Library Systems Embracing Their New Roles As Social Service Hubs

By partnering with cities across America, the 100,000 Homes campaign is going directly to the streets to end homelessness - and it’s working. With roughly 700,000 people in the United States experiencing homelessness, this organization seeks to address that using a tiered system that considers individual health needs as well.

At St. John Hospital in Detroit, the principles of cultural sensitivity and collaboration—as well as lots of fundraising—have boosted previously low breastfeeding rates by black mothers.

Different programs in various nations are training ordinary people and creating community groups to effectively satisfy the mental health needs of their communities. In many of these regions, "treatment gaps" – where there are little to no mental health treatment plans or resources – exist, but this new informal infrastructure helps to fill that.

In Houston, TX, many individuals with mental illnesses cycled in and out of emergency care while arrested or incarcerated. Houston’s police department has decreased the number of incarcerated who have mental illness by opening a division to mental health called the Chronic Consumer Stabilization Unit. Now Milwaukee seeks to replicate Houston’s results.

Many African American women are reluctant to breastfeed their babies. The Mother Nuture Project at Detroit’s St. John Hospital and Medical Center offers peer counseling to educate women (mostly African American) and encourage breastfeeding. Mother Nurture’s program has helped boost breastfeeding rates from 46 percent to 64 percent.

The Homeless World Cup is the premier soccer tournament for homeless players. Programs around the world use soccer as a means of building a sense of community, sublimating negative energies, and encouraging personal growth.

Teenagers around the world are at risk of indoctrination by Islamic extremism and volunteering to fight for the Islamic state. Different European nations seek to make Islamic extremism unattractive to youth by bolstering surveillance efforts, internet outreach, and teaching the Islam of peace.

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.

The best way to lose weight is to join a small group. This article looks at the case study of Saddleback Church in southern California that mixed faith and peer support to help congregates lose weight, including the pastor. Surveys found that 72% of participants lost weight as a result of the program.

While weight loss can be challenging to maintain, different structures are being created to help. Certain support groups, financial incentives, and tough love are proving to be effective.