Justice In Action
Justice in Action is a series of weekly podcasts brought to you by, Justice Resource Institute. Justice Resource Institute is one of New England's leading Social Justice agency, serving youth's and adults throughout MA, RI & CT.
Episodes
Sexual assault, bullying and harassment are traumatic for all survivors of any age. Transgender and non-binary youth are at high risk for encountering these experiences, which can lead to the development of complex trauma that may include a lack of trust in other people and even estrangement from their own bodies.
About half of all transgender or non-binary youth have experienced sexual assault. As a result, many experience anxiety...
Guiding our clients toward recovery
from substance use disorder
The opioid epidemic has increased the demand for effective recovery services, and Justice Resource Institute’s Mary Chao is leading the organization’s training program for clinicians and other staff members to aid them in helping clients recover.
Chao has been with JRI for nine years and works with the agency’s health, training and community-based services divisions, d...
In this episode of Justice in Action, two JRI clinicians, Dr. Jacquelyn Kraps, Metrowest Area Director and Clinical Director of Outpatient Services, and Bailey McCombs, Licensed Metal Health Counselor and Expressive Arts The...
Few social service agencies are as committed as JRI to improving treatment through research and data.
In today’s episode of Justice in Action, we talk to Hilary Hodgdon, Research Director at Justice Resource Institute, and Lia Martin, Senior Associate Director of Quality Management. Together, they are part of a data and research division that is unusual among social service agencies for its size and scop...
Staff of Justice Resource Institute don’t shy away from talking about tough issues like racial justice, immigration policy or vaccine hesitancy.
They lead the way.
JRI’s “Courageous Conversations” initiative brings together groups of employees and managers —usually about 50 attend each virtual meeting — to discuss the most difficult topics that come to them, either from fellow employees or from the clients and communities they serv...
More than 8,400 Massachusetts children are in foster care, and the need is growing as the financial and emotional strain of the Covid-19 pandemic and the state’s opioid crisis continue to take a toll on children and families.
Listen to Bob Costa, program director for JRI's Intensive Foster Care program, and Courtney Edge-Mattos, who is the senior home finder for the program, talk about Justice Resource Institute’s foster care progr...
We all need the people in our lives who know us and care about us, who celebrate our successes and comfort us in hard times. These are the people we call when we get a new job, lock our keys in the car or are facing a big decision.
Permanent, supportive connections are especially important in childhood, when parents, coaches, mentors and teachers help children develop their identity and values, help ...
Between 700 and 800 cases of child sexual abuse are referred on average each year to the Children’s Advocacy Center of Bristol County, which provides treatment and support to victims and their families.
But in the past year, the number of referrals has dropped to about 250 cases. That isn’t necessarily good news, however, as it reflects the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw lengthy periods when schools were closed, and ath...
Trauma-sensitive yoga helps sufferers use their bodies to heal their spirits
Jennifer Turner was a voice student at the New England Conservatory of Music when her instructor approached her during a rehearsal.
“You,” her instructor observed, “aren’t in your body.”
It took her a while before she understood what her instructor meant, but when she did, it would change her life.
Helping the healer when their work unearths old symptoms of trauma
Adam Edwards cares about the caregivers.
As Justice Resource Institute’s Training and Instructional Design Specialist, he supports JRI staff as they care for some of the over 10,000 children and adults who are clients of the more than 120 programs JRI operates in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Edwards notes that about 85 percent of all people in helpin...
It’s easy to find Caroline Dunlap and the Harm Reduction team at JRI’s Program RISE. They’re the ones wearing backpacks while meeting people in downtown Framingham, dispensing care and concern, along with vital supplies, to the region’s active drug users.
Read more
Justice Resource Institute (JRI) has teamed up with William James College, New England’s largest school of psychology, to create an innovative degree completion program for JRI staff.
Marc Abelard, director of the Behavioral Health Service Corps, director of the Bachelor in Psychology & Human Services Completion Program and co-director of the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Initiative at William James; Ed Powell, JRI vice presiden...
For a child who has suffered long-term trauma from abuse or neglect, the world doesn’t feel like a safe place. And children who suffer from such complex trauma often face challenges when it comes to forming relationships with others, acting out with anger or suffering silently from depression.
Enter Meredith Norton, a licensed social worker in Massachusetts, an equine-assisted therapist and riding ...
The COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests sweeping across the United States have especially affected black and Hispanic populations, adding emotional trauma to individuals and families.
Dr. Kerry-Ann Williams, a psychiatrist who is the medical director for the children’s residential programs operated by Justice Resource Institute (JRI), was ...
Most would agree that we live in a sex-saturated culture. So why do we find it so hard to talk about sex?
Deborah Jackson, Clinical Training and Developmental Specialist for JRI, trains clinicians and staff to handle sexualized behavior that young clients are exhibiting (or thinking about exhibiting).
At least one in five teen-agers will get a sexually explicit photo this year — most of those images sent to them via texts, emails and smart phone applications. Many of those images will come from people they know, but some will be from people they meet online through social networking applications that make it easy for users to share photos and videos.
Justice Resource Institute President and CEO Andy Pond discusses his organization’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests sweeping the nation as part of JRI’s podcast series “Justice In Action.”
The novel coronavirus outbreak and the nationwide protests over the killing of black Americans by police are part of the “same frame” — that is, problems related to systemic racism that leaves people of color...
JRI is one of the largest social justice/human services agencies in New England, serving between 20,000 and 25,000 people each year in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Nearly 70 percent of those served by JRI (Justice Resource Institute) are children and families in need of shelter, full-time residential services, mental health care, help for HIV/AIDS, support for transgendered youth, and a myriad of other challenges.
Popular Podcasts
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Anna Sale explores the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.
A straightforward look at the day's top news in 20 minutes. Powered by ABC News. Hosted by Brad Mielke.