Sometimes the problem is so big we struggle to see how we can make a difference.  It is like that first step you take at the base of the mountain.  You know it is the first of many.  You know that you have a long way to go to the finish.  It is easy at that point to get discouraged; to feel helpless; or even to deny your ability to actually do what was set out to be done.  You may want to quit or you do quit!

Mother Teresa said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”   That is exactly what the Central Minnesota ACEs Collaborative is working to do.  We are standing at the base of the mountain; at the side of the pond, ready to makes ripples in this journey to change our community. 

This collaborative, just a little more than one year in the making, is the joining of three initiatives in the St. Cloud area that included Law Enforcement’s resource in the program of Children’s Response Initiative (CRI); CentraCare Health’s move to trauma informed care and the Stearns County Community Health’s Improvement (CHIP) that identified lack of parenting skills and mental health as top community health issues to be addressed. 

These movements merged into the current collaborative work that has grown to include not only Law Enforcement, CentraCare Health and Public Health but also includes the County Attorney, Child Protection, Children’s Mental Health, Corrections, Schools, early childhood, social support providers, data analysts, Chamber of Commerce, faith-based services and many, others. 

Adverse Childhood Experiences are known to impact the health of individuals and communities.  These are preventable events that can be eliminated and healed.  We want to stop this cycle and change the parenting narrative in Stearns County (eventually the central Minnesota region).  By creating a Culture of Health where people flourish and are supported in taking charge of their own health, we will see healthier citizens and a self-healing community.

We are currently working on engaging key community members through ACE Interface training, talking about trauma informed care and how to use assessments to identify and then help direct people to resources that can help.  We have included 11 ACEs questions in a current risk behavior and opinion survey being conducted in the three county area.  We hope to use that information as a baseline for where we are starting, so we can measure success over time. Our work has included the development of a new community resource in the Child Advocacy Center, and plans for the continuation of current and needed resources such as CRI. 

But we are just getting started.  We are standing at the base, getting ready to climb the mountain.  When you take this journey with us, we all have a better chance of getting to the top of the mountain successfully.   Sir Edmund Hillary, who knows about climbing mountains said it best, “it is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”  Come, join us! 

Written by Renee Frauendienst and Steve Vincent of the Central Minnesota ACEs Collaborative. For more information about the Collaborative, please contact Renee Frauendienst at renee.frauendienst@co.stearns.mn.us.