Center for Disabilities Studies

In the wake of police shootings of individuals experiencing mental health episodes, such as Daniel Prude in Rochester, N.Y., some in law enforcement and mental health fields have raised concerns about Crisis Intervention Teams, a common method of handling mental health emergency calls. The model includes training police officers in de-escalation techniques, but critics say without more fully integrating mental health professionals – and better funding mental health services – it will not effectively deescalate violence between police and citizens.

Parents of public school students gathered outside the Appoquinimink School District’s main office to demand public schools open to allow full-time, in-person attendance. They raised concerns about the cost of child care, the emotional effects of social isolation and the danger of losing learning progress – especially for students receiving special education services. School districts are facing staffing shortages and pressure from educators to remain virtual or use the hybrid model approved by Gov. John Carney.

Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware will be awarding more than a million dollars to nine Delaware nonprofits focused on addressing social determinants of health. Among the recipients are the Mental Health Association in Delaware, the Bayhealth Foundation and the Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

UD Assistant Professor Evan Usler says that stuttering, a motor speech and fluency disorder, can persist from childhood to adulthood when individuals who stutter try to compensate for the anxiety they feel when speaking by avoiding words they think they can’t say. Ulser, who runs the Interpersonal Neurophysiology Lab at UD, advocates “stutter[ing] openly and confidently, as it is often then that fluency seems to emerge.”

Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a moratorium on evictions to protect those who cannot pay rent due to coronavirus-related income loss, landlords are still seeking eviction orders in court. Judges in different states have reached different conclusions, leading to inconsistent enforcement and questions of the order’s constitutionality.