Children who experience adversity and trauma have an increased risk of developing heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and even some cancers. That’s why professionals in healthcare, social services, and education are re-evaluating the way we respond to childhood adversity. They are discovering that the consistent presence of at least one supportive adult in a child’s life […]
LOHF recently convened a discussion with our grantees regarding access to mental health services for youth during their transition to adulthood. LOHF would like to fund programs to expand services to these transition-age youth. The group discussed questions such as: How can we help teens with mental health needs as they age out of child […]
On Sept. 25, LOHF approved Children’s Behavioral Health Grants to five Lancaster County programs. “These five programs are reaching families and their children who have specific mental health needs, and for whom access to mental health care may be particularly challenging,” said LOHF Executive Director Anna Kennedy. “We’re on a mission to measurably elevate mental […]
Our mission is to elevate the mental well-being of Lancaster County children. Children like 16-year-old Alicia* whose suicidal thoughts and experimentation with cutting were unnoticed until a grant and physician training intervened with screening and referral. Children like Joanna’s* infant son was born while she was incarcerated. Thanks to grants that provided a family advocate […]
The pain and suffering of untreated depression or anxiety may be the greatest impetus for someone to consider ending their life. If they complete suicide, loved ones are left with regret, guilt, and unspeakable grief. Children and teens are left traumatized, struggling to process their loss. Too often, teens are losing their peers to suicide. […]
What is seamless transition? Seamless transition is the continuity of physical and behavioral healthcare as a teen ages past eligibility for services for children. The process is not simple, however. A seamless transition requires years of preparation, and parents, youth, and healthcare providers must work together. Beginning in childhood, they should take a coordinated, purposeful, […]
At LOHF (Lancaster Osteopathic Health Foundation) our mission is to improve children’s behavioral health in Lancaster County and equip healthcare providers toward this end. We cannot remain silent any longer on the current national policy of separating children from their asylum-seeking families at the southern U.S. border. We are physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, mental health providers, […]
By Maddison Toney, Intern Last month at NAMI’s Ohio conference, actor Wil Wheaton (of Big Bang Theory, Star Trek, and Wonder Years fame), shared his experience with mental illness. His struggle with depression and anxiety began in childhood. This was complicated by parents and other adults not understanding his need for help. Like […]
At LOHF, we’re connecting our grant partners to understand where they see the need for trauma-informed care in our community, and how we can collectively fill the gap for children. Our first step was to host a grant partner cohort earlier this month. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) & Trauma-Informed Care Mental healthcare providers are […]
By Anna Kennedy, LOHF Executive Director Recently, I attended Equity Summit 2018 with PolicyLink and other national health foundations to learn how to view children’s behavioral health through an equity lens. Angela Glover Blackwell, CEO of PolicyLink defines equity as “promoting just and fair inclusion throughout society and creating the conditions in which everyone can […]