[Audio] Inside West Virginia’s Overwhelmed Foster Care System
Appalachia Health News
As many American parents struggle with opioid addiction, the number of children put into foster care in the U.S. is steadily increasing. In West Virginia, the foster care system has been hit particularly hard; roughly 6,700 children in the state are in foster care, an increase of almost 70% in six years. About 85% of the children in state custody have a parent who struggles with substance use disorder.

Jonathan Singer is a member:
[Audio] Roundtable: Suicide Rates Rise Among Teens And Law Enforcement Officers
NPR
Dr. Jonathan Singer is with us from WBEZ Chicago. He’s the president of the American Association of Suicidology and an associate professor of social work at Loyola University. “…I think that, you know, understanding how the rates of suicide are going up in different groups helps us to understand the overall rise in suicide rates among youth. And so understanding that suicide is not just a white person problem but is a problem that affects all people, and that the interventions, the preventions and the postventions that we engage in have to be culturally respectful, culturally humble and address these different issues that we see in society today.”

Sherry Zitter is a member:
Helping Vegans Navigate Winter Holidays with Grace and Wisdom
PsychCentral
Using tried and true therapy skills, with the addition of awareness, compassion and knowledge of specific resources and approaches, can help a non-vegan therapist feel confident to help a vegan client through the special challenges inherent in family-centers holidays with traditional non-vegan meals. Most vegan clients deeply appreciate the efforts to be culturally competent so they can feel seen and valued in a way many of their families are unable to do…yet. As therapists, you are crucial to that experience.

Tammi Van Hollander is a member:
5 Reasons Good Cop/Bad Cop Parenting Doesn’t Work
SheKnows
Good cop/bad cop parenting illustrates that mom and dad are not on the same page and this is confusing to kids. “Children need to know that their parents are working together as a team and want to support their best interest,” says Tammi Van Hollander, LCSW, RPT, a family and child therapist at Main Line Therapy. If kids are getting conflicting messages from their parents, it affects the whole family. Who is in charge? What are the rules? Kids won’t know their place or the role of their parents.

Sharon Kelly is a member:
Q: What are the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose?
New Jersey Herald
[Sharon Kelly, LCSW]: On Oct. 6, we celebrated Opioid Knockout Abuse Day in New Jersey. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose deaths continue to increase in the United States. Around 68% of the more than 70,200 drug overdose deaths in 2017 involved an opioid. On average, 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. During an overdose, breathing can be dangerously slowed or stopped, causing brain damage or death. It’s important to recognize the signs and act fast.