Blog

February Professional Development Courses People around the world need the skills and training we offer, but many are unable to come to Harrisonburg to attend courses. To help those who cannot attend in person during our traditional sessions, the "Summer" Peacebuilding Institute is trying something new - winter online courses. Dates for February online courses: February 15 - March 19, 2021 The following courses will be taught at the February online session of SPI (click the course title...

Chloe Yang, 12/9/20, positiveexperience.org/blog At the HOPE National Resource Center, one of our greatest joys is having opportunities to work with and learn from those engaged with HOPE—from workshop participants, advisors, and collaborators, to blog readers and commenters. This engagement and co-learning both spreads HOPE and improves our materials, resources, and core concepts. In that spirit, we partnered with Corey Best (Community Curator, Mining for Gold, and HOPE National Advisory...

If your life feels empty and lonely, despite the fact that you do all the things that are supposed to fill up your life, you might be a “covert avoider.” You might have a good career, you’re friendly, you’re interesting, there are people in your life -- but if you feel like nothing is connecting it’s all superficial and not giving you happiness -- It’s time to ask yourself if you’re secretly avoiding your own life. Avoidance is really normal for people who had trauma when they were kids. If...

Thoughts - “Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.” - Fred Rogers “ Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” - Desmond Tutu “ Everything that happens to you is a lesson. Everyone you...

Resilience Week had to live up to its name. Virginia’s recognition of resilience-building efforts, originated by the Greater Richmond Trauma-Informed Community Network (GRTICN) and planned in collaboration with TICNs across the state, was set for May 3-9, 2020. Then COVID-19 came. A work group of GRTICN members collaborated with businesses, movie theaters, libraries, schools, local government agencies and non-profit organizations to swiftly pivot their plans to take place virtually: story...

LeAnne Simpson’s 6-year-old daughter had thrown plenty of tantrums before the pandemic. But after a few weeks of lockdown, minor frustrations that used to lead to short-lived outbursts were now setting off writhing-on-the-floor freakouts . “First, she’d get so frustrated she couldn’t talk,” Simpson said. “Then she would start screaming, drop to the floor and roll around flailing her arms, often kicking or hitting me if I came close to her.” Simpson tried every tantrum-defusing strategy she...

In 2017, Children’s Hospital of Richmond (CHoR) at Virginia Commonwealth University took a huge jump in a new direction. Its CEO assembled 50 leaders from every unit and across disciplines to work on infusing a trauma-informed approach into its entire 182-bed hospital environment. Brittany Corker Kiefer What sent them down this path was a fervent belief that something was missing in standard care. “Being admitted to the hospital can be traumatic enough, without even factoring in past...

During this extraordinary period of time, there is both an opportunity and a heightened need to examine our societal role in keeping families safely together. In this issue of insights, we provide a framework for prevention and family strengthening strategies that is guided by data on disparities in child welfare involvement, includes innovative county approaches, and offers perspectives from stakeholders including those with lived experience. Our goal is to help inform the many state and...

Six new communities have joined ACEsConnection.com. Details about each of them are below as is information about starting and growing your community initiatives and joining the Cooperative of Communities . 16 Strong Project 16 Strong works with adolescents to empower resilience to ACEs through educational workshops, school partnerships, and community outreach. We strive to continue conversations that help young people recognize and navigate the challenges they are facing as a result of ACEs.

Looking for someone to present to your community? The PACEs Connection Speakers & Trainers Bureau is a service that provides PACEs Connection members a Database of PACEs speakers and trainers for hire. This Bureau helps us keep track of resources available and enables our communities to easily search for speakers and trainers themselves with the interactive tool. The Speakers & Trainers listing contains information on the member’s credentials, experience, sector specialties, and...

I am Rebecca Lewis-Pankratz from Kansas and I just wanted to stop by and share what ACEs Connection has meant for me, my life, and my work. ACEs Connection is a hub for people to find one another. There are all these amazing people that stand ready, who are employed for by ACEs Connection, to connect me to people across the world, and find answers and possibilities. So ACEs Connection, on my trauma informed journey, has been a vital kind of staple I remember early on, just having so many...

By Erika D. Smith, Los Angeles Times, November 29, 2020 As a Black man and a nurse practitioner working at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Long Beach, Walter Perez hears a lot of cringeworthy stuff from his Black patients. Like how the forthcoming COVID-19 vaccines won’t be safe because Big Pharma is cutting corners to make more money. Or how the medical establishment wants to use Black people as guinea pigs to test those vaccines. Or how the vaccines could actually prove...