We developed ACEs Connection's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Tool — called the Inclusion Tool, for short — to ensure that ACEs initiatives across the world focus on being inclusive when forming a steering committee, recruiting leaders, providing education about ACEs science, recruiting members, or providing resources and services within their communities. The more inclusive your ACEs initiative is, the more diverse it will be, giving your initiative a real shot at achieving equity and...

Hi Everyone: Just wanted to share a few tools. Did you know there's a database on the National State Legislators site where you can search by state and by ACEs? Here's the link to this amazing tool. Here's what the database looks like. Did you know you can find ACEs and Ti laws and resolutions on a page of the Mapping the Movement tool? This is maintained by our technology lead, @Samantha Sangenito. Just be sure to click on the state you're interested in to see the bills and...

Marie-Monique Marthol handed out the cards to older adults at meetings of her local civic association. With the pastor’s permission, she left some at a neighborhood church. She stacked them in restaurants, community centers and even at the laundromat. On the front, the cards read, “Time never runs out for change. Let go of fear and guilt. Focus on healing and growth from ACEs.” The flip side said, “Healing from your past; giving to your future.” They were slogans fine-tuned through months of...

Here's the second installment of our monthly series of "curated resources" for our Trauma Informed Lancaster County partners to help keep the momentum going in our individual, organizational and community-wide efforts toward becoming more trauma-informed. Resilience is “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of threat.” (American Psychological Association) But resilience is NOT about just “toughing it out” or “getting over...

The model is an integration of classical psychodrama, object relations and recent advances in trauma theory to provide additional safety and structure when working with survivors of trauma.

Two recent articles highlight research on some simple strategies for self-care that can reduce stress and help us be more focused, balanced and emotionally healthy. The first article is about the practice of gratitude. According to the article, "Scientists have discovered that feelings of gratitude can actually change your brain. Feeling gratitude can also be a great tool for overcoming depression and anxiety." Check out the full article about a practice of gratitude and how it can help the...

How do we know if a client has history of trauma? Do we need to know the specific types of trauma someone has experienced? Each organization and each professional will need to answer these questions for themselves based on the nature of their work with clients Some organizations and professionals may truly need to know the specifics of a client’s trauma history in order to serve them appropriately Many organizations and helping professionals may not need to delve into the specifics or ask...

Many organizations are committing to the work of becoming trauma-informed. One of the early questions that often arises in these organizations is whether to adopt some type of screening or assessment tool to gather information on the trauma histories of clients/consumers/patients/students. Some organizations, after learning about the original ACES Study, consider using the ACES questionnaire or some variant of it as this type of screening or assessment tool. In our trauma trainings, we...

Here are the follow-up materials from our FREE spring Resilience Conference: Resiliently Grounded & Growing: Practices to Cultivate Well-Being. This conference was held entirely virtually, via Zoom, on April 20 and April 26, 2022. It was completely free of charge, thanks to our generous sponsors & funders: The Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Behavioral Health Community Impact Fund and the High Foundation. Click the link below to view the full event program and line-up of...

Our new free, completely online/virtual training course, titled "Understanding Trauma, Resilience and Trauma Informed Care", provides a foundational understanding of trauma, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), resilience, vicarious trauma, self-care, and trauma-informed care for anyone in the community who interacts with individuals and families who may have experienced trauma, including law enforcement and criminal justice professionals, first responders, healthcare and behavioral health...