Photo by James Encinas

Raising yellow “Visions & Commitments” cards, 550 attendees at yesterday’s Creating a Resilient Community: From Trauma to Healing Conference pledged their enthusiastic support to create a more resilient Central Florida.

The standing-room-only crowd heard Dr. Vincent Felitti deliver a morning keynote address detailing the findings of the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study). He also shared moving testimonials of people who are realizing the effects of the toxic childhood stress they reported more than 20 years ago.

The event, presented by the Peace and Justice Institute of Valencia College, the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County, and the Florida Department of Health Orange County, was spearheaded by Rachel Allen, director of the Peace and Justice Institute.

Event sponsors included Orlando Health; Central Florida Foundation; the National Association of Social Workers, Florida Chapter; and the Kamran Farid Foundation.

A panel of speakers included Clayton Lodes, president of First National Bank & Trust of Ardmore, OK; Lucy Morse, executive director of Family Hui in Sacramento, CA;

Robin Saenger, founding director of Peace4Tarpon, the first trauma-informed community in the nation; and Candice Jones, a practicing general pediatrician in Orlando, FL.

As a part of the day’s events, Allen introduced the community’s new ACEs Central Florida community site on ACEs Connection and let all attendees know they would be receiving an  invitation to join. The site is described as: “A network for community members, professionals and leaders to collaborate across sectors in a movement to prevent adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), heal from trauma, and build resilience in Central Florida. We encourage the use of this network to collaborate across sectors and communities and to transform our region into one of hope, healing, and resilience for all..”

Within 18 hours of the invitation being sent, more than 100 people have joined the group’s online community. They can post events, ask questions of the community, and share what they are learning about ACEs science and creating resilience in their all parts of their community.

For more information about the event, please see the event program posted below.