Stigmatization Archives - National Wraparound Initiative (NWI)

Winning Youth Essays on Mental Health

October 24, 2022 | NWI

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announces 15 awardees for the 2022 Speaking Up about Mental Health! This Is My Story Essay Contest. The contest seeks to start conversations about mental health and encourage young people to access help for mental health issues. Read the winning essays now!

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Disrupting the Impacts of Implicit Bias

June 13, 2021 | NWI

New studies confirm that people’s decisions and behavior are importantly influenced by biases they are not aware of. The best approach for interrupting implicit bias is likely not to try to extinguish individual biases — something research has demonstrated as difficult, if not impossible — but rather to keep those biases from shaping outcomes. Strategies for doing so are described in this article.

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Experiences and Well-Being of Sexual and Gender Diverse Youth in Foster Care

December 2, 2020 | NWI

This is the first survey to report on the proportion of youth in foster care in New York City who are LGBTQAI+ and differences in their experiences compared to those of youth who are not LGBTQAI+. This survey was commissioned by the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), which is committed to serving youth in foster care that are LGBTQAI+. This report provides the detailed findings from this survey.

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Youth who understand mental illness more likely to ask for help later

May 28, 2020 | Maria Hermsen-Kritz

A new study looked at how education on mental health and stigma impacts the likelihood of young people seeking help for mental illness.

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How Talking Openly Against Stigma Helped A Mother And Son Cope With Bipolar Disorder

May 2, 2016 | Emily Taylor

In this profile, single mother of four, Liza Long, talks about how sharing her experience dealing with her then middle-school aged son helped lead to her son’s correct diagnosis and treatment for bipolar disorder. Last month, her son Walton, who is now 16, spoke at TEDx Boise to share his story and speak out against the stigmatization of mental illness.

Read more here >>.

New Studies: Trans Youth and Mental Health

March 30, 2016 | Emily Taylor

Two recently published studies explore the effects of socialization patterns on transgender youth. One of the recent studies, focused on 16-29 year old women, found that “the rate of psychiatric disorders and substance dependence among these women was 1.7 to 3.6 times greater than in the general population”. These young people grew up in poverty with little acceptance of their gender identities. The other study assessed the mental health of 73 transgender 3-12 year old children in Washington state and the results showed that this group did “not experience any more depression, and had only slightly more anxiety, than their siblings and non-transgender peers”. In contrast, these young people grew up in relatively affluent households and were more emotionally supported.

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Can Big Data Predict Child Abuse?

March 30, 2016 | Emily Taylor

Innovators in child protective services around the country are looking at using data for predictive analytics as a tool for early intervention practices. However, the proposed implementation of some of the analysis of at-birth data is controversial. A director for the Children’s Data Network at the University of Southern California who has worked with Allegheny County in PA on a predictive analytics model, is quoted as saying: “We have 6 million children reported for abuse or neglect, and how you make triaging decisions early on absolutely impacts outcomes for that child and family…The use of predictive analytics in child welfare could change … the system.”

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Obstacles for non-white Latino youth

July 31, 2015 | NWI

This recent entry to the Latin Post describes the unique barriers to treatment faced by Latino youth.

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Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline

July 17, 2015 |

As many as 80 percent of the girls in some states’ juvenile justice systems have a history of sexual or physical abuse, according to a report released Thursday. The report, a rare examination of their plight, recommends that girls who have been sexually trafficked no longer be arrested on prostitution charges.

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Access the full report

Locking Up Juvenile Offenders Doesn’t Work

June 10, 2015 |

According to a new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts, reduced sentences and community-based treatments for juvenile offenders are more effective than incarceration. The report also presents research showing that lengthy stays for juvenile offenders in out-of-home settings, like a correctional center or residential facility, are expensive for governments and fail to reduce young offenders’ risk of recidivism, making for a poor return on investment.

Read the article and access the report today >>