The 300 + members of the Canadian ACEs and Trauma-Informed Network
June 16, 2020
The Canadian ACEs and Trauma-Informed Network was established in May 2018 as one of the many regional communities on ACEs Connection. The initial intent of the community was to bring together people from across sectors to collaborate to advance ACEs and Trauma-Informed knowledge in our local regions as well as nationally. Since Feb. 2020 we have had a surge of interest in our community, having 79% of our membership join since then.
Our community reached the auspicious milestone of 300 members May 29th, 2020. Upon this occasion, we would like to provide a brief synopsis of the diversity of regions, professions and areas of expertise included in our membership.
Collectively we represent a significant cross section of Canadian society. As we increasingly share what we are doing in our regions and areas of influence, we build capacity for all of us across the country, and have greater potential to influence policy and practice in all our local communities.
As you see from the map of our membership, we are scattered across the country, with a few interested allies in the USA and across the Atlantic. We encourage you to search the membership map sorting feature on our community and to connect with other members in your region to establish or build on ACEs initiatives in your local area.
Where are we located?
Number of members per province or territory:
We have a few regional clusters throughout the country. In the west we see quite a few people from the Vancouver area, Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg. It’s also great to see a growing community of practice in Prince George and Kelowna. A big welcome to our members from the Yukon. We look forward to having colleagues join from NWT and Nunavut.
Of course we have the highest level of participation in Ontario, including Greater Toronto and the south western regions where a lot of research in our field is conducted at Western and McMaster Universities. A surprising hot spot is the Kingston region, where something is clearly happening, with an outstanding 41 members. We are delighted to interpret that someone in that region has taken the lead to become trauma informed about ACEs and work to implement them in their community practice. We’d love to hear about what’s happening there if someone is willing to share with the rest of us.
Being an English dominant site (we’ll make the effort in the future to diversify this) we only have 2 members from Quebec, but hopefully in the future we’ll encourage more participation from our siblings in La Belle Province.
New Brunswick membership has been attracted largely by our community co-manager Denise Connors’ work through Horizon Health with both the Self-Healing Communities initiative centered in Saint John, as well as through the national Brain Builders Lab, a shared initiative by the Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction and Alberta Family Wellness Initiative. (Stay tuned for more information about this.)
Members from PEI, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland also hail from the Brain Builders Lab initiative. Additional members from Nova Scotia stretch from Yarmouth to Cape Breton. We hope to attract many more members from Atlantic Canada including Labrador in the future.
What professions does our membership represent?
An extensive variety of professions are represented by our membership. We have about 25 social workers, 45 mental health clinicians, 23 Nurses, 15 parenting/early intervention specialists, 30 teachers/principals/education assistants in K – 12 schools. Additional professions represented include policy developers and analysts, chaplains, social services/youth/disability/addiction support workers, researchers, health care educators, community organizers and activists, doctors, dental assistants, justice workers including police officers and lawyers, professors, project and program managers, consultants, coaches, non-profit executive directors, peer supporters, students, admin assistants, dietitians, engineers, and more.
Areas of interest and work include healthcare, parenting, domestic violence and suicide prevention, indigenous healing, education from early childhood to post doc, justice, community organization and mobilization, mental health, as well as the creative arts. Many people self-identify as having lived experience with ACEs. All are looking to learn how to support the affected people in our personal and professional lives best.
Many people across Canada are doing exceptional work to improve the lives of members of our population through support and prevention activities. You are all encouraged to write a short blog describing how you are using ACEs Science in your work and life.
Please also encourage your colleagues to join us here in the Canadian ACEs and Trauma-Informed Network community at ACEs Connection.
We continue to build the ACEs movement in Canada to eventually inspire policy change at the municipal, provincial, territorial and national levels.
Congratulations on all your work.
Welcome to this community.
What Action can we take to build our community?
Remember to reach out to others in your region to build collaborative local networks. I especially encourage people in larger centers to reach out to those still operating alone in their regions. If we truly are inclusive we must practice active inclusion and reach out to draw others in, to build ties and strengthen our collective community.
If you have suggestions regarding how we can support this community more effectively, please contact us. We’re currently working on a survey so stay tuned for that. We’ve also discussed offering webinars to our members. If you have any specific interest in this, either to be a guest speaker or to learn more about a particular topic, please reach out.
Here’s to our 1st 300 + members! Next milestone: 500!
Canada Strong!
We acknowledge that the land on which we live is the traditional unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and Mi’kmaq Peoples. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and Mi’kmaq Peoples first signed with the British crown in 1725. The treaties did not deal with surrender of lands and resources but in fact recognized Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) title and established the rules for what was to be an ongoing relationship between nations.
We actively work to eliminate anti-indigenous and anti-black racism as well as inequitable access to the Social Determinants of Health in our daily practice.
Elizabeth Perry and Denise Connors
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