Connections Matter is a community effort. We want everyone to know that fostering caring relationships with the children, families and adults in your life matters to developing healthy brains and thriving communities. Connections Matter will kick off...

Since the launch of Connections Matter earlier this fall, more than 250 community members and professionals have been trained in the Connections Matter presentation. Additional train the trainers are planned for December and January across the 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...

Every day connections are far more important than we ever believed. Caring relationships can give children a great start. They can help people with a history of trauma heal. They can improve the health of our neighbors and the well-being of families....

Registration for the Connections Matter train-the-presenter workshop on January 12th in Des Moines is now open. Please note, this workshop now qualifies for continuing education credits in health care fields! You can sign up through our website at www.connectionsmatter.org/training . Registration is limited so please sign-up early. We hope to see you there!

With graduation season upon us, I have been thinking a lot about one of my favorite graduation speeches. It’s the speech that Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey’s Anatomy, gave in 2014 at Dartmouth College. She references the typical expected advice from a graduation speech: “Follow your dreams. Listen to your spirit. Change the world. Make your mark. Find your inner voice and make it sing. Embrace failure. Dream. Dream and dream big..." And then she says, “I think that’s crap.”

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...