'Let children be children': Supporting young refugees' mental health in Wales

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

Childhood trauma such as abuse, neighborhood violence or the death of a parent has been found to lead to dire health and social problems later in life. How can communities intervene to spare future generations the same pain and illness? Special correspondent Sarah Varney reports in collaboration with Kaiser Health News on how the city of Memphis, Tennessee, is tackling the problem.

For many offenders, prison can be a tense, divisive, and anger-inducing environment, fueling the negative influences that landed them there in the first place and leading to high recidivism rates. Actor Tim Robbins - who once famously portrayed a prisoner himself - started a program called The Actors Gang to bring theater to inmates as an outlet for emotion and expression, breaking down barriers between former gang members and helping individuals to process their troubles.

With a national mental health crisis on the rise in the United States, many young women facing depression and trauma often tragically turn to self-harm or even suicide in an attempt to cope. The Ranch of Opportunity in Ohio offers an alternative in the form of a peaceful and spacious environment where girls are encouraged and empowered through holistic treatments, particularly music therapy, to find positive outlets for stress and fear, and to implement sustainable strategies for pursuing a healthy life again.

An annual festival in Poland brings together men with a passion for recreating Viking culture and participate in competitive battles. By allowing for extreme physical expression—within the limits of safety laws and an honor system—these recreations have been psychologically beneficial both for victims and perpetrators of violence. The festival participants form strong relationship among each other creating a sense of belonging and responsibility to a group.

In order to address dynamics that may keep a child from talking about traumatic experiences, a Mexico City-based child psychologist developed Antennas. Antennas is an animated character controlled and voiced by the psychologist who, as an alien, can ask basic questions about people and relationships. This approach has been effective for psychologists and use of Antennas has spread to the judicial system as well.

Trauma is a growing problem for school children, particularly in the age of mass shootings. But trauma also comes from a variety of triggers, including losing a loved one, poverty, immigration status and witnessing violence. Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools has proven effective, especially for younger kids, at giving children tools to manage trauma but it has been a struggle to find funding for this program around the country.

A program called Time Slips is aiming to make nursing homes in Kentucky hubs for artistic expression and creativity. They are tracking how expressing creativity and engaging in art therapy improves residents' health outcomes and family satisfaction. This program also engages nursing home residents in their community, making them feel less stigmatized by their age.

The refugee crisis in Syria is one of modern society's greatest diasporas. Syria's refugee children are not a lost generation, but the country's next generation, according to volunteers who want to prepare them for the future.

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.