Tagged With "Intro to Organizing Your Initiative"
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What is your ACE score? Countywide school board meeting teaches how adverse childhood experience play into overall health [madisoniannews.com]
SHERIDAN – Sheridan School was this year’s host for the countywide school board meeting on Jan. 24. Trustees and administrators from all four Madison County Schools were present, as well as Madison County Superintendent of Schools Pam Birkeland, Madison County commissioners Ron Nye and Dan Allhands, Sen. Jeff Welborn (R-Dillon), and Rep. Ray Shaw (R-Sheridan). Attendees were treated to a sit-down dinner prepared by the Sheridan life skills class and received tip-top service from Sheridan’s...
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What other ACE surveys have additional questions? We know of seven.
We’ll start to populate the new Resource Center next month. One of the sections lists ACE surveys that have additional questions. The CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study revealed that ACEs contribute to most of our major chronic health, mental health, economic health and social health issues. It measured five types of abuse and neglect: physical, verbal and sexual abuse; physical and emotional neglect. And five types of family dysfunction: a family member with mental...
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Why be "trauma-informed?" - a training for churches by Chaplain Chris Haughee, DMin
As I wrap up my doctoral studies, I am excited to see how the concept of becoming “trauma-informed” in ministry is starting to pick up steam across the country. A large part of the credit for furthering that conversation goes to you--my friends and colleagues here on ACEsConnection! It's been humbling to see how our relatively small ministry in Montana has something to add to the conversation. In fact, far from being behind the curve here in Montana, we are on the cutting edge in terms of...
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Wisconsin state agencies end year one of trauma-informed learning community; goal is to be first trauma-informed state
Here in California, many people think that it’s only liberal Democrats who have a corner on championing the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and putting it into practice. That might be because people who use ACEs science don’t expel or suspend students, even if they’re throwing chairs and hurling expletives at the teacher. They ask "What happened to you?" rather than "What's wrong with you?" as a frame when they create juvenile detention centers where kids don’t fight, reduce...
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2019 Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: Online & In Real Life (IRL) Webinar Series
ACEs Connection presents, "Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: Online & In Real Life (IRL)" , an interactive webinar training series focused on developing existing and potential online community managers and IRL ACEs champions. If you are not a current online community manager, please know that ALL are welcome. This series is dedicated to providing insight into creating sustainable and effective online & IRL ACEs intiatives. "Starting & Growing Resilient Communities:...
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ACES conference focuses on consequences of child abuse, neglect [RivalliRepublic.com]
The Bitterroot Cares for Kids Network is presenting “ACES in the Bitterroot,’’ a day-long conference on identifying, preventing and alleviating the consequences of childhood abuse and neglect. Todd Garrison, director of the ChildWise Institute, will be the guest speaker at the Aug. 17 event, which also will feature the film “Paper Tiger.’’ The focus will be on the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, which has identified childhood trauma as a major public health issue. According to the...
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ACEs Connection Info -- How-tos, ACEs 101, welcome, overview
ACEs Connection Welcome Tour What you get What you can do ACEs Connection How-Tos Directory How-To post a blog How-To add a picture How-To change your email settings And more ACEs Connection Network Overview ACEsConnection.com and ACEsTooHigh.com ACEs, trauma-informed, and resilience-building Collective impact community of practice And more ACEs 101 FAQ ACEs, toxic stress, and epigenetics...
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ACEs Connection, our Cooperative of Communities, and....Pando!
Last month, we officially launched the ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities. We are SO excited about this! And the communities that are part of the handful of ACEs initiatives that are piloting the Cooperative are, too! Before describing the Cooperative, I want to reassure our 40,000+ members and 277 ACEs initiatives (plus another 100 in development) that have communities on ACEs Connection that nothing on ACEsConnection.com changes! Membership is and remains free ! And it will remain...
