Center for Child Counseling’s Lead the Fight Against ACEs to feature an exclusive international book reading and conversation on February 22, 2022.
Lead the Fight, Giving Children with Trauma a Voice, will take place Tuesday, February 22, 2022, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM. The event will feature a virtual, international book reading of “Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows: A Story about ACEs and Hope” and conversation with author Juleus Ghunta, as well as the keynote address given by Benjamin Perks, Head of Campaigns and Advocacy at UNICEF.
Center for Child Counseling (CFCC) in conjunction with Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2017 developed ‘Lead the Fight’ in 2016 to bring awareness to system leaders around fighting childhood adversity with advocacy and action. In 2021, the event was transformed into a virtual action series in response to the pandemic and the urgent need to move forward policies and practices that support children’s mental health and resilience. These important conversations and gatherings will continue to take place in 2022.
For the 2022 launch, Ghunta and Perks will reflect upon personal adverse childhood experiences, explore the importance of giving children with trauma a voice, and provide ways that community leaders can help build resilient children and communities.
This free, virtual event is designed for system, business, philanthropic, civic, and school leaders to actively address the effects of childhood trauma and adversity on families and communities through education, discourse, action, and advocacy. Click to register to attend this virtual event. Register early as capacity is limited.
Find out more information or become a partner in the fight against ACEs: centerforchildcounseling.org/leadthefight
ABOUT JULEUS GHUNTA:
Juleus Ghunta is a Chevening Scholar, children’s writer, a member of Jamaica’s National Task Force on Character Education, and an advocate in the Caribbean’s Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) movement.
Ghunta holds a BA in Media from The University of the West Indies, Mona, and an MA in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford. His work explores the links between toxic stress and academic underachievement. His poems and essays on ACEs have appeared in 30+ journals across 16 countries. His picture book, Tata and the Big Bad Bull, was published by CaribbeanReads in 2018, and he is the co-editor of the December 2019 and March 2020 issues of Interviewing the Caribbean (The UWI Press), focused on children’s literature and ACEs in the Caribbean. Juleus' new book, Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows: A Story About ACEs and Hope, will be published by CaribbeanReads on December 31, 2021. His Notebook of Words and Ideas, which features prominently in Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows, will be published by CaribbeanReads in 2022.
Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows highlights the need to find transformative ways of engaging with perpetrators of ACEs and the role families and communities can play in helping survivors develop resilience and hope.
ABOUT BENJAMIN PERKS:
Benjamin Perks is the Head of Campaigns and Advocacy in the Division of Global Communications and Advocacy at the United Nations Children’s Fund, based in New York. He leads on public and policy advocacy on issues related to the survival, development and protection of children. He is a member of the Policy Advisory Group on the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and serves on a number of other bodies.
In personal capacity, he is Senior Fellow at the Jubilee Centre at the University of Birmingham in the UK, which researches education policy on character, social, and emotional development of children. He holds a master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Kent at Canterbury and has recently completed a mid-career program with the Harvard Graduate School of Education on Leadership and Education Reform. He is recognized as a public speaker, blogger, and influencer on violence against children and adverse childhood experiences. His TedX talk on Adverse Childhood Experiences can be found here. Perks can be followed on twitter and his blogsite.
“Previous generations dramatically reduced hunger, disease and war as the science and resources became available. In doing so they uplifted humanity. We are the generation that can end abuse and neglect as an accelerator for health, wellbeing, prosperity and peace,” said Perks.
PARTNERS LEADING THE FIGHT:
Partnership sponsors who are leading the fight in making this important and necessary panel conversation possible include: First Republic Bank and Ward Damon Attorneys at Law.
CFCC’s Fighting ACEs initiative to build trauma-informed communities is made possible with the generous support of Quantum Foundation, Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, and private donors.
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