In Ohio’s Wayne County Jail, people serving sentences can access CADET, which stands for Chemical Addiction/Dependency, Education and Therapy program. With nearly 20% of Wayne County bookings involving drug-related of...

When an individual has overdosed on opioids, there is a very limited amount of time to save their life which is why law enforcement officers in Green Bay, Wisconsin are now carrying Narcan nasal spray. “It’s a lifesav...

Kansas City’s Police Department has created a Crisis Intervention Unit with the goal of broadening their outreach and engagement with individuals with mental illnesses. Rather than send them through the criminal justi...

When students return to school after receiving treatment for drug or alcohol addictions, they often face new pressures and are convinced to again use substances. At Heartland High in Columbus, Ohio, a small class size...

Exercise has long been regarded as healthy, but it's now being used as a way to combat addiction. From specialized gyms that require 48 hours of sobriety to addiction recovery centers emphasizing exercise, people batt...

In Utah and Oregon, students can now take "mental health days" in addition to routine sick days. Lawmakers and parents say this move is necessary to continue breaking stigmas and to address pervasive anxiety in the co...

The city of Nashville is a model for other U.S. cities focusing on how to deal with homes that are flooding more consistently than before. The National Flood Insurance Program exists to help insure homes that wouldn't...

Collaborative efforts targeting adult-peer mentoring in Kansas City, Missouri have resulted in less crime and increased trust among participants. Focusing on high-risk teens and young adults, the program known as Teen...

Food trucks have taken much of the United States by storm, but now the concept is being applied to helping keep children well nourished during summer months when school is out. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agricul...

In 2001, facing a 20-year opioid epidemic, Portugal decriminalized all personal drug use, meaning people carrying drugs for personal use could no longer face prosecution or jail. The approach, met with public support,...

In Vancouver, a program at the Crosstown Clinic is combatting drug overdoses by administering low-dose heroin to people who use drugs to keep them from experiencing withdrawal symptoms. The idea behind this approach i...

An anti-violence program in Chicago called the Rapid Employment and Development Initiative, or READI, identifies and engages with those most vulnerable to partake or be a victim of gun violence, and provides them with...

California’s Bay Area has seen a 30% decrease in gun homicides, despite increasing economic inequality. The region has had many interventions to reach this decline, but the key to all of them is their community-driven...

In Helsinki, Finland, the "Housing First" model, where housing is offered to those experiencing homelessness unconditionally is showing results. The program, which also can include services and is made possible in par...

Across the country, police departments are increasingly providing mental health services for law enforcement. Among the services deployed are internal support teams, post-incident debriefs, psychological first aid, an...

The newly-elected district attorney in Maine, Natasha Irving, has started implementing restorative justice practices into the area’s criminal justice system. The use of restorative justice in this case includes offeri...

Increasing the availability of naloxone reduces the number of deaths from opioid overdose. In Colorado, the Naloxone for Life initiative, which began in 2016, has distributed thousands of kits to emergency first respo...

Throughout California, there are various needle exchange programs that are meant to reduce the likelihood of spreading communicable diseases through the use of dirty needles. Although often met with criticism, Santa C...