In the first of a series of planned screenings of the film Resilience, the Santa Clara ACEs Connection community offered a panel led discussion about how to bring trauma informed practice and resilience building to the entire county. Rhoda Blankenship, Director of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health for County Public Health Department, emceed the event, along with Andrew Cain, both of whom sit on the Santa Clara community collaborative steering committee. 

Following opening remarks by Santa Clara County Board Supervisor (District 3), Dave Cortese, participants got a sneak preview of the Trauma Transformed (T2) training, actively being implemented throughout the county. Maretta Juarez, LCSW shared a snapshot of the T2 curriculum, and shouted out Anh Ta of Trauma Transformed who attended as well.  The snapshot helped provide participants with the context for the film: what is trauma? What are ACEs, and why do they matter? 

Following the film, Rhoda Blankenship introduced the audience to Dr. Burke, who is the father of Nadine Burke Harris. The elder Dr. Burke lives in Santa Clara County, and held a table top to sell copies of Dr. Burke-Harris' new book, The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity. 

The Community Discussion panelists shared the resilience building practices that they bring to their respective fields. Barbara Burns, Professor of Child Studies at Santa Clara University shared her research and practice in early intervention for families exposed to chronic stress. Suzanne Frank, a pediatrician at Kaiser, shared her commitment to ACEs screening of her patients and families. Wendy Kinnear-Rausch, program manager at Santa Clara County's Family and Children's Services (DFCS). In her role, she fosters trauma informed programming to help heal children and families identified for services. Hector Sanchez-Flores, Executive Director of the National Compadres Network, focuses on building resilience and protective factors for communities most in need. 

The afternoon concluded with an announcement of the Santa Clara ACEs Network quarterly collaborative meetings. Everyone in the community is welcome and encouraged to join this journey toward creating resilient communities throughout Santa Clara County. The first meeting, on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, will highlight the work of Resilient Families, a parent led effort to increase awareness of ACEs and trauma, directly in the community.

Join Santa Clara ACEs Network on March 13 to learn more about their plans for increasing resilience in 2018!