Tagged With "Building Strong Brains"
Blog Post
Guest View: Helping students deal with trauma [TheSouthern.com]
There is nothing more motivating for teachers and school support staff than identifying ways they can reach students. That is happening statewide as the Illinois Education Association, with 135,000 union members, addresses the impact of trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on the ability of students to learn. New brain research proves ACEs, recurring experiences that create such trauma that the brain literally changes, lead to behaviors such as fighting, fleeing or shutting down.
Blog Post
Heartland Alliance's Social Impact Research Center Releases Data on the Intersection of Poverty, Violence, and Trauma
In, Cycle of Risk: The Intersection of Poverty, Violence, and Trauma, our latest annual report on Illinois poverty, IMPACT has taken a comprehensive look at how a lack of resources, dwindling opportunities, historical oppression, and more fuel the violence crisis within our state. They create a cycle of poverty, violence, and trauma that has gone unaddressed and underfunded. (report attached)
Blog Post
Helping Students Overcome Toxic Stress through Science-Based Teaching Practices (stresshealth.org)
“What our students really crave the most is predictability from the adults interacting with them,” says Roger Sapp, a student success teacher at KIPP. For that reason, the one-on-one session is not a reward for being “good” or withheld if something bad happens. The kids who need it can count on it – every day. The scene is from a video by Edutopia (aka the George Lucas Educational Foundation), which has produced a series of more than 20 powerful, engaging shorts on how children learn in...
Blog Post
Invitation: March 19th, Trauma Informed Care for Children and Families Act
You’re invited to join U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and U.S. Representative Danny Davis at a news conference announcing the introduction of the Trauma Informed Care for Children and Families Act which addresses the lack of identification, referral, and immediate support for children who experience trauma in the Chicago metropolitan area and throughout the nation. The bill aims to provide the tools parents, teachers, doctors, service providers, and first responders need to identify and understand...
Blog Post
Jones: Day 2: Soda, cigarettes and trauma: How Adverse Childhood Experiences alter brain chemistry, cultivate unhealthy habits and prompt premature death
Patients would carry soda into Dr. Gerard Clancy’s office, with cigarettes tucked away for after therapy. Often victims of abuse or violent crime, they would seek soothing but risky behaviors to cope. Overweight. Chronic pain. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Type II diabetes. His former patients will die younger than they should, he said. Clancy conducted therapy sessions until he became president of the University of Tulsa in 2016. At his psychiatry clinic, he saw firsthand how a...
Blog Post
MAY 15TH- Trauma-Informed Awareness Day in Illinois!
The Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative is excited to honor the first Trauma-Informed Awareness Day in Illinois! Conceived by the Community Behavioral Health Association of Illinois and supported by research conducted by the Collaborative, Trauma-Informed Awareness Day is sponsored by State Senator Julie Morrison of Deerfield, as well as numerous others who have joined the senator in recognizing the importance of trauma-informed care and resilience. Trauma-Informed Care Day calls upon the...
Blog Post
‘Mindful People’ Feel Less Pain; MRI Imaging Pinpoints Supporting Brain Activity (scienceblog.com)
Ever wonder why some people seem to feel less pain than others? A study conducted at Wake Forest School of Medicine may have found one of the answers – mindfulness. “Mindfulness is related to being aware of the present moment without too much emotional reaction or judgment,” said the study’s lead author, Fadel Zeidan, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the medical school, part of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. “We now know that some people are more mindful than...
Blog Post
National Council for Behavioral Health Conference #NatCon19
Last month, I had the pleasure of attending the annual National Council for Behavioral Health Conference. I have been to my fair share of conferences but #NatCon19 was one of the best. First, I'm biased. It took place in my city, Nashville, TN . And the venue was the world renowned Opryland Hotel's Gaylord Convention Center . And, I love, love, love the Opryland Hotel ! As any seasoned conference goer, I had a strategy when it came to which sessions and events I wanted to attend. My game...
Blog Post
New Member of Congress—Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL)—brings laser focus on toxic stress at hearing on immigration
At a March 6 hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) addressed the impact of family separation on the mental and physical health of children at the border. Her questions to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen focused on the impact of toxic stress caused by family separation on short and long-term health outcomes for children. Sec. Nielsen was unfamiliar with the concept of “toxic stress.” Here’s a short description of the 6-minute exchange...
Blog Post
Positive Childhood Experiences offset ACEs: Q & A with Dr. Robert Sege about HOPE
Tufts University medical professor Dr. Robert Sege directs the Center for Community-Engaged Medicine and is nationally known for his research on effective health systems approaches that address social determinants of health. He is also the principal investigator for the HOPE framework (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences).The HOPE framework is based on research that shows how positive childhood experiences can mitigate the effects of adverse childhood experiences. Sege and colleagues...