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Adversity Is Not Destiny
Childhood adversity can activate the human stress response system, which is primarily made up of the hormones/chemicals cortisol and adrenaline. In the developing brain of a child, prolonged activation of the stress response system can cause these chemicals to actually become toxic. Think of that – a child’s brain being bathed in toxic chemicals due to abuse, neglect, or chaotic household dysfunction. It’s called toxic stress. It’s real, not imagined, and it’s physiological, potentially...
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Anxiety, Depression and the Modern Adolescent - Kids are overexposed!
Intermountain (the founding organization of ChildWise Institute that started the movement, Elevate Montana ) was honored to be a source for a TIME cover story this week: "Anxiety, Depression, and the Modern Adolescent." From the article: "Daniel Champer, the director of school-based services for Intermountain in Helena, Mont., says the one word he'd use to describe the kids in his state is overexposed. Montana's kids may be in a big, sparsely populated state, but they are not isolated...
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Artists in the ACE and Resilience Movement: Creative Avenues to Change
They began with a song and ended with a poem. In-between, there were photographs and giant graphic renderings, movement exercises and a “human pulse” formed when 90 people stood in a circle and squeezed each other’s hands. At a June summit in Whatcom County, Washington, titled “Our Resilient Community: A Community Conversation on Resilience and Equity,” the arts played a starring role. Kristi Slette, executive director of the Whatcom Family and Community Network, one of two Washington sites...
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"Be Child Wise" Conference in Bozeman, MT (May 2018)
Raising a child to be loving, resilient and respectful is a tough endeavor in the best of circumstances. But what if the child is emotionally scarred from early experiences of loss, betrayal or harm? This workshop will introduce the audience to the principals of successfully connecting with and raising a child who is emotionally distressed. It provides real-life examples and exercises in the 3 principles of the handbook Be Child Wise, namely, know yourself; know your child; and always work...
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Community Voices: Creating a Just, Healthy and Resilient World
Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) is a vibrant learning collaborative of fourteen sites actively engaged in building the movement for a just, healthy and resilient world. Using the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and resiliency as their organizing framework, these communities have built strong cross-sector networks to help heal and prevent early childhood adversity. From October 2016 through May 2017, we were privileged to travel to all fourteen MARC...
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Connecting the Dots, Finding the Do-ers: Montana MARC Update
When Tina Eblen and Todd Garrison led an ACE training at the Fort Peck Reservation, home to the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, they heard stories of “gut-wrenching” trauma so pervasive it seemed commonplace. “Some people told us, when they were taking the ACE questionnaire, ‘Gosh, I thought these things were just normal,’” says Eblen, MARC coordinator for Elevate Montana , an ACE-informed statewide initiative launched in 2013 by the ChildWise Institute , a non-profit that focuses on child...
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Everything is NOT fine...
Everything is NOT fine… Has your church heard about ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences)? If not, I am sure you have seen the effects in your communities and your worshipping communities. Those in our congregations, as well as those in our neighborhoods, are struggling under the weight of unresolved trauma, persistent toxic stress, and the dysfunction that results from broken relationships. No matter what we might want to tell one another, “Everything is NOT fine.” In our home state—where...
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How Dirty is Too Dirty?
How Dirty is Too Dirty? March 31, 2017 By Daniel Champer, LCPC, Intermountain Clinical Manager of School Based Service s A quick internet search of the phrase “mushroom cloud” reveals that the technical definition of the phenomena is “a distinctive pyro-cumulus mushroom-shaped cloud of debris and usually condensed water vapor resulting from a large explosion.” The phrase will also conjure up frightening descriptions related to 1950’s nuclear trials and WWII documentaries. The aforementioned...
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Imagine living inside a box buried inside a box buried inside a box...
That's how Dr. Kent Hoffman, Co-Originator of Circle of Security International began his comments about this incredible new resource for parents! See his full statement below. A short six years ago, ChildWise Institute was founded by Intermountain , a nationally-recognized organization specializing in helping and healing children from emotional and mental health disorders. Intermountain are also experts in helping families of distressed children create a nurturing environment of stability...
