How this ranch uses music therapy to prevent suicide

An Oakland nonprofit that uses art for therapy has a startling track record for helping developmentally disabled adults become prolific—and profitable—artists.

A nonprofit is integrating yoga therapy in the mainstream health care system by training medical providers to use yogic breathing and techniques to treat various maladies.

Latin American women in San Francisco have suffered from post-partum depression, social isolation, and chronic stress at the time of their pregnancies. Run by midwives, the Centering Pregnancy program at the San Francisco General Hospital provides patient-centered care, an environment to speak in Spanish, and a nurturing community for women’s group appointments. The results boast fewer c-sections and pre-term births, and an improvement in emotional support and overall prenatal health.

With pressures of depression, anxiety, and suicide on the rise, teenagers in the United States are challenged to find the comfortable outlet and accessibility for emotional support. The Crisis Text Line offers a counseling service through mobile texting, which reduces the shame that can occur when approaching an in-person counselor, and expands access to professional mental health counseling nationwide.

Post-traumatic stress has dire consequences for U.S. veterans, including an increase in suicide, and not all therapeutic treatments for the disorder have succeeded. To treat and potentially cure the effects of PTSD, the Center for Mind-Body Awareness offers veterans Buddhist-inspired meditation, and mindfulness, as well as skills to develop creative expression.

Suicide rates are rising in the U.S. The Henry Ford Health System in Detroit reduced suicide rates within their insurance plan by 80 percent by actively seeking at risk patients. They screen every hospital patient on every visit and immediately treat those in need.

Mental health research results motivated the U.S. government to fund integrated treatment programs for first-episode psychosis in clinics across the nation.

The vast majority of births in Malawi still happen under the care of traditional birth attendants, who are often unequipped to deal with potentially lethal complications. But new president Joyce Banda is helping Malawi’s women to abandon dangerous childbirth customs by working with the custodians of local practices: village chiefs.

More than 800,000 people worldwide, including about 40,000 Americans, die by suicide each year. Colorado is pushing to prevent suicides by promoting awareness and changing laws to help those at risk.

Game inventors have created a new game to help students who suffer from ADHD and other mental problems develop and stimulate their brains in a safer, more targeted way than normal medicines.