Public health officials are forever debating the best way to distribute health information to the public. Doctors and other medical health professionals are surely a good source, but not all people see a physician. This issue has plagued public health officials, especially those who are concerned about the gap in health services offered to Black and Hispanic men vs. the general public. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), a 2009 health report showed that men are 80% less likely to have a usual source of health care compared to women. On top of this, Black…

Last Sunday, I emailed to let you know that we were holding a Day of Donation. After the Treating Trauma series grew nearly two and a half times over last year, we were feeling very thankful for all the listeners throughout the world who made this success possible. And out of our gratitude we wanted to give. That’s when we learned about Smile Train, a non-profit providing free surgeries and holistic rehabilitation for children in developing nations who are born with cleft lips and palates. These children struggle to speak and eat, and they’re often not allowed to attend school…

60% of annual deaths worldwide are caused by chronic disease. Let me repeat that – 60% of the people who die each year do so because of mostly preventable chronic disease. More people die every year because of chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and COPD (to name just a few) than any other cause. According the World Health Organization (WHO), if the major risk factors for chronic disease like poor diet, inactivity and tobacco use could be eliminated, at least 80% of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes would be prevented as well. In addition to that, 40%…

What an exhilarating journey this has been! When we first started our conference in 1988, Mind/Body Medicine was hardly on the map. And now, it has an undisputed presence. It’s gratifying to see hospitals and universities in almost every state incorporating mind/ body medicine into their programs and curriculum. I’d like to think that NICABM has had a part in influencing this change. Each year, we have laid some incredible groundwork, coming together as practitioners from all over the USA, laying roots to form a solid foundation. Now mind/body/spirit medicine has “the wings to fly.” We are now at a…

I recently came across a study in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect that disturbed me. Victor Carrion, MD led a team of Stanford University researchers who looked at children living in a poor, violent neighborhood. This study built on past findings which associated worsening adult health to their childhood exposure to nine types of adverse childhood events. The investigators most recently found a strong link between adverse childhood experiences such as abuse, trauma and neglect, and the children’s mental and physical health. Reviewing the medical charts of 701 pediatric patients from the Bayview Child Health Center in San Francisco,…

Imagine being far from home. You were promised a good (or at least better) paying job that would allow you to support your children back home. Instead, you find yourself working in a brothel, servicing up to 20 “clients” a day out of fear that your traffickers will hurt your family if you try to leave. This is the reality for an untold number of people who have been trafficked from places around the world, possibly to a location in your own backyard. According to the US Department of State, trafficking is a blanket term for activities involved when one…