Tagged With "engagement tracking"
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ACEs Connection's Inclusion Tool makes sure nobody's left out
We developed ACEs Connection's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Tool — called the Inclusion Tool, for short — to ensure that ACEs initiatives across the world focus on being inclusive when forming a steering committee, recruiting leaders, providing education about ACEs science, recruiting members, or providing resources and services within their communities. The more inclusive your ACEs initiative is, the more diverse it will be, giving your initiative a real shot at achieving equity and...
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ACEs Science and Racism
This is a collection of resources regarding structural racism and trauma. This list aims to give a broad overview and is not all-inclusive. We welcome suggestions; if you have any, please comment below! The titles below and the PDFs in attachments are in alphabetical order. BSC Full Report Trauma Resilient Informed City Baltimore: This is the full report of the work, data, lessons, and direct quotes from several teams of people from various backgrounds in the Baltimore community as they...
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At an HIV Clinic, Patients and Staff Have a Voice in Shaping Trauma Informed Care
Dr. Edward Machtinger, director of the Women and HIV Program, front row, center and clinic staff To the casual observer, the offices of the Women and HIV Program at the University of California San Francisco look like any other primary care clinic. There’s a waiting room with vinyl-covered chairs for the clinic’s patients. Staff check in patients from a non-descript desk ringed with a bank of computers. A video screen promotes the clinic’s services. But as you make your way further into a...
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At an HIV Clinic, Patients and Staff Have a Voice in Shaping Trauma Informed Care
Dr. Edward Machtinger, director of the Women and HIV Program, front row, center and clinic staff To the casual observer, the offices of the Women and HIV Program at the University of California San Francisco look like any other primary care clinic. There’s a waiting room with vinyl-covered chairs for the clinic’s patients. Staff check in patients from a non-descript desk ringed with a bank of computers. A video screen promotes the clinic’s services. But as you make your way further into a...
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Francine Shapiro, Developer of Eye-Movement Therapy, Dies at 71 [nytimes.com]
Laura's Note: I realize that an obituary is not typical of the type of posts we share here, but because Francine Shapiro's work has influenced and benefited so many people on this site, it seems fitting. Shapiro died in June 2019. One spring afternoon in 1987, a psychology student trying to shake off an upsetting memory took a stroll through a park in Los Gatos, Calif., distracting herself by darting her eyes back and forth. The sting of the memory quickly faded, and the student, Francine...
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I Wanted to Know What White Men Thought About Their Privilege. So I Asked. [nytimes.com]
By Claudia Rankine, The New York Times, July 18, 2019. In the early days of the run-up to the 2016 election, I was just beginning to prepare a class on whiteness to teach at Yale University, where I had been newly hired. Over the years, I had come to realize that I often did not share historical knowledge with the persons to whom I was speaking. “What’s redlining?” someone would ask. “George Washington freed his slaves?” someone else would inquire. But as I listened to Donald Trump’s...
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Report: ACEs and trauma-informed care across 8 countries
The International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) is a virtual international collaborative which aims to strengthen leadership and thereby improve services for people with mental health or addiction issues. Eight countries belong to IIMHL: Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden and the US. Countries’ pay a small amount to belong and in exchange there are regular communications on innovation, research and national work plus every 16 months a...
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Spotlight: An ACEs Connection community, Resilient Sacramento, tackles the issue of the traumatic impacts of racism and oppression
Resilient Sacramento has recently made explicit, their commitment to doing trauma-informed education & engagement that centers race, and other forms of structural oppression, as sources of trauma. The resources shared in a recent Resilient Sacramento meeting are described here for the entire ACEs Connection community. Please add your resources to the comments!
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THE BUILD HEALTH CHALLENGE 2019 CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
To read the announcement and all details, click HERE and see below key dates. BUILD is looking to support dynamic collaboratives driving sustainable improvements in community health. Are you ready to BUILD with us? For this new third cohort, BUILD is looking to support up to 17 innovative collaboratives across the US t hat include a community-based organization, hospital or health system, and public health department working together in dynamic ways to address upstream challenges and drive...
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The implicit bias of, “Mental Illness” and “mentally ill”, a lexicon of hurt.