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ITRC calls for Universal Resilience Education and Skills Training for Climate Trauma
Sneak Preview for ITRC ACEs Connection Members! Next Tuesday, Jan. 8, the ITRC will release a major report Preparing People on the West Coast for Climate Change. The media release about the report is below (and attached). It includes a link to the webpage for the report, where people can download the full report, and find a link to the webpage with examples of resilience programs across the west coast. You can connect with the ITRC CA and PNW Facebook page:...
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Jim Sporleder coming back to Montana!
ChildWise Institute is really excited to announce Jim Sporleder as our featured expert at our May conference! You all know Jim as the former principal of Lincoln High School, which the documentary film, Paper Tiger's, is all about. ChildWise works closely with Jim, and he will be presenting and teaching his new guidebook, The Trauma-Informed School: A Step-by-Step Implementation Guide for Administrators and School Personnel . Unlike a typical ChildWise educational event, conference or...
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Moving toward the ACEs tipping point: Communities, their ACEs initiatives and ACEs billboards
David Bornstein, a columnist for the New York Times , posted the third of a three-part series ( Putting the power of self-knowledge to work ) about communities that are integrating trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on ACEs science. (Part one — Tapping a troubled neighborhood’s inner strength , and part two — How community networks stem childhood traumas .) It’s a terrific series, with information that we can all use, and I highly recommend reading them all. Some members...
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Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain - FREE Screening for ACEs Connection Network!
I am excited to announce that ACEs Connection Network has partnered with the producers of the film, Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain . to host a FREE SCREENING of the film for our members. If you have been t hinking of hosting a screening of CAREgivers in your community or are interested in learning more about secondary traumatic stress and what to do about it, join our ACEs Connection Network for a FREE screening of this film and a virtual chat with the...
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The Public's Health: A look at US policy's effect on children [MTStandard.com]
Had you asked me two years ago whether U.S. policy would ever promote toxic stress in children, I would have looked at you as if you had two horns growing out of your head. After all, the U.S. government philosophically for decades has served as a global patriarch — and matriarch! — working to ensure that populations — especially children — have at least a rudimentary standard of living, and that all humans have basic rights. This column will not serve to inform about what’s currently...
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The Public's Health: Help available to recognize and deal with toxic stress in children [mtstandard.com]
If you are a parent, you are likely hyper-aware of and concerned about the stresses in your children’s lives. Stress in children is normal — in order to develop properly, children actually require stress — stress being defined as a mental, physical or biochemical response to a perceived threat or demand. Childhood stress is actually natural and inevitable. What we parents and adults actually need to look for are the “types” of stress being experienced by our kids and other children, because...
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TIC: News and Notes for March 2020
ACEs, Adversity's Impact Lessons learned integrating ACEs science into health clinics: Staff first, THEN patients Launching a revolution Stress is a key to understanding many social determinants of health Is trauma driving some eating disorders? Adverse childhood experiences: What we know, what we don't know, and what should happen next Childhood maltreatment initiates a developmental cascade that leads to relationship dysfunction in emerging adulthood Report reveals link between poverty,...
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Trauma & Resiliency Summit in the Columbia River Gorge
Hello all! The Columbia River Gorge is hosting a Trauma & Resiliency Summit on October 20th & 21st, 2016 in The Dalles, OR. Registration is made free to attendees through MARC Grant funding. If you are in the area please join us! And please note that registration is only available prior to the event as we have a limited amount of space. Claire
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Virtual Screening of Broken Places on March 21st & Registration for ACEs Connection Members!
Please join us on Thursday, March 21st for a special virtual screening of Broken Places , the latest U.S. documentary on early childhood trauma and resilience. The film will be offered via a private Vimeo link with passcode to all registered members of ACEs Connection, for free, accessible in the United States and internationally. REGISTER TODAY: To register, please visit : https://goo.gl/forms/apdoINwgtQmydEXK2 The viewing portal for the film will open on Vimeo at 6am EST and close at 11pm...
