By Dwyer Gunn, 5280, September 1, 2019 On a frigid morning this past March, Jo Carrigan, principal of Denver Public Schools’ Doull Elementary School in Harvey Park, stood on a blacktop playground as students streamed into the red brick building. As evidenced by the elaborate hairstyles, shimmery party dresses, and clip-on ties, it was school picture day. Carrigan complimented students on their outfits as she guided them around an icy spot on the pavement. Inside the building, up a flight of...

By Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat Colorado, February 5, 2020 There’s a lot Melisa Sandoval wants educators to know about childhood trauma. But perhaps the most important thing is this: It’s not a life sentence. The brain can heal from trauma with the right relationships and environment, said Sandoval, the director of social emotional learning and student agency for the 9,000-student Westminster School District in suburban Denver. [ Please click here to read more .]

Report scores 3,000 communities on health-related issues Earlier this year, Douglas County, Colorado, was tapped as the healthiest community in the country, moving up from its previous spot at No. 2. “We give all the credit to our citizens for their healthy choices,” Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas told The Nation’s Health. In March, U.S. News & World Report and the Aetna Foundation released their second annual Healthiest Communities report, evaluating nearly 3,000 U.S.

Colorado’s Trauma Informed System of Care (COACT) What is COACT? Colorado’s Trauma Informed System of Care, or COACT Colorado, is supported by a cooperative agreement between the Colorado Department of Human Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), administered by the Office of Behavioral Health in partnership with the Office of Children, Youth, and Families, and other local partners. The system of care in Colorado builds on existing infrastructure...

The exclusive virtual screening to all ACEs Connection members of the new, acclaimed film, CRACKED UP is fast approaching. The registration deadline is Friday, June 7th at 5pm PST / 8pm EST To register , please complete this form . This documentary film is about the long term effects of childhood trauma, told through Saturday Night Live veteran Darrell Hammond’s journey in discovering adverse childhood experiences at the root of his lifelong battle with self-harm, addiction, and...

Your thoughts on toxic stress are needed: Please join our virtual focus group this Wednesday at 5 pm PST.

Virtual Room of Refuge — A Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic The Virtual Room of Refuge has been designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to provide a place of calm and release from stress. It is full of resources for mindfully taking a pause for self-care, and hopefully bring a smile to your face. Resilient Colorado has curated these resources and we will be updating it periodically. Feel free to bookmark this page for easy access any time you need a break. We hope these resources help...

We are excited to offer an exclusive virtual screening to all ACEs Connection members of the new, acclaimed film, CRACKED UP . This documentary film is about the long term effects of childhood trauma, told through Saturday Night Live veteran Darrell Hammond’s journey in discovering adverse childhood experiences at the root of his lifelong battle with self-harm, addiction, and misdiagnosis. The film’s director, Michelle Esrick, and other special guests will join us after the screening window...

Trauma-informed care is the new gold standard. For the last several years, Echo has been providing professional development in trauma-informed care but we’re beginning to notice a worrying aspect of the new push to train staff and transform systems. Some human service professionals are seeing ‘trauma-informed care’ as another skill to add to their resume or a box to check off on a grant proposal. But if the information stays with the professionals and is not used to empower survivors, then...

Educators and parents don’t all support the move. The school board’s decision was unanimous. Jun. 11, 2020, 9:32 p.m. Denver’s public school system will part ways with in-school police officers who have monitored students and campuses for 22 years. After four hours of heated comment from the public Thursday evening, the Denver Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to order Denver Police Department officers out of school hallways and classrooms. The resolution , sponsored by...

As the COVID-19 pandemic blurred from days into months, the leadership team of LAUNCH Together Southwest Denver began hearing about the sense of anguish and confusion felt by directors of early-childhood learning centers: Should I re-open? Is that financially feasible? Is it ethical? And how do I decide, in a sea of fast-changing information about a virus scientists are still struggling to understand? LAUNCH Together SW Denver, a collaborative formed in 2016 to boost community capacity to...

A webinar offered by the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) Thursday, September 30, 1:30 - 3:00 pm EDT Register today . Addressing the mental health needs of child care providers and children in care is vital in the face of the pandemic, a population-level traumatic event. CTIPP is offering a "plug and play" framework to ease the process of developing a continuum of training, reflective coaching, and consultation to build the capacity for supporting relational health...

Please join us for our new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly virtual Zoom series will feature conversations facilitated by Dr. Porter Jennings-McGarity, PhD/LCSW, PACEs Connection’s criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and strategies being...

PACEs Connection is excited to kick off our 2023 Creating Resilient Communities (CRC) Annual Accelerator Program.

Former PACEs Connection employees Dana Brown (L) with Vincent Felitti, MD, co-author of the 1998 Adverse Childhood Experiences study, and Carey Sipp (R) in San Diego in January, 2024. The last few months have been quite challenging, but we pushed, persevered, and didn’t give up hope. The “we” is Carey Sipp and Dana Brown. We were long-time staff members of PACEs Connection determined to reinstate the website and the resources and information we provide to communities after the platform went...