The nearly 300 people who gathered at Point Lookout Resort in Northport Nov. 3-4, could avail themselves of this vista, tai chi in the morning, a walk in the woods, and inspiring presentations by Drs. Rob Anda and Ken Ginsburg, both of whom were given standing ovations.
As Sue Mackey Andrews, co-facilitator of the Maine Resilience Building Network, says: "Maine is a special place and historically, people work together to conquer adversity on the local level."
And that is how a grass-roots effort in Maine came to this point. People in the state were early to understand the implications of the ACE Study, and have held many meetings and trainings around the state for several years. But this was the first state-wide meeting.
In the breakout sessions, people shared how they've been implementing trauma-informed and resilience-building practices in healthcare clinics, schools, youth services and other sectors in the state's communities.
And in the poster session, people oohed and ahhed over the findings of Maine's ACE survey, which most people didn't know had been done. (The poster is attached to this post.)
One of the highlights was a screening of Paper Tigers, the documentary that follows students through a year at Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, the first trauma-informed high school in the U.S. It was such a hit that nearly a dozen other communities have or are scheduling screenings.
Before they drove off to the far corners of the very large state, the participants talked about next steps...how a community that hadn't implemented trauma-informed practices in its schools could do so, or how a healthcare clinic might start taking ACEs histories.
Maine's communities are already well underway -- 20 cities and towns already have launched ACEs initiatives.
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