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Virtual Screening of Cracked Up for ACEs Connection Members: June 9-10 - Register Now!
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...
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Webinar featuring Laura Porter on Self-Healing Communities Model to be held Feb. 28
Please join ACEs Connection and the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) for a free 60-minute webinar on Thursday, Feb. 28 starting noon PT/3:00 pm ET that features the Self-Healing Communities Model (SHCM) presented by Interface, Inc. co-founder, Laura Porter. The webinar is the second in a series on state-to-state best practices; the first webinar was on Alaska’s new statute directing state policy to incorporate principles of brain development. Self-Healing Community...
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Re: Why be "trauma-informed?" - a training for churches by Chaplain Chris Haughee, DMin
Congratulations Chaplain Haughee! Your leadership, along with your stellar colleagues Todd Garrison, ChildWise, and Intermountain is an inspiration for our nation and world. Truly one of our nation's faith-based ministries leaders, thank you for all of your compassionate and hard work with bringing into fruition your curriculum, presentations and workshops!
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Re: Why be "trauma-informed?" - a training for churches by Chaplain Chris Haughee, DMin
Thank you, Dana! Your encouragement means a great deal. I am privileged to work in a setting and with so many that understand how much we could help our world if we understood these concepts better! Chris
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Local Affiliates Accelerate ACEs-and-Resilience Movement in Montana
In Toole County, Montana, deputy sheriffs call a school counselor, from their patrol cars, after responding to a traumatic incident—a domestic abuse call, an overdose, an arrest—that involves a child. “Handle with care,” they tell the counselor, and they give the child’s name. The counselor passes that information to teachers: a quiet heads-up that the student might be hungry or sleepy, tearful, angry or distracted by whatever happened at home. “My teachers love it,” says Mary Miller, chair...
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Cracked Up, The Evolving Conversation: Generational Trauma - Breaking the Cycle [crackedupmovie.com]
CRACKED UP THE EVOLVING CONVERSATION Episode 4: Generational Trauma - Breaking the Cycle with Darrell Hammond, Comedian, actor, SNL Legend Michelle Esrick, Filmmaker, activist Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Author of The Body Keeps the Score Jane Stevens, Founder of ACES Connection and special guest Jane Fonda Academy Award-winning actor, producer, author and activist Thursday June 25th at 1pm PDT / 2p MT / 3p CT / 4pm EDT Hosted by ACEs Connection THE PRICE OF THIS LIVE EVENT IS $12.50 We have...
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Regulation Before Education: Trauma-Informed Schools
Regulation Before Education: The Roots and Fruits of a Trauma-Informed School July 29-31st | 12:00 - 3:00pm EDT These times are unsettling in many ways. But the disruptions have widened opportunities for different ways of being, thinking and doing in education. The trauma-informed schools movement has never been more relevant. Schools committed to cultivating trauma-informed change can successfully buffer the adverse effects of the pandemic, economic collapse, and persistent racial...
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California reaches milestone with ACEs initiatives pulsing in all 58 counties. Next: All CA cities.
Karen Clemmer, the Northwest community facilitator with ACEs Connection, was already deeply interested in the CDC/Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study when she and a colleague from the Child Parent Institute were invited to lunch by ACEs Connection founder and publisher Jane Stevens in 2012. But that lunch meeting changed everything. Karen Clemmer “Jane helped us see a bigger world,” says Clemmer. “She came with a much wider lens. She didn’t look only at Sonoma County, she...
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State of Babies Yearbook: 2020 (zerotothree.org)
Telling the story of America’s babies is more important than ever. Last year, the inaugural State of Babies Yearbook: 2019 revealed that the state where a baby is born makes a big difference in their chance for a strong start in life. New data this year shows that even among states with high averages, significant disparities exist in the opportunities available to babies of color to thrive, as well as those in families with low-income, and in urban or rural areas. Now as our country faces an...
