With growing mental-health needs, colleges look to professors for suicide prevention

Palm Beach County, Florida has many of the same social problems that Philadelphia has, including “gangs, drugs, and poverty.” However, their school system has managed to keep students safe by employing “safe-school case managers” who build relationships with students, and they offer a youth court that is a system run by students who peer-review cases of unrest. The initiatives in this county has prevented school violence from happening without metal detectors and just two police officers.

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is transforming educational systems in Oakland by forming mentor relationships between adults and students. Unlike other models, though, the adults are the ones held accountable.

A strategy for stopping widespread depression in developing countries should be as obvious as one for combatting epidemics. A new strategy aims to downshift jobs to local workers to act as peer therapists.

Child mortality rates in third-world countries are often shockingly high. But they are gradually decreasing due to efforts that target contagious diseases and more widespread health education.

A unique program at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center is combining prenatal care with psychiatric treatment for low-income women who might otherwise not seek help for mental health issues during pregnancy.

A overview of 2014's Fixes columns - connecting the dots between 60 or so ways that people are trying to change the world.

A 2006 report noted that Ohio and Kentucky were lagging behind other states in college attainment rates - community leaders were concerned about remaining competitive in a global economy. A group of leaders in the Cincinnati area are improving school systems by using data for progress, not punishment.

A program in Philadelphia is pioneering new ways to treat the urban wounded. By seeing it as PTSD, and not pointing fingers, the city is using mental health tools to decrease violence and heal communities.

Science suggests that having a secure relationship with a caregiver can help protect a child’s brain and body from the effects of adversity. A Connecticut program for young children who have experienced trauma or other challenges has gotten results by focusing on that relationship – and the things that can interfere, including depression, family violence, and a parent’s own history of trauma.

AltSchools use a completely different education system - interconnecting technology and hands on experiments - to help students achieve a higher degree of learning. Students are grouped into small, personalized cohorts so they can be both mentors and mentees for their fellow peers, creating a collaborative learning space for all.