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L to R: Afomeia Tesfai, Rep. Geran Tarr, Jeff Hild _____________________________________________________________________ The planned agenda for the “Learning Series: Policy Approaches to Childhood Adversity” workshop at the 2018 ACEs Conference: Action to Access went out the window when an unexpected guest— California Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, MD —was invited to open the session and join the other participants in lively exchanges about their advocacy experiences and perspectives on...

Starting in September of 2020, schoolchildren across the United Kingdom will learn from their teachers how to fend off loneliness. In January, British Prime Minister Theresa May appointed the first “minister of loneliness.” This week, her administration released an 84-page plan detailing the actions it will take to curb loneliness across the country, including measures that will be enacted in schools. Starting in primary school, students will have mandatory lessons in “relationships...

Why do children exposed to the same level of adversity in childhood have different outcomes? Why do some thrive and others become completely damaged? These were the kinds of burning questions that prompted filmmaker Roger Weisberg to produce the documentary Broken Places , which was shown in a private screening at the 2018 National ACEs Conference in San Francisco. The film delves into the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that each of the adults profiled in it endured first as children.

On September 5, 2018 people gathered from 20 different states and from across Tennessee in Johnson City in order to learn more about our growing System of Care. This system now has 35 affiliated organizations who have advanced from being trauma-aware to trauma-responsive. Among those in attendance were Tennessee's First Lady, Crissy Haslam and Delaware's First Lady, Tracy Carney. (l to r) First Lady Tracy Carney, Becky Haas, First Lady Crissy Haslam In 2014, the Substance Abuse Mental Health...

The World Bank Group’s Domestic Abuse Prevention Program kicked off Domestic Violence Awareness Month with a screening of RESILIENCE . The film was screened at their Washington DC Corporate Office to an audience of over 100 staff and affiliates. As well, RESILIENCE was screened virtually across approximately 130 World Banks offices with more than 1,400 viewers all over the world. The World Bank Group is a unique global partnership: Five institutions working for sustainable solutions that...

Excerpt from article by Isobel Yeung : Cissy's note: I met the professor, Dr. Alissa Ackerman , written about in this story as part of a survivor collective group that shared how being out as survivors impacts our personal and professional lives and to support each other. It's from Alissa @James Encinas that's I've learned anything at all about what restorative justice is and isn't (to be honest, I'm still learning).

Article by Lara Bazelon and Jennifer Thompson. Read more .

The idea of survivor-led care is gaining traction in groups that help victims of sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and abuse. Karen Campbell, program manager of community initiatives at the Canadian Women’s Foundation, which funds programs to prevent and respond to sexual violence. “Listening to the people who are affected is the first step to figuring out what a strong and good intervention looks like.”

Everyone knows that trauma in childhood can cause problems later in life, but until recently, we totally misunderstood how this happens. Here are four myths that have dominated our understanding of Childhood PTSD, and convoluted our approach to treatment: Myth 1: Childhood PTSD is a psychological wound. What we know now: We now know that the damage from early abuse, neglect and chronic stress is largely neurological -- in other words, it causes brain and nervous system changes. These...

To pave the way for a truly strengths-based approach to full healing and recovery for both service users and burned out staff, we must educate them on (1) the central role of primal body responses to trauma (past and present), and (2) the early development of adaptive thoughts and behaviors in response to traumatic experience.

Governor Carney on Wednesday signed Executive Order #24 making Delaware a trauma-informed state. This Order provides direction for the Family Services Cabinet Council to help mitigate the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and build resilience in children, adults and communities. ACEs can include physical, emotional, or sexual abuse; physical or emotional neglect; household dysfunction, including substance abuse, untreated mental illness, or incarceration of a household member;...

I know that you have thought of the childhood roots of your toxic ties in adulthood. A toxic tie is when you feel yourself being held hostage in a relationship in which you feel yourself losing power. You don’t want to feel this way, but you don’t seem able to stop. One common root of this is being raised by parents who had a toxic tie to one another. We cannot change our past, but we can change our present for a brighter future, and in so doing. support our children in developing healthy...