Blog Post
Positive Childhood Experiences offset ACEs: Q & A with Dr. Robert Sege about HOPE
Tufts University medical professor Dr. Robert Sege directs the Center for Community-Engaged Medicine and is nationally known for his research on effective health systems approaches that address social determinants of health. He is also the principal investigator for the HOPE framework (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences).The HOPE framework is based on research that shows how positive childhood experiences can mitigate the effects of adverse childhood experiences. Sege and colleagues...
Blog Post
Power of Networks Tapped for National Trauma Campaign
In a mid-April conference call led by the Campaign for Trauma Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP), participants from around the country—many of them active in ACEs, trauma and resilience networks—discussed the wave of trauma that is certain to slam communities in the wake of COVID-19. They also cheered a bit of hopeful news: the announcement of $3 billion in federal funding, the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund, a portion of the CARES Act. The funds are flexible block grants for...
Blog Post
SHRIVER CENTER POLICY BRIEF: Exploring Racial Equity for Infants and Toddlers
FROM BRIEF: We all benefit when a child receives a strong start in life. Policymakers now recognize that investments in a child’s first years will pay dividends for society throughout the rest of the child’s life. Waiting until a child reaches preschool age at 3 or 4 may well be too late to provide the support parents and caregivers need to give children a fair start in life, especially children starting with economic disadvantage and facing racial bias. BRIEF LOCATED HERE: ...
Blog Post
The Strong and Stressed Black Woman By Inger E. Burnett-Zeigler [The New York Times]
Ms. T., 75, came to see me for therapy after a man stole her purse. He was in a car and lured her over under the guise of asking directions. Then he grabbed her bag and stepped on the accelerator. She was dragged halfway down the block before she let go. When I saw her a month later, she was still in physical pain from her injuries and emotional pain from having endured a traumatic experience. Ms. T. had raised three successful children as a single mother, while enjoying a prosperous career...
Blog Post
Trauma-Informed Awareness Day in Illinois: Reflections and Resources
As we enter summer here in Chicago, the Illinois ACEs Collaborative is excited to take time to reflect on Trauma-Informed Awareness Day in Illinois, which took place on May 15th. We'd also like to offer up several resources for you to celebrate and integrate trauma-informed practices into your own organization, communities, and state.
Blog Post
Trauma-Informed Care is Not a Program For Your Clients
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...
Blog Post
Treating Childhood Trauma Becoming a Public Policy Priority [governing.com]
There’s a lot that’s indisputable about childhood trauma. Emotional or physical abuse early in life impacts health outcomes as children grow up. Community- and family-based approaches to dealing with trauma are better than institutional settings. And children of color are more likely to face traumatizing childhood experiences. Those events can include something as common as divorce, but also encompass circumstances such as having an incarcerated parent, living with someone with a substance...
Blog Post
What's Next? Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative Deepens Efforts as Momentum Grows Across the State [MARC.HealthFederation.org]
It was more than a piece of parchment bearing the governor’s signature. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s resolution declaring May 15, 2019 as the state’s first Trauma-Informed Awareness Day marked a high-level recognition that, where state policy is concerned, trauma matters.
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
12 Myths of the Science of ACEs
The two biggest myths about ACEs science are: MYTH #1 — That it’s just about the 10 ACEs in the ACE Study — the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study . It’s about sooooo much more than that. MYTH #2 — And that it’s just about ACEs…adverse childhood experiences. These two myths are intertwined. The ACE Study issued the first of its 70+ publications in 1998, and for many people it was the lightning bolt, the grand “aha” moment, the unexpected doorway into a blazing new...
Blog Post
2018 Building Strong Brains Tennessee ACEs Summit
The 2018 Building Strong Brains Tennessee ACEs Summit took place last week in Nashville, TN. The theme of this year’s summit was “Celebrating Successes and Imagining Possibilities” and there is plenty to celebrate. Tennessee is one of the most innovative states when it comes to ACEs awareness. Tennessee understands that childhood trauma is the root cause of its poor health outcomes, high rates of addiction and other ailments. And Tennessee is doing something about it. Tennessee’s leadership...
Blog Post
A Message from the President of the Illinois Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics
Dear Illinois ACE Connection members, Children and families from all demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds in Illinois experience trauma, adversity, and chronic stress. Social determinants such as where we live, work, and play, can further exacerbate positive or negative physical, emotional, and behavioral health issues. The critical factor that determines if a child, family, and/or community can manage trauma, adversity, and chronic stress successfully is resilience : the process by...
Blog Post
ACEs Science in Education: The Next Big Challenge is Systems Change #ACEsCon2018
One of the first sessions of the 2018 ACEs Conference: Action to Access discussed the barriers and opportunities for increasing access in the field of education. The main question was: "How can one achieve systematic changes within the field of education?" The session was moderated by Michelle Flowers, a passionate advocate, and the principal of Kinney High in Rancho Cordova, CA, which is part of the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. It included a dynamic and diverse panel of education...
