No, we don’t need the president nor congress. We do need the following people in your county to stop business as usual and focus on preventing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). City mayors City counselors County commissioners School board members These local elected leaders—many of them your neighbors and colleagues—have the capacity to collectively understand the emotional and financial costs of ACEs and trauma. We can’t have family-friendly cities and counties while we live in an...

Thirty-seven Reno County community members took the first step in the commitment of becoming a trauma-informed community. District 308 and ESSDACK drew people towards the pioneering conversation of building a resilient and trauma-informed Hutchinson. This all stems from the district bringing in two national trauma-informed leaders, Heather T. Forbes, author of Help for Billy and Jim Sporleder, the principal in the documentary Paper Tigers, to Hutchinson to help the district begin the journey...

Becoming a trauma-informed organization requires clear communication about the transformation process, and support from staff at all levels of an organization. Often these efforts are spearheaded by “trauma-informed care champions”— individuals committed to raising awareness regarding the health effects of trauma and toxic stress and improving care for people who have experienced trauma. This week, the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) invites you to recognize people around you who...

I am not even sure where to start. But, I know I need to write about this. I need to give this to the world. Perhaps to another mother who is facing the darkness and can’t see her way out. Perhaps she is watching her children caught in the cyclone that is her life. I think she is who I am writing this for. And maybe for me too. I am doing some amazing work with a community that is fast becoming dear to my heart. I look at the people who keep showing up that are trying to wrap their heads...

Understanding the long-term impact of developmental trauma, how trauma impacts the brain, and the science of resiliency is a powerful first step toward change. It is exciting to watch people begin to let this knowledge soak in… and even more exciting when they begin to ask “Now what?” As I have worked with organizations across the state, I have found that often what they are really looking for is the curriculum or recipe book that they can follow for their clients or students. Even those...

After having 37 individuals at its first two meetings, there was a huge turnout for the first of three meetings targeting a study of the book Childhood Disrupted by Donna Jackson Nakazawa. Fifty-three community members, representing more than 20 agencies spent their lunch hours going deeper. Conversations about the impacts of childhood trauma were wide spread, but as one shared "in chapter three we are already talking about solutions." These meetings have lead to new connections being built...

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...

Business is the toughest door to get in when it comes to ACEs work, but chambers of commerce hold (some) of the keys to government when it comes to shaping the local civic space. If you're inclined to leverage the profit world, this brief can serve as a sign post to find the sweet spot between ethical responsibility and economic prosperity. The Future of Work Begins with a City's Youngest Residents

Thanks for posting, Rebecca! Congratulations, Hutchinson and Reno County!!

thanks Rick! Great to you connected with Donna Jackson Nakazawa about questions - I bet that made for an even richer discussions! This is a nice model for that other communities may want to replicate.

There was incredible energy in the room and people are plugged in. I am so excited to watch this unfold.

HI Rick- I wonder if you can share any tips or the outline of how you structured the book study? Thank you!

Hi, Gail. We selected 4 questions from chapter 1-3 with assistance from the author. The "extra" question was for attendees to share anything gleaned from the reading which they deemed was relevant to their particular organizations. We allowed about 45 minutes for discussion and gave time updates every 10-15 minutes to keep groups on task. Each table group captured their most important ideas on chart paper. At the end a representative of each table shared their "big idea". I took snapshots of...

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...