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Finding Footing on Shifting Sand
I’m struggling to write this blog entry- I’m too preoccupied with thinking about school starting. Instead of focusing on writing, my brain won’t stop running through scenarios given limited and changing facts and circumstances. School starts on August 17, but due to covid 19, Boise School District is delaying the start of “in-person” school and opting for children to attend virtually instead. I’m sure this was a smart move- I’m just as concerned about the health of our community’s children...
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"Our Children in Anxious Times" by Jen Kunka
[NOTE: This article was the result of an interview that I did with Jen Kunka of Northern Rockies Institute of Theology, a ministry of the Montana Synod ELCA, shared with permission] For Parents and Caregivers: When Pastor JP Carlson drove four middle school students to confirmation camp at Christikon this summer, he noticed something. It was obvious how much they had missed being with kids their own age. “They instantly lit up in the car and were so excited. The chatter never stopped,” he...
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CALIFORNIA ACES ACADEMY: Parental ACEs and Pediatrics: Transforming Well Care [avahealth.org]
CALIFORNIA ACES ACADEMY (CAA) , funded by ACEs Aware, is providing free online training to Medi-Cal providers and others featuring: Practical strategies for integrating trauma-informed health care into your team’s practice that improves patients’ well being and the productivity of your practice. Meet colleagues with experience and success providing trauma-informed health care in their practices. Learn from national and local experts. Talk to other professionals from your region in small...
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Portraits of Professional Caregivers documentary available for viewing from ACEs Connection this weekend
Our Transform Trauma with ACEs Science film festival launches this weekend. We are thrilled to share the documentary , P ortraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion, Their Pain on Saturday, September 12th, and Sunday , September 13th. The documentary will be streamed from our Transform Trauma with ACEs Science Communit y . Click here to join. Registration is not required for viewing. You need to be a member of ACEs Connection and join this community site to watch the film this...
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"Who's in Your Canoe?": Ho‘oikaika Partnership Draws on Hawaiian Values to Promote Protective Factors
Title image: Jeny Bissell, Ho‘oikaika Partnership founder and Core Partner, gives a shaka at a Child Abuse Prevention Month mayor's proclamation and concert. A brochure from the Ho‘oikaika Partnership shows four people paddling a slender boat, their bodies silhouetted against an apricot-hued sky. The tagline: “When it comes to parenting, who’s in your canoe?” The image and the metaphor are intentional, says Karen Worthington, coordinator of the 60-member, cross-sector Ho‘oikaika Partnership...
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Upcoming Webinar: Learn How to Start an ACEs Initiative in Your Community
Are you curious about starting an ACEs Initiative in your community? Join one of these upcoming webinars to learn how to start an initiative. I'm Alison Cebulla, the Community Facilitator (CF) for the Northeast USA, Mid-Atlantic USA, and Canada for ACEs Connection. You are welcome to attend these webinars no matter which region you are interested in starting. After the webinar, I will put you in touch with the CF in your region who will help you get started if you choose to move forward. All...
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Positive Childhood Experiences in Ojibwe Culture [positiveexperience.org/blog]
By Zhawin Gonzalez (compiled by Chloe Yang), 9/30/20, positiveexperience.org/blog HOPE knows that all families, communities, and cultures have inherent strengths. In recent webinars with The Montana Institute , we’ve learned real world examples of this from co-presenters at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (MIWRC) . Z hawin Gonzalez, or Wasegabo, is the MIWRC Education and Resource Coordinator. In this blog post, Zhawin shares his insight on the long tradition of positive...
