“When those preschool ladies embraced me with such love and affection, I almost cried because for the first time in my young life I felt like adults were thoughtful to my needs.” (Liz Huntley, “Be a Game Changer”, Tedx Birmingham)
As health care practitioners, public policy experts, educators and others around the country have become familiar with the long-term effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and trauma on children and communities, they’ve joined the ranks of a growing movement looking to improve outcomes for those impacted by early adversity. These national efforts have focused on raising awareness and inspiring action—critical first steps in addressing ACEs.
But many barriers still exist that block progress for both individuals and entire communities who have experienced ACEs and early trauma, as well as for the professionals working with them. These barriers can take many forms but typically exist as gaps in knowledge, resources, and reach. In order to achieve better outcomes, advocates and public agencies need to be able to deepen their knowledge of ACEs and its effects, as well as learn ways to overcome obstacles in current systems so they can be effective at large scale. Similarly, children and communities need equitable access to the tools and resources that can help them heal.
The 2018 ACEs Conference—hosted by Center for Youth Wellness and in collaboration with ACEs Connection—will draw a line from the call to action established by previous conferences to the problem of access—how individuals and communities get the information, resources, and general support they need to reduce young children’s exposure to adversity and its traumatic effects. In essence the conference aims to answer one really important question: How do we collectively improve access so that every child who has experienced early adversity gets the help they need, when they need it?
Participants will get to hear from such speakers as Liz Huntley, advocate and author of More Than a Bird; Life is good Playmakers founder Steve Gross; CYW Founder and CEO Dr. Nadine Burke Harris; ACEs Connection founder Jane Stevens; and lawmakers from California, North Dakota, and other states. These and other speakers will explore personal and professional stories of access in their work, and describe the obstacles—and solutions—that make a difference in their day-to-day.
Conference goers will also get to learn how to use storytelling to build communities, explore technology to combat ACEs, and hear the latest data trends and how to apply them in their own work.
Another particularly exciting focus of this conference is how it places a spotlight on the “us-them” divide often present among those seeking help for ACEs and those providing that help. We know that ACEs don’t discriminate, and are often present in the very people working to combat their effects. This conference will offer various tools to lessen that divide so that all those who need healing can find it.
While the last ACEs conference in 2016 featured inspirational advocates like Flint, Michigan pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and Equal Justice Initiative Founder Bryan Stevenson, this year’s conference promises a deeper dive into a lot of the issues many of us have been working on for years, such as immigration trauma and reform; opioid addiction and suicide; homelessness; becoming trauma-informed; and racism. It’s the evolution of ACEs-related work.
And if you’re a healthcare professional in the pediatric field, you can earn 3.5 CME credits by attending this year’s Pediatric Symposium (preceding the main event on October 15).
Registration and details for both events can be found on the conference website at www.aces2018.org; follow the conversation on social media using #ACEsCon2018. But don’t wait - registration will only be open for a few more weeks!
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