Blog Post
Program updates from the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative April 2019
Hello,
Welcome to our April newsletter! This month, we are busy making plans for Illinois' inaugural Trauma-Informed Awareness Day coming up on May 15. Find out more about Trauma-Informed Awareness Day and all the great events happening throughout Illinois in this month's newsletter...
Blog Post
Building Community Resilience Webinar TOMORROW: Cincinnati, Ohio
"Medicine should join our community organizations and agencies and experts to work towards creating healthier families and children."- Dr. Robert Shapiro, Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center The Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center spearheads the Building Community Resilience (BCR) initiative that now spans over 40 organizations and sectors in the greater Cincinnati region. The Mayerson Center, the child abuse...
Blog Post
Collaborative Members and Partners Featured in Preventative Medicine Journal
The Collaborative is excited to feature the new article, " Adverse childhood experiences and the onset of chronic disease in young adulthood ," from Preventative Medicine . The piece, co-authored by member Stan Sonu, highlights the link between ACEs and chronic disease in young people. Sonu, along with co-authors Sharon Post and Joe Feinglass, analyzed the responses of the more than 86,000 respondents to the 2011-2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to observe patterns of...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
First comprehensive briefing on trauma held in the U.S. House of Representatives
Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), Wendy Ellis, Olga Acosta Price (obscured), Monica Battle, Kathryn Larin, and Whitney Gilliard ______________________________________________________ The first comprehensive trauma briefing in the U.S. House of Representatives was held on July 26 to an audience of Hill staff, interns, and advocates. The briefing included substantive content from a variety of perspectives—academia, government, education—and unexpected moments of moving personal testimony. Rep. Danny...
Blog Post
FREE WEBINAR 3/28/19: The Power of Play: Theraplay's Approach to Trauma-Informed Intervention
Join the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative and Andrea Bushala from the Theraplay Institute for a free webinar as she discusses the role of everyday play in preventing and responding to trauma. Andrea will highlight how the Theraplay Institute has utilized coaching parents, educators, and clinicians in the simple games of childhood to forge connections and resilience building in the children they support. Theraplay is a child and family therapy for building and enhancing attachment,...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
ACEs Connection reaches 200 participants in the ACEs Connection Speakers & Trainers Bureau!
ACEs Connection is proud to announce we have reached 200 Speakers & Trainers participants in the ACEs Connection Speakers & Trainers Bureau! What is the ACEs Connection Speakers & Trainers Bureau? The ACEs Connection Speakers & Trainers Bureau is a service that provides subscribers of ACEsConnection a Database of ACEs speakers and trainers for hire. The development of the Speakers & Trainers Bureau was in response to a great need expressed by our communities. ACEs...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
ACE Impact Team Aligns Efforts to Help Newark Residents Reach Greatest Potential
Five years of convening Newark’s ACE Impact Team has taught Keri Logosso-Misurell a crucial lesson: Fight the urge to reinvent the wheel.
Blog Post
Pathway for Trauma is Pathway for Resilience: Fresno Network's Message Inspires Hope
In Fresno, volunteers from local churches were already working with the schools, mentoring kids and running weekend recreation programs. Community-based non-profits were in conversation with educators; pastors were talking to social-service providers. The problems were clear: nearly 30% of Fresno’s residents living in poverty (the rate tops 40% for Black residents), with a 20-year gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest parts of this sharply segregated city. For several years,...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
“Unite in a Common Cause”: Minnesota Tribal Communities Use NEAR Science to Address Trauma and Promote Healing
As the Minnesota trainers expected—and welcomed—the ACE trainings in tribal settings began late and lasted for hours: multiple generations of people from the White Earth and Fond du Lac communities gathering around simmering Crock-Pots of food, sharing stories, standing in line to talk with the trainers afterward. Once, a White Earth elder was the only person to show up for a presentation, recalls Linsey McMurrin, Director of Prevention Initiatives and Tribal Projects for FamilyWise Services...
Blog Post
Nashville’s Purposeful Twist on ACEs: All Children Excel
In 2015, the pieces that became ACE Nashville began to fall into place. A five-year Community Health Improvement Plan included the support of mental and emotional health as one of its three goals. A core team of individuals from the Metro Public Health Department (MPHD), Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee and the Family Center, a non-profit focused on breaking generational cycles of child trauma, began to meet weekly. And a citywide “consensus workshop” in April of that year—drawing 44...
Calendar Event
Trauma of Racism: Healing our National Legacy
Blog Post
The Hidden Biases of Good People: Implicit Bias Awareness Training
The Dibble Institute is pleased to present an introductory webinar by Rev. Dr. Bryant T. Marks Sr. of the National Training Institute on Race and Equity , which will provide foundational information on implicit bias. It will focus at the individual level and discuss how implicit bias affects everyone. Strategies to reduce or manage implicit bias will be discussed. Broadly speaking, group-based bias involves varying degrees of stereotyping (exaggerated beliefs about others), prejudice...