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Ripple Effect: Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe Partners with Schools and Service Providers to Build Trauma-Informed Community in Michigan
The week of the fall equinox was Mino-Bimaadiziwin Wellness Week at the Saginaw Chippewa Academy (SCA) in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, a pre-K through 5th grade school of about 130 students. “Mino-Bimaadiziwin” is an Anishinabe phrase meaning “to live the good life.” At the school, it started with “Mindfulness Monday”—students were encouraged to wear their favorite “thinking cap”—then segued to “Take care of our bodies Tuesday,” a “Love Your Community Wednesday" that included talking circles, and...
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"NEAR Science in Partnership with Communities": Local ACEs Collaboratives Grow Across Minnesota
The third annual gathering of Minnesota ACEs collaboratives—“Growing Resilient Communities: Collaboratives Addressing ACEs”—began with a sober recitation of inequities: We acknowledge that the wealth of this country was built on stolen land and with enslaved and underpaid labor of African American, Native, and Immigrant people…We acknowledge that the recent global uprising, which was sparked by the murder of George Floyd right here in Minnesota, paired with the COVID-19 pandemic, makes for a...
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Hope and Progress, No Matter What! — an ACEs Connection/Cambia Health Foundation “Better Normal”, Oct. 22, 2020
The election is upon us. In two short weeks, we voters in this country decide who will lead us for the next four years. We have the opportunity to embrace — as a national priority — the tenets of understanding, nurturing and healing that underlie the science of adverse childhood experiences and move in a direction that embraces cultural and racial equity and anti-racism. Or not.
What is clear is that no matter what, the ACEs movement will continue.
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The Intersection of Systematic Racism, the Pandemic, and SDoMH: Reality Mandates Change
Systematic racism is at the core of mental health disparities and social determinants of mental health (SDoMH).Upstream factors obstruct patient access to needed and appropriate assessment, timely intervention, with treatment for these populations often reflecting poorer quality, and ending prior to completion of treatment. COVID-19 and the recent pandemic have only amplified meso and micro-level gaps in care. considered, provided, and reimbursed.
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Upcoming Webinars: How to Start an ACEs Initiative in Your Community + Intro to Organizing Your Initiative
Are you curious about starting an ACEs Initiative in your community? Are you wanting to learn the fundamentals of organizing an initiative or coalition? Join one of these upcoming webinars to learn how to start and organize an initiative! 1. How To Start an ACEs Initiative in Your Community These webinars will be held monthly on the second Monday of the month by Alison Cebulla, the Community Facilitator (CF) for the Northeast USA, Mid-Atlantic USA, and Canada for ACEs Connection. You are...
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100% Community Initiative Builds Vital Services So New Mexico Kids Can Thrive
The deaths of several New Mexico children in recent years—a 13-year-old whose father was accused of fatally torturing him; an eight-year-old who was kicked to death by her mother; a girl raped, strangled and stabbed by her mother’s boyfriend the night before her 10th birthday—drew horror, outrage and scrutiny of the state’s child welfare system. Those incidents drove child welfare and public health specialists Katherine Ortega Courtney and Dominic Cappello to examine the data. Cappello and...
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Listening, Learning and Showing Up: Central Oregon's TRACEs Focuses on Root Causes of Trauma
TRACEs’ work group on youth and children in foster care spent a good portion of the last year’s monthly meetings examining holes in the system: How would foster families be affected by changes in funding from the Oregon Department of Human Services? What would it mean for kids if Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) positions were cut? Most important, what did foster children and youth, their families of origin and their foster families need in order to thrive? “We put together a...
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TODAY! 12/2 at noon - FREE! Supporting Patients in Pregnancy: ACEs and Maternal Health
ACEs Aware presents " Supporting Patients in Pregnancy : ACEs and Maternal Health" Wed, Dec 2, 2020 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM PST Add to Calendar: Outlook ® Calendar | Google Calendar™ | iCal ® Please send your questions, comments and feedback to: info@acesaware.org How to Join the Webinar 1. Click the link to join the webinar at the specified time and date: Join Webinar Note: This link should not be shared with others; it is unique to you. Before joining, be sure to check system requirements to...