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Early & Often: Prevention is Key in Youth Sexual Health and Development

It’s been nearly a year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the hallmark Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. Last June, the landscape of pregnancy care and reproductive health in America changed significantly.  In honor of National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, we’re revisiting the...

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How to Strengthen Your Connections with At-Risk Youth

POV: You’re the parent of a teen. Your 16-year-old daughter comes home from school every day and takes a 2-hour nap in her room before emerging for dinner and then back to her room for another late night of studying. When you ask her how she’s doing she looks...

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What Is Trauma-Responsive Health Technology?

In recent years, society has lightened the stigma around mental health. Do you agree?  Thanks to policy initiatives, marketing campaigns, and celebrity disclosures about their own battles, public perception of mental health is changing. Words like resilience, boundaries, grief, self-care, culturally-responsive, and trauma-informed are becoming part of our vernacular. ...

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What Is an ‘At-Risk’ Youth? Part 2

Note: this article is Part II of a series on ‘at-risk youth.’ Read Part I to learn what we mean when we say ‘at-risk youth’ and how to differentiate between risk factors and risk behaviors. Part I also covers the interrelated nature of risks, adverse outcomes associated with increased...

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What Is an ‘At-Risk’ Youth? Part 1

It’s 4:18pm and you’re driving home from work. When you notice the time on the dashboard, you feel overwhelmingly tired, and also thankful. As a school nurse, the end of your work day is hours before that of your colleagues who work in inpatient settings. So, you are thankful...

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Happy Holidays wordcloud

The Holidays Are Here but Stress and Anxiety Don’t Have to Be

The holidays are here! For many of us, this is an opportunity to take a break from our usual rhythms of school and work to spend quality time with our loved ones and consider what matters most. Music and merriment, food and festivities – it’s lovely, but it’s also...

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Mitigating Risk in Youth Substance Use with the Harm Reduction Model

Professionally or personally, most of us know at least one person who has walked the haunted path of addiction.  Substance abuse and addiction is a painful, disorienting, and overwhelming problem for both the person who uses and their family and friends.  Misusing substances like alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, and...

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School-Based Mental Health Services: More Important Than Ever

With homecoming parades and midterm exams in the rearview mirror, teachers and students alike are confident of one thing: the honeymoon period of the new school year is over.  For anyone struggling to recall just what it’s like at the start of a new year, kindly walk back to...

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3 Ways to Prevent Youth Suicide and Reduce Suicidal Ideation

I’ve been working with that young lady all year. And she answered positively for suicidal ideation, and she had a plan. And I just asked her. I said, “Why didn’t you ever say anything to me?” And the young girl said, “Because you never asked me.”  Can you imagine? … Can you...

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Prevention is Key in Post-Roe Sexual Health Care for Youth

What immediately comes to mind when you think about June 24, 2022? On this date, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and as a result, the landscape of pregnancy care and reproductive health in America changed in a really big and serious way. Healthcare professionals across settings...

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