A Call for Connection: Making Trauma Personal

Allison/Dr. Johnson/Kat:

This is great. I'll share it HERE at Parenting with ACEs. I'll share it on Facebook at my Heal Write Now page as well.

You managed to keep it conversational and educational at the same time. And personal! it's great!  

As far as raising awareness, on a volunteer and community level, a friend and I did an interactive art show at a gallery about trauma. The turn out was pretty good and we tried to make the topic of trauma light, accessible and to share research and resources from a trauma survivor and an academic and artist perspective not in clinical language. 

We had a section of ten hoola hoops to symbolize each ACE. We invited people to take the test and to try on the hoola hoops and imagine going through the school day wearing them and not being able to take them off or put them down. How that would feel to get dressed, brushed teeth, play at recess, get on a bus, how it would be to sit in class or try to hold other things. And that people are carrying these internal hoola hoops all of the time, ACEs. This, was more impactful, to be honest, on people who had low or no ACEs than those who did. On friends and partners of people, on teachers especially thinking of how much people are carrying with them, in them and working around all of the time.

Keep up the great work!
Cissy

Dr Jackson - this is a PHENOMENAL TED talk - thank you so much for sharing it. I have just shared it with our community of formerly incarcerated people who are part of the Lancaster County RMO - we talk a lot in our circle about trauma, addiction, mental health and all of the connections that, unfortunately, the criminal justice system has been very slow to acknowledge or willing to help address.  Again, thank you for this fantastic talk - I'll keep sharing it in every place I can. 

Melanie Snyder