Blog

"Close to 50% of people say they are often or always exhausted due to work. This is a shockingly high statistic — and it’s a 32% increase from two decades ago. What’s more, there is a significant correlation between feeling lonely and work exhaustion: The more people are exhausted, the lonelier they feel." "The social repercussions of this discomfort directly impact work productivity because people disengage. And both the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University and the Gallup...

For far too long laws and policies have been used to promote the health of some, but not all. A new guide from ChangeLab Solutions puts the blueprint for change in everyone’s hands. For more than 20 years, the ChangeLab team has been working alongside communities to help them create lasting changes that will help all residents live a healthy life. We know many places are working to achieve equitable outcomes but are struggling with how to do it. A new resource , A Blueprint for Changemakers...

In my opinion we as ACEs/trauma educators must be very mindful that whether we talk about ACEs in front of a large group of people or one on one, it’s not just information. We are giving people an experience, an experience that may rock them to their core especially if they have never heard the information before.

Workplace wellness programs — efforts to get workers to lose weight, eat better, stress less and sleep more — are an $8 billion industry in the U.S. Most large employers offer some type of wellness program, with growth fueled by incentives in the federal Affordable Care Act. But no one has been sure they work. Various studies over the years have provided conflicting results, with some showing savings and health improvements while others say the efforts fall short. Many studies, however,...

The third session of the Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: Online & IRL (In Real Life) was a success. Thank you to all who attended the live webinar. And, thank you to our guests, Linda Manaugh of Raising Resilient Oklahomans! and Kate Reed of Kankakee Iroquois Cares . We were also joined by ACEs Connection's Northeast Community Facilitator, Cissy White . I have embedded the video in this post. I invite every ACEs Connection member to also follow our YouTube Channel to view...

Trauma – an event, series of events or set of circumstances, such as neglect and abuse, that is experienced by an individual as harmful or life-threatening – is a nearly universal experience. The landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study , conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente, revealed that experiences of trauma can impact every area of a person’s functioning. When Brigid McCaw, M.D., first started practicing medicine, research around the...

Tony McGuire is a great carpenter. He ran his own construction business for years. Then he wanted to get into teaching. He became a Tenured Faculty member at a local community college, and landed in the state penitentiary as a Basic Skills Carpentry instructor. So how could that be connected to saving lives with a 20 buck investment? Tony got touched by CRI’s trauma-informed training. He saw himself past and present and knew somehow that, “with this information comes the responsibility to...

The California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative launched a new set of child adversity and resilience data indicators on Kidsdata.org Furthermore, the initiative created state and local dashboards to bring together sources of data that represent a broader set of life experiences than originally reflected in the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study, such as living in poverty or dangerous neighborhoods. The goal was to make these data widely available and provide training on how...

In January 2019, the Institute on Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care (ITTIC) released its Trauma-Informed Organizational Change Manual. The purpose of the manual is to guide organizations and systems in planning for, implementing and sustaining a trauma-informed organizational change. This manual provides a step-by-step guide with tools intended for anyone interested in implementing a trauma-informed approach. How to Use the Manual The manual begins with a conceptual overview of the different...

Cissy's note: I am a huge fan of the way @Claudia Gold works with those of us Parenting with ACEs . The first time I read her writing I relaxed. She was speaking with and for parents not about or at us. Unfortunately, her approach is rare. Fortunately, she just launched a new project she's been dreaming of for years. I love the way she supports all families and how she centers the role of all parents in the lives of all children - especially those - not all except those...

Great new Resource from CDC shared with me from Dr. Kevin Sherin, Health Officer & Director of Florida Department of Health in Orange County, Florida. Welcome to the Connections Selector! This tool makes it easier for you to connect the dots and explore the relationships between multiple types of violence and the risk and protective factors they share at each level of the social-ecological model (SEM). A clear understanding of these connections can help you plan strategies to prevent...

The next installment of Villa of Hope's webinar series for the Alliance for Stronger Families & Communities is "Adaptive Change to RECOVER Efficiency & Strength to Build a Culture of Change & Empowerment." It takes a humble and courageous leader to do this work!