Tagged With "California"
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Trauma-Informed Approaches in Clinic & Community Settings
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[Repost] Trauma-informed Care: It Takes More Than a Clipboard and a Questionnaire
California is about to launch an ambitious campaign to train tens of thousands of Medi-Cal providers to screen children and adults up to age 65 for trauma, starting on January 1, 2020. It is well-established that the early identification of trauma and providing the appropriate treatment are critical tools for reducing long-term health care costs for both children and adults. Research has shown that individuals who experienced a high number of traumatic childhood events are likely to die...
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SAVE THE DATE! ACEs Aware Initiative Webinar [acesaware.org]
Wednesday, February 26, 2020 Noon – 1 p.m. Join a live webinar with: Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, MD, MPH – California Surgeon General Dr. Karen Mark, MD, PhD – Medical Director, Department of Health Care Services Dr. Melissa Merrick, PhD – President & CEO, Prevent Child Abuse America Dr. Brigid McCaw, MD, MPH, MS, FACP – Clinical Advisor, ACEs Aware The webinar will provide an overview of the ACEs Aware initiative; why providers should screen for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs); the...
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California has Begun Screening for Early Childhood Trauma, But Critics Urge Caution [sciencemag.org]
By Emily Underwood, Science, January 29, 2020 On 1 January, California became the first U.S. state to screen for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)—early life hardships such as abuse, neglect, and poverty, which can have devastating health consequences in later life. The project is not just a public health initiative, but a vast experiment. State officials aim to cut the health impacts of early life adversity by as much as half within a generation. But critics say the health benefits of...
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California Is Giving Doctors Incentives To Ask Patients About Childhood Trauma [capradio.org]
By Sammy Caiola, Capital Public Radio, December 9, 2019 California health officials want children and adults on Medi-Cal to get screened for traumatic childhood events that can cause negative health effects down the line. Now the state has started giving doctors and nurses tools to do the screenings. People who experience adversity early in life have much higher chances of substance abuse, depression, or chronic diseases than their peers, according to national research. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s...
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California Teachers Build a 'Nest' For Migrant Kids at the Border [kqed.org]
By Sasha Khokha, KQED, October 25, 2019 Classical music plays, silk curtains blow in the wind and comfy couches offer a place to curl up with a book. There are wooden toys, colorful magnetic blocks, and crayons organized by color in glass jars. Children use light projectors to make patterns and shapes on the walls. It may sound like a high-end early childhood education center in California, but this is Tijuana. The students and their parents have fled violence in Central America, or other...
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Little kids and 'toxic stress': we can solve this [cnn.com]
All children have incredible potential, most with parents, teachers and other adults in their lives who want the best for them. Unfortunately, many schools, particularly those that serve children with the greatest need, face obstacles that limit children's educational success -- rote curriculums, insufficient support for teachers and scant extracurricular options, to name a few. Educators, parents and policymakers have long acknowledged such obstacles, but we now know that there is another...
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Mark your calendar for March 10 tweet chat on CA ACEs screening!
Hey ACEs Connection communities! Please join us for a boisterous tweet chat about ACEs screening in California on March 10 at 10 am Pacific/ 1 pm Eastern for #SaludTues, hosted by @saludamerica and co-hosted by @CYWSanFrancisco, @acesconnection and @CHCShealth. Get your thumbs ready, and spread the word! What: Tweet chat Who: Salud America, co-hosted by Center for Youth Wellness, ACEs Connection and Center for Health Care Strategies. When: Tuesday, March 10, 10am Pacific/ 1 pm Eastern Why:...
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New Screenings for Childhood Trauma Raise Hopes, Questions [calhealthreport.org]
By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, California Health Report, December 20, 2019 California health officials are gearing up for the launch of a statewide screening effort that aims to help doctors measure children’s exposure to trauma and their risk of related health problems. Starting Jan. 1, California will become the first state in the nation to reimburse health care providers who screen patients enrolled in the Medi-Cal program for “adverse childhood experiences” or ACEs. The $40 million effort has...
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Opinion: All Doctors Should Practice Trauma-Informed Care [calhealthreport.org]
By Bob Erlenbusch and Drew Factor, California Health Report, November 20, 2019 “Adverse childhood experiences are the single greatest unaddressed public health threat facing our nation today,” Dr. Robert Block, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has been widely quoted as saying. According to the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, conducted in the 1990’s by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and Kaiser Permanente, adverse childhood experiences are common,...
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Re: 9 Big Questions as California Starts to Screen Kids for Trauma, ACEs [salud-america.org]
the links to read the whole article don't work
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Re: 9 Big Questions as California Starts to Screen Kids for Trauma, ACEs [salud-america.org]
HI Priya, Thank you. It should be fixed momentarily.