How can we heal from the implicit bias of “ Mental Illness ” and “ mentally ill ”? I hear these words and it sounds like fingernails scraping down the chalkboard. “ The stain of dehumanization colors the mind, body and spirit and it is not so easily washed away.” - Michael Skinner Recently I read a blog post at the ACEsConnection website, “Erasing My ACES” by Sirena Wheeler. It was posted on April, 19, 2020. It struck a chord with me, many in fact and it put me on a spiral down memory lane.
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The Relentless School Nurse: Candida Rodriguez is Creating Community Through the Power of Conversations That Matter
Candida Rodriguez is my mentor, while she may disagree with that statement and say it is the opposite, it is the absolute truth. My respect, admiration, and amazement at the depth of her knowledge, talent, and compassion astound me every time we work together. Candida serves her complex and ever-changing community with dedication, skill and a relentless pursuit of coordinating care for her students and families. We are partners in the Community Cafe Initiative that began in 2015 after I...
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The Trauma-Informed Supervisor Training Tool
That is the question that so many of us champions of change are asking ourselves right now. Luckily, the information is and logistics of how to make this happen are becoming clearer. Thank you to @Christina Cunningham, Prevention Coordination Specialist for the Fairfax County Department of Neighborhood and Community Services for allowing me to share this resource with our community. (see attached PDF file) It has been a valuable tool in helping me coordinate an agency training on the...
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The Trauma Resiliency Model: A “Bottom-Up” Intervention for Trauma Psychotherapy (Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association)
Grabbe L, Miller-Karas E. The Trauma Resiliency Model: A “Bottom-Up” Intervention for Trauma Psychotherapy. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. 2017; 24 (1): 76-84.
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Trauma-Informed is Messy Business…
Words like trauma-informed and resiliency get thrown around a lot these days. And for many, the visions they call up are a bit too glossy. You see resiliency and trauma-informed aren’t always pretty. Resiliency can look like closing the bathroom door and collapsing in tears… but then washing your face and going back into the world, carrying the belief that you can survive and the hope that things will get better. It looks like begrudgingly going on that walk with a friend, when the little...
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Trauma Informed Oregon Response to COVID-19 [Trauma Informed Oregon]
Editor's Note: This excellent letter was widely circulated today across Oregon to detail the response of Trauma Informed Oregon to COVID-19 and ask the grassroots to provide feedback on needs and experience during this challenging time. Dear colleagues, partners, and neighbors across Oregon, Trauma Informed Oregon (TIO) is OPEN —don’t worry, not physically open. We are absolutely following physical distancing to flatten the curve, to protect others, and to respect the great sacrifices that...
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Vanessa Lohf integrates ACEs science throughout Kansas communities, organizations and systems
A Kansas-licensed social worker, Vanessa Lohf was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, where she still lives and works in public health by facilitating the Trauma-Informed Systems of Care Initiatives (TISC) team at the Wichita State University Community Engagement Institute. She also manages the Kansas ACEsConnection network , where she regularly posts about news and resources for communities and organizations throughout the state. Lohf says that Wichita is known as the “Aircraft Capital of...
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Growing Resilient Communities: By Popular Demand, a How-To Series in Video
As a result of the pandemic and the national and international awakening to racial justice issues, ACEs Connection has seen an explosion of interest from members wanting to start local, organizational, and state-wide ACEs initiatives . If you’re seeking to bring healing to your communities, we can help you start new or grow existing ACEs initiatives by using our Growing Resilient Communities framework , and we’ve produced a series of videos to get you started or to provide a refresher. After...
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Connecting Families to Community Resources: Lessons Learned
“It needs to be familiar” “And immediate” “Has to feel comfortable to access” “Yes, personal to the family” “They have to be able to connect easily” “Right. It has to be useful” When the Ready4K content team sat down to create a trauma-informed curriculum , they knew they had to address all 5 Protective Factors . After careful consideration and analysis the team knew they could address the first 4 factors in specific and actionable ways through our Fact, Tip, Growth messaging. But the fifth,...
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New Resource: Utilizing Data to Improve Child Wellbeing Through Community Action
A newly developed document titled “Utilizing Data to Improve Child Wellbeing Through Community Action” has just been released and can be found attached to this blog post. The purpose of this document is to identify best practices in utilizing data to monitor and evaluate child adversity, health, development, and wellbeing in order to build community support and create policy, systems, and environmental change. This resource was created in partnership by All Children Thrive - California and...
