A doctorate and still not understanding the number one health problem on the planet. I am however glad to see it changing. Unfortunately, it's a field with job security I'd rather not have. I agree completely: trauma is the root of many ills. My teacher told me if I want to change the world, heal trauma. Since that's what he taught me to do, that's what I'm doing.

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...

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...

What if I told you that I was a victim of child sex abuse? As a survivor of child sexual abuse , I have a clear understanding of the importance of addressing stigma and shame as it pertains to sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape. Victims, especially young children, often do not disclose sexual abuse. Those who are witnesses of child sexual abuse, or who are trusted by survivors enough that they confide in them, are often ill-equipped to handle the responsibility. And, many times, parents...

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...

Friday, April 12, 2019 marked an exciting, auspicious, and perhaps pivotal day in the history of Monroe County, Indiana. That’s a lot of adjectives—and pressure—to pile onto just another glorious spring day in Bloomington. But I think many folks who virtually congregate on a site that supports communities implementing trauma-informed and resilience-building practices grounded in ACEs science would agree that a county’s first-ever ACEs conference deserves a little ballyhoo. But this ACEs...

Only 15 SPOTS remain for our training, From Trauma to Resilience: Fostering Hope Through Trauma-Informed Care! On September 27, participants will come together for our day long comprehensive training. This training is designed to assist participants in developing their unique skillset needed to support individuals who have experienced adverse childhood experiences and traumatic events. Objectives: Increase awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and impact on well-being. Explain...

Growing up in today's world is NOT easy. I have heard hundreds of students tell me this. Despite this fact, many of them have also told me that many of the adults in their lives don't seem to understand this, including parents, teachers, and society. Adults who are disconnected from the reality of the lives of the youth that they are around will not be able to completely understand how to provide the support that might be needed for those youth needing it most. I recently met a young woman...

A leading authority on First Nations health is calling on healthcare practitioners to recognize intergenerational trauma when treating Indigenous patients. Dr. Evan Adams is the chief medical officer for the First Nations Health Authority in B.C. He told the's CBC's The Early Edition the historic oppression faced by Indigenous people can linger as trauma in subsequent generations. "Trauma really is a wound," he said. "Often, trauma is psychic in nature, not physical ... and it can be an...

[From: MINNPOST | 11.28.16] On Nov. 9, educators at Bruce Vento Elementary in St. Paul fielded an onslaught of tough questions from students. Some wanted to know if they would be sent away, or if their parents would be sent away. Others were trying to make sense of the wall, wondering if Donald Trump intended to build a wall between black and white people. And at least one student raised the concern that black people would be forced into slavery. This list of post-election inquiries from...

Dear Sugars, I made a mistake. My daughter is 10 and has been a raging ball of hormones lately. During one of her daily “Y ou don’t understand me and how hard my life is!” tantrums, I yelled, out of sheer exhaustion: “You don’t know a hard life! When I was your age, my stepdad used to hit me and touch me inappropriately.” I regretted it immediately and left the room. I told my husband what I had said, and he thought I should talk to her about it. I didn’t. I chose to do what people always...

Over the past three years, Minnesota Communities Caring for Children (MCCC) has worked to raise awareness about brain development, ACEs, and resilience statewide using the national ACE Interface curriculum. To date the organization has trained more than 130 Minnesotans from diverse communities to present this curriculum and help foster community responses. This summer, Maxine Freedman of Macalester College interviewed 29 members of MCCC's network to assess the impact of this work on...

Many people experience trauma, but few — and that includes medical professionals — understand the larger impact it can have on their lives and the lives of others. Ryan Van Wyk, a psychologist at Park Nicollet Melrose Center , wants to change that. He believes that past trauma lies at the root of many common mental health and addiction issues, and if more people understood that fact and worked to heal trauma, many could live happier, healthier lives. “My graduate school was great,” Van Wyk...

#WARonSlavery

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...

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...

With Lowell Johnson, ACEs Resiliency Coalition; Emily Clary, Minnesota Communities Caring for Children Learn about significant progress being made in reducing the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and early childhood trauma, through examples of some of the successes that three communities experienced in Washington State, and sharing conversations with people doing this work in Washington State. Watch the full webinar here

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...

Carved out by glaciers around 10,000 BCE, the Owámniyomni — post-colonially known as St. Anthony Falls — near present-day downtown Minneapolis have been a sacred place for Dakota people for centuries. Women would come from near and far to give birth on an eagle- and spruce-tree-filled island situated in the middle of the Mississippi River, encased by mist from the nearby falls. In the 1800s, the island was eroded by limestone harvesting before eventually being blown up by the Army Corps of...

To read more of Adrienne Broaddus' article, please click here. ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota’s state Capitol will soon be home to a distinction that few American cities can boast : an all-female City Council. The seven women that will be sworn in next month as council members are all under the age of 40, and six are women of color. Mitra Jalali, Rebecca Noecker and Nelsie Yang won their re-election races in November and will be joined by Saura Jost, Anika Bowie, Hwa Jeong Kim and Cheniqua...

Ensuring the collection of community wisdom through good data practices is critical to informing the way forward for community efforts.