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Re: As California Moves to Screen Children for Childhood Trauma, Poverty Has To Be Part of the Equation
Hi Jim, I completely agree that poverty is important, but add these two comments for consideration: 1) The AB340 work group already recommended that trauma screening include ACEs and other social determinants such as poverty. We recommended for use the Whole Child Assessment, the PEARLS, or any other tool that a pediatrician wants to use that meet these criteria; 2) While poverty is important, it is NOT the same as ACEs. The literature on ACEs guides us toward specific interventions. While...
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Finding the Right Words About COVID-19 [chcf.org]
By Kate Meyers, California Health Care Foundation, March 26, 2020 Health care organizations in California and around the US are working incredibly hard to prepare for or respond to a surge of patients suffering from symptoms related to COVID-19. Appropriately, preparation has focused on trying to ensure adequate numbers of health care professionals and sufficient supplies and equipment in the right places at the right times as the demand grows. That focus on numbers and logistics is...
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Hundreds Attend ACEs Town Hall Featuring California Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris (with video) [northcoastjournal.com]
By Iridian Casarez, North Coast Journal, November 22, 2019 The Sequoia Conference Center on Humboldt County Office of Education’s campus was at capacity, 448 people had landed a seat — while at least another 100 watched from a live stream in a separate room. The draw was a conversation among California’s first Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris and a panel of locals spearheading Humboldt County’s efforts to alleviate the impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences, also known as ACEs. “Thank...
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5 Things to Know as California Starts Screening Children for Toxic Stress [californiahealthline.org]
By Barbara Feder Ostrov, California Healthline, January 7, 2020 Starting this year, routine pediatric visits for millions of California children could involve questions about touchy family topics, such as divorce, unstable housing or a parent who struggles with alcoholism. California now will pay doctors to screen patients for traumatic events known as adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, if the patient is covered by Medi-Cal — the state’s version of Medicaid for low-income families. The...
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9 Big Questions as California Starts to Screen Kids for Trauma, ACEs [salud-america.org]
By Amanda Merck, Salud America!, February 12, 2020 Early childhood adversity like abuse and divorce is a root cause of many of the greatest public health challenges we face today. But doctors don’t even screen children for exposure to adversity. That’s changing in California, thanks to Dr. Nadine Burke Harris and other child advocates. As of Jan. 1, 2020, almost 100,000 physicians in 8,800 clinics will be reimbursed for routinely screening Medi-Cal patients for adverse childhood experiences...
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As California Moves to Screen Children for Childhood Trauma, Poverty Has To Be Part of the Equation
In California, we are coming full circle in recognizing the connection between poverty and health.
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Bay Area Doctors Target Health Consequences of Childhood Trauma [sfchronicle.com]
By Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle, January 5, 2020 A screening tool developed by Bay Area pediatricians to identify adverse childhood experiences, ranging from homelessness and food insecurity to physical and sexual abuse, will now help doctors statewide address trauma affecting patients’ health. The California Department of Health Care Services approved the tool — called PEARLS, for Pediatric ACEs and Related Life-Events Screener — last month. As of Jan. 1, its use is covered by...
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Survey: Healthcare providers, community organizations weigh in on California's ACEs screening program
In January, California took a historic leap forward to promote universal ACEs screening of the state’s 13 million adults and children in the Medi-Cal program. The eventual goal is to promote ACEs screening for all patients, but this is a first step in dealing with a major issue that ACEs science has identified: that many children will develop serious health problems later in life because the healthcare system is not currently set up to detect the roots of those problems. The term ACEs, which...
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Update on bills re: childhood adversity in California Legislature
Below is an updated table of bills that address childhood adversity in the Legislature in 2019. The list is not exhaustive, so please email Kelly Hardy with Children Now if you think a bill is missing and/or if you have any questions. Email: khardy @childrennow.org . Here are key dates for the remainder of the legislative session: July 10 = last day for bills to pass out of policy committees July 12 – August 12 = Summer recess August 30 = last day for fiscal bills to pass out of committee...
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What the ACEs Screening Movement Can Learn from the Healthcare Hotspotting Movement
No brief intervention or short-term infusion of services is a silver bullet that will overcome the long-term harm caused by structural racism, poverty, and multi-generational trauma.
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Why the Nation Should Screen All Students for Trauma Like California Does [theconversation.com]
By Sunny Shin, The Conversation, November 18, 2019 As the first person to hold the new role of Surgeon General of California, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris is pushing an unprecedented plan to implement universal screenings for childhood trauma within the state’s schools. Childhood trauma is defined by the National Institute of Mental Health as an “emotionally painful or distressful” event that “often results in lasting mental and physical effects.” Burke Harris’ plan is already more than a dream:...
