the United States of America, Kenny Barnes Sr. 

​After sometime in the library, my phone began to receive texts like wild fire. "Are you ok?" people asked me. "Of course," I replied. Didn't they know that it was a contained incident? Then there was an announcement that the library was shutting down and that we were not allowed to leave, there was an active shooter on campus. Several of the other students had laptops and began to watch the news feed. "9 dead at Virginia Tech," the reports said. "16 dead in a massive school shooting," came a little bit later. The number grew and grew. By the time they let us out, some two hours later, the number reached 28. By the time I walked home, it was 32. With the death of the shooter, the total death count became 33, with an additional 23 who were injured. 

In the aftermath, we were told that our grades would not go below what they were at the time of the shooting. Counselors reached out to us to offer us free therapy. I graduated, but I feel like I didn't.

After the Parkland shooting, much attention was rightfully given to students who had a lot to say. After all, the nature of school shootings involves students the most! These shootings tend to be former or current students taking out their anger on classmates and teachers, with the majority of victims being the students themselves. Common sense gun reform to help reduce the number of fatalities is growing ever more popular on the grassroots level, with students organizing and helping to create better scenarios and more open debate.

The most recent news along these lines has been from the Baltimore City Pubic School system, in which this morning, a large group of students from various schools got together to walk out of their classes in protest. Their demands are point and specific: enact a "red flag law" that would make it possible for the judiciary to seize guns from individuals who are deemed a risk to themselves and others, and to enact legislation to reduce the amount of high-capacity gun magazines. 

Given the students' ability to clearly state their demands, to clearly protest in a peaceful way (they have also developed a code of conduct for fellow protesters), and to follow through with their plans, there is a high likelihood that they will be received well. 

Another issue, of course, is more mental health resources in schools, which will serve as a preventative measure against gun violence. This, as I have argued before, is one of the most important aspects of fighting off gun violence. As mental illness risks increase in the age of smart phones, it is ever more important to invest in the Social and Emotional health of our youth. 

                              Read more about the Student Walk-out in this article by the Baltimore Sun.