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The Surviving Spirit Newsletter April 2022
Healing the Mind, Body & Spirit Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter April 2022 Hi Folks, The latest edition of the Surviving Spirit Newsletter - sharing Hope and Healing Resources for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health is posted online -...
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3 More Ways to Rewire Shame from Adverse Childhood Experiences
These three cognitive countermeasures round out the skills for neutralizing shame imprinted in the first 18 years of life. They complement the right brain strategies described in recent articles.
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Moving Forward After Adverse Childhood Experiences, Part 2: Harness the Liberating Power of Forgiveness
The well-timed choice to forgive deep injuries from childhood, though difficult, can greatly improve psychological wellbeing and free us to move ahead. Four keys to forgiveness lay the foundation for cultivating healing forgiveness skills.
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Trauma-informed Design Evaluation Tool for K-12 Schools Is Here!
The Trauma-informed Design Society is pleased to announce the new TiDEvalK12 tool ! This tool is the first of its kind--an evidence-based tool to facilitate interior design renovations and new builds of K-12 schools! It can be used to evaluate the physical space and identify changes that can lower the stress levels of students and staff. The tool is grounded in the Substance and Mental Health Services Administrations' guidance for a trauma-informed approach, the Trauma-informed Design (TiD)...
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7 Ways to Practice Active Listening and Become a Better Listener at Work
What's the difference between listening and hearing? We can’t control what we hear. Hearing is second nature. Listening requires focus. Imagine you’re standing in line at a coffee shop while music plays overhead. Everyone in the shop hears the music, but only a few of them might be listening to it. Who are our listeners? Most likely, the patrons in line with nothing else to do except wait will be listening. The busy barista can’t focus on the music, so they aren’t listening. The same is true...
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Easing your way into changing your organization to include practices and policies based on PACEs science
Last week I posted “ The trouble with trauma (-informed), the aggravation of ACEs (screening): We're trying to fit both into traditional frameworks and it isn't working .” This post goes one step farther to describe the first easy steps that all organizations can use, no matter what the sector, to wrap their minds around integrating healing practices and policies based on PACEs science. In the comments section, Rebecca Bryan asked, “What is a reliable tool to assess organizational ACEs? Does...
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Finding Joy After Adverse Childhood Experiences
Adverse childhood experiences understandably can numb feelings, including feelings of joy, happiness, and pleasure.
Making time to be joyful rewires the wounded brain. Once healing has progressed, the capacity for joy can usually be expanded through the repeated application of proven joy strategies.
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Bouncing Forward After Adverse Childhood Experiences
Once the healing of hidden wounds from adverse childhood experiences has sufficiently progressed, attention can turn to developing a richly satisfying future. Your innate inner strengths, experiences, and acquired skills will help rewire your brain for a brighter future.
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How to Disarm Shame Mindfully: A Counterintuitive Approach
Shame-based memories imprint primarily in the non-verbal right brain, largely beneath conscious awareness. When our usual attempts to cope with the inner turmoil of shame fail, mindfulness can help. Bringing the various aspects of a disturbing memory to awareness gives the brain a chance to change the memory.
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The NJ Office of Resilience Has Shifted Its Focus from Self-Healing Communities Model to Healing-Centered Engagement Model
The shift to a Healing-Centered Engagement Model releases culture as a root cause of trauma, to instead celebrate the intrinsic resilience and the capacity to promote PCEs that ethnic history, racial and other social identities afford. This is particularly important for white, privileged communities to embrace, given their historical diminishment of non-white cultures.
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Walk With Me - a song addressing the stigma & discrimination for those labeled, "mentally ill."
“Never judge another man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins.” – Native American Proverb Walk With Me by Michael Skinner - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I5WMypXDn8 [Lyrics posted below] Michael Skinner Music - https://www.mskinnermusic.com/ https://www.mskinnermusic.com/music/album-train-tears/ - scroll down to Track # 7 All of my songs are on Amazon, Spotify, etc...& two minute clips are posted at my website. “Everyone has untold stories of pain and sadness that make them...
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Healing from Adverse Childhood Experiences: The Timeless Wisdom of Peter Levine
The body often tells the real story of trauma better than the thinking mind. Before one can verbalize and complete the trauma story, one typically must return to physical equilibrium. Trauma expert Levine explains ways to calm physical and emotional responses to trauma and regain a sense of wholeness.