Calendar Event
ACEs Aware Initiative Webinar
Calendar Event
ACEs Aware Initiative Webinar
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Re: Opinion: All Doctors Should Practice Trauma-Informed Care [calhealthreport.org]
“Thus, it should be standard practice for medical professionals to screen and assess for trauma in a safe environment. It is critical that primary and behavioral health systems have communication channels to inform each other about a person’s trauma and its effect on their mental health and physical wellbeing. In order to achieve this outcome, we are proposing state legislation to mandate trauma-informed care education in all California medical, dental and nursing programs. In addition, we...
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Re: [Repost] Trauma-informed Care: It Takes More Than a Clipboard and a Questionnaire
Thank you Jim for this article. It is exactly what we need to address health care providers and community concerns regarding ACEs work. This should help us overcome barriers and resistance as AB 340 launches. Is there a lead agency in each California County to coordinate ACEs work and provide consultation/expertise? Perhaps this could be delegated to County Public Health Departments.
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Painful Questions: What Happens When Doctors Uncover Adverse Childhood Experiences?
This excellent article reviews arguments for and against universal pediatric screening for ACEs in California. It also highlights Dr. Nadine Burke Harris' concern concern that if we know ACEs science, it is irresponsible not to take action. She indicates that she has not heard alternative proposals for action from critics of screening. However, such alternatives exist and include universal pediatric developmental screening and policy initiatives aimed at primary prevention of adversity.
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'A Better Normal:' Can universal ACEs screening be equitable? -- Concerns and solutions
Can universal ACEs screening be equitable? A conversation about concerns and solutions. When: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2-3:30 pm PDT/5-6:30 pm EDT This webinar explores what it takes to ensure that equity is built into the process of screening and providing support for families who have experienced trauma and want help. REGISTER HERE Background At the beginning of this year, California, through the ACEs Aware initiative began rolling out universal screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs),...
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New California preventive mental health coverage puts ACEs science front and center
A mother, frantic with worry, brought her newborn in for a checkup at the pediatric clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. But there wasn’t anything wrong with the baby. And over the next several months, no amount of reassurance could convince the mom that her child was eating, sleeping and growing just fine. If anything, the mother’s worry led to behavior that raised alarm bells for her health care providers. Dr. Kate Margolis “[The family] wasn’t returning calls from the provider, and...
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The Path Forward for Telemental Health + Join Our Upcoming Webinars
NO GOING BACK: Providing Telemental Health Services to California Children and Youth After the Pandemic, is the first in a series of briefs outlining how technology can make mental health more accessible with concrete recommendations based on providers’ perspectives, and lessons learned during the pandemic. Read the Report When the shelter-in-place mandate started, California’s mental and behavioral health providers quickly pivoted to telehealth delivery for children and adolescents. Recent...
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Youth Advocates are Speaking Out to Reimagine our Mental Health System
Dear Friends and Allies, This is a moment for transformation led by youth advocates—those with lived experience—to reimagine a mental health system centered on equity and justice. While concerns remain with the state's proposals on both Telehealth and CalAIM, there are some hopeful signs of reform on the horizon including: $700 million proposed in the Governor’s budget to support student mental health in schools. The updated CalAIM proposal which advocates for the removal of a diagnosis for...
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Join the movement: Significant new legislation and funding to find solutions to youth mental health crisis
There is unprecedented momentum to tackle the mental health crisis affecting our children. The universally felt isolation and suffering caused by the pandemic are helping to strip away the stigma of mental illness. In its place is an energized movement, led by advocates, that is transforming the way California provides mental health services for its most vulnerable children—the majority of whom are black and brown. This movement has captured the attention of state and local policymakers,...
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To solve the Black maternal mortality crisis, start with upending racist practices
It’s been all over the news for months: Black women in the United States are dying from complications during their pregnancies or in childbirth at alarming rates, and those deaths are preventable. Less well explored is how systemic racism and historical trauma have been at the core of what’s driven up these rates over several decades. A March 20 conference entitled The Impact of ACEs on Black Maternal Health took an in-depth look into why Black maternal mortality and complications during...
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Re: To solve the Black maternal mortality crisis, start with upending racist practices
Thank you for the informative blog on Black maternal mortality. I am an advocate for individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). In a recent conversation with an ACEs researcher, I mentioned the strong association between prenatal alcohol exposure and childhood trauma and, in fact, suggested that FASD be considered ACEs. This suggestion is currently under consideration by her and other ACEs experts. And to the point of Black maternal health and FASD, based on the words of the...
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California advocates press for expansion of visiting rights to incarcerated loved ones
In a recent nightmare, 8-year-old Jovina dreamt that her father got COVID-19. He was getting sicker, but she and her mother weren’t able to get there in time. “There,” in her father’s case, is a cell at the California Correctional Center (CCC) in Susanville, California, nearly 300 miles from where she lives in San Jose. In Jovina’s mind are a swarm of worries about her father’s welfare, her mother Benee Vejar reports. If an earthquake shakes the Bay Area, Jovina says, “What if the building...