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Dear Illinois ACE Connection members, Children and families from all demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds in Illinois experience trauma, adversity, and chronic stress. Social determinants such as where we live, work, and play, can further exacerbate positive or negative physical, emotional, and behavioral health issues. The critical factor that determines if a child, family, and/or community can manage trauma, adversity, and chronic stress successfully is resilience : the process by...

I am optimistic that as we learn more about the brain's plasticity, meaning its ability to change and rewire itself, these healing modalities will continue to flourish and provide much needed relief for those who have experienced traumatic events.

As I continued practicing it, however, I found comfort in releasing the sound into the universe. There were times I would walk around the rest of the day feeling a beautiful energy, a tingly sensation, radiating from my forehead.

People who had a rough childhood often go through life feeling -- knowing -- that they are a little different than most people. It's common sense that early exposure to violence, addiction, abuse or neglect can have a lifelong effect on mental health and behavior. Until recently, researchers understood these effects to be mostly a) psychological or b) learned from dysfunctional parents. And while this is partly true, we now know the primary injury is neurological. Early trauma dysregulates...

In the dark early hours of Mother’s Day, May 13th , before the 2018 Alaska legislative session adjourned, Senate Bill 105 was approved by both the Alaska House and the Senate...making Alaska one of only a handful of states to pass ACEs awareness into statute. This represents years of education, collaboration, and some creative and dogged advocacy this last legislative session. It also represents a promising path forward.

Through grant funding, we are weaving our way into a trauma-informed family court system in our neck of the woods: http://michildsupportpundit.blogspot.com/2018/09/building-family-resiliency-in-wexford.html Tell us what you think!

While reading the Trauma Informed Oregon newsletter I came across Shannon's story - so powerful! Please read ... From Shannon Turner, MSW, LCSW At the time of writing this blog, there are two million, two hundred-twenty thousand, three hundred adults currently incarcerated in the US. In thirty-five states analyzed in a study, one in every ten inmates has served at least ten years in prison. My brother is one of the over two million inmates currently incarcerated in the US. Outside prison...

Across Europe, it is a point reached somewhere between the ages of 16 and 21, marking the moment at which care from children's services comes to an end. Many are in need of ongoing support and treatment, but among those moving into adult care many report feeling abandoned, neglected or poorly looked after. Others fail to get any support at all from adult services - their care reaching a very real cliff edge. [For more on this story by Helena Tuomainen, go to...

In Philadelphia, a battle between local officials and the Trump administration is heating up. In defiance of threats from the Justice Department, public health advocates in Philadelphia have launched a nonprofit to run a facility to allow people to use illegal drugs under medical supervision. It is the most concrete step yet the city has taken toward eventually opening a so-called supervised injection site. The non-profit, called Safehouse, was formed after a political heavyweight, former...

Months after appointing its first minister for loneliness, Britain named a minister for suicide prevention as part of a new push to tackle mental health issues. Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday announced the appointment of the health minister Jackie Doyle-Price to the new role. She will lead government efforts to cut the number of suicides and overcome the stigma that prevents people with mental health problems from seeking help. While suicide rates have dropped in recent years, about...

Consider, for a moment , this story I recently discovered in court transcripts. A paternal grandmother living in New York City learns that her 1-year-old grandson is in Michigan’s foster care system. Days after the child’s removal, she immediately contacts the child’s foster care worker, travels to Michigan, attends the court hearing and requests that the child be placed with her, instead of strangers. It turns out that she raised the child for the first few months of his life, and the...

There’s a small burst of air that explodes from every clap. And when hundreds of people are clapping in unison, it begins to feel like a breeze—one that was pulsing through the Phelps Stokes Chapel at Berea College in Kentucky. The students and staff that had gathered here were stomping, clapping, and singing along, as they were led in a rendition of the Civil Rights era anthem, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.” They had packed into the wood-framed building for a convocation address,...