It was a terrific and fast five-day visit, and I definitely want to return. The start of the trip was in Anchorage, where on Friday, May 29, I met about 25 people who gathered at Alaska Children’s Trust to chat about what’s happening in the state, in Anchorage, and how to grow the Alaska ACEs Action group. Thanks for setting that up, Trevor Storrs. And thank you Debbie
Bock and Mark Erickson for being such great hosts. (Thanks to Ben Erickson for giving up his bedroom, and for Sophie the Chinese lion dog for keeping my feet warm at night....can't believe I didn't take her photo!!!)
Saturday, May 30, I hopped the short flight to Homer, where I stayed with Dr. Linda Chamberlain, who provided a guest room at her Howling Huskies Homestead. She and husband Al were kind enough to host a barbecue 
Saturday evening during a heat wave (it was in the high 70s). On Sunday, I helped her launch the ACEs in the Arctic group, and early Monday morning we met with the local trauma-informed work group.
Megan Murphy and Rachel Romberg had launched the Southern Kenai 
Peninsula ACEs Connection group in April to support the local trauma-informed work group, so some of the names of the 15 people from that group were familiar. It was great to meet PHAT (Promoting Health Among Teens) educators Kaylynn Bunnell, Mina Gherman and Jonas Noomah from the Homer REC Room. The teens, who just graduated from high school, tweaked the ACEs presentation (with the help of PHAT coordinator Anna Meredith), and their work was featured in the Homer Tribune last year. How did they make the ACEs presentation more engaging? “Start with resilience, and layer it in throughout,” they said.
Then a short flight back to Anchorage and an hour drive to Palmer. That evening, I met with a few people from United Way of Mat-Su and Mat-Su Health Foundation, and in the morning, about 35 people from Thrive Mat-Su met at the gorgeous Chalet at Government Peak. Thank you, Stephanie Allen for organizing that workshop.
That afternoon, I hopped on the plane for the long flight back to Sacramento, CA. I have a better understanding of how people in Alaska are implementing -- or thinking about implementing -- trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on ACEs research. The number of people who are "talking ACEs", and how far and wide you have spread the awareness of this knowledge is very impressive. Thank you all for taking the time to talk with me. I'll be following up.
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