Tagged With "ACEs Connection"
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What If I Told You?
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...
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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...
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30 people can end ACEs in your county. Why aren’t they?
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...
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A Culture of Kindness – the A B C’s of Creating a Trauma Informed System of Care
Statistics recently released from the Tennessee Department of Health offer a grim reminder that 1,631 Tennesseans died from drug overdoses in 2016, which is the highest annual number of such deaths ever recorded in state history. This is an increase from the 1,451 overdose deaths recorded among Tennessee residents in 2015. “Each of these numbers represents a person, with family and friends who are now facing the loss of someone dear to them to a cause that is preventable,” said TDH...
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A Kaiser pediatrician, wise to ACEs science for years, finally gets to use it
Dr. Suzanne Frank has known about the impact of childhood adversity on young lives for decades. She’s seen the fallout in the faces of young people huddled in beds at a children’s shelter where she worked years ago. She’s seen it as the regional child abuse services and champion for the Permanente Medical Group. And she’s seen it in hospital examination rooms where, as a member of the Santa Clara County’s Sexual Assault Response Team, she’s been called in to examine shell-shocked children...
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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...
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Building A Trauma Informed System of Care Toolkit
We are delighted to make available the Building Strong Brains of Tennessee funded, Building A Trauma Informed System of Care toolkit. This toolkit is based upon the work of the Northeast Tennessee ACEs Connection group and it's many partners since 2015. In time, Building Strong Brains of Tennessee will also have printed copies available. In preparing this toolkit, Dr. Andi Clements and I tried to share in a very transparent fashion the steps we've taken, mistakes we've made and inspiring...
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Do you know how much ACEs cost Tennessee in 2017? $5.2 billion.
Moral imperative or financial gain? Preventing and mitigating ACEs is both.
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"Faces of ACEs: The Lifelong Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences" Conference 2019
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...
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Harvard Infographic on ACEs and Toxic Stress
This was just posted by Harvard. I thought all of us could use access to it, for use in our schools and the settings we work in. The full image is on the attached PDF.
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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...
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Life Expectancy by Zip Code: Where You Live Affects How Long You Live
Life expectancy is highly correlated with ACE scores and complex childhood trauma. Enter your address or zip code to know what the health outcomes are in your neighborhoods and communities. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Life Expectancy Calculator
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Making Trauma-Informed Multidisciplinary Teams Best Practice
Three hundred staff members of Buchanan County Virginia schools being trained in using trauma informed classroom approaches. Last week I was honored to be invited by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) to participate as a presenter for the Senator Tommy Burks Victims Academy which was held on the University of Chattanooga campus. Aware of how Johnson City has created a trauma responsive community, I was asked by TBI to speak on creating Trauma Informed Multidisciplinary teams. Over...
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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...
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New Community!!! Ardmore OK Behavioral Health Collaborative
I'm excited to announce the newest ACEs Connection geographic community for my region, the Midwest & TN: Ardmore OK Behavioral Health Collaborative . This community is a partnership of local organizations taking a trauma-informed stance on behavioral health in Carter County, OK. Their goal is to build a healthy, connected and resilient community. The community manager is Ashley Godwin . Ashley Godwin joined Ardmore Behavioral Health Collaborative in March 2017 as the Director where she...
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Northeast Tennessee Embraces Empathy as a Path to Healing
In 2012 I was hired by the Johnson City Police Department as director of an $800,000 grant-funded Targeted Community Crime Reduction Project to reduce drug-related and violent crime in two Johnson City, TN, neighborhoods historically known for highest rates of these crimes. This project required a collaborative problem-solving approach where I engaged community partners to assist in recognizing the causes of crime. Becky Haas Together, we implemented evidence-based practices to reduce crime.
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Personal stories the set tone of hearing in U.S. Senate HELP Committee on Opioid Crisis Response Act
Jennifer Donahue, Delaware Office of the Child Advocate, testifies before the HELP Committee (Jennifer Perry to her right) ____________________________________________________________ Some seasoned advocates say legislators are influenced by stories while their staffs are swayed by data. There was some of both at the April 11 hearing on the draft Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 of the U.S. Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor & Pensions) Committee but it was the personal stories that...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Resources from the 2018 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Conference
In October, I attended the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Conference in San Francisco. It was really inspiring. Below please find share some of the books, videos, and resources that I learned about. All the best, Natalie BOOKS 1) The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity by Nadine Burke Harris, MD https://centerforyouthwellness.org/the-deepest-well/ 2) The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, MD...
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Sesame Street will help Memphis kids with their ACEs
Every child deserves to grow up with a strong connection to a caring adult and a loving family. But for one in four kids in Shelby County, a supportive relationship with a parent figure isn’t so easy to come by. The legacy of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) — ranging from physical, emotional, or sexual abuse; physical or emotional neglect; the loss of a parent through illness, death, divorce, or incarceration; or domestic violence or substance abuse within the family — places barriers...
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Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: Series Overview [Video]
The first session of the Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: Online & IRL (In Real Life) was a success. Over 100 ACEs Connection members tuned in despite some issues with registration. I have embedded the video in this post. You have also find the video on the ACEs Connection site here . If you have any questions about the series, please contact Ingrid Cockhren , TN & Midwest Community Facilitator.
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Tennessee report chronicles progress in addressing health and success of children from infancy to college and beyond
Tennessee First Lady Crissy Haslam this week released a report highlighting eight years of progress by the state to improve the lives of children and families. Prioritizing Tennessee’s Children: Our Promise to Future Generations reflects an early commitment by Governor Bill Haslam’s administration to make the health and success of all Tennessee children a state priority. In conjunction with Governor Haslam’s Children’s Cabinet and Deputy Governor Jim Henry, First Lady Haslam set out to...
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TRAUMA INFORMED CARE Johnson City's trauma informed system of care is model for the country [Johnson City Press]
Becky Haas, community crime prevention manager for the Johnson City Police Department, hopes the Trauma Informed Care system created here will spread throughout the nation. Johnson City is on the verge of becoming a completely Trauma-Informed Care community, which local officials believe can improve the health, education and social lives of everyone who lives in the region. And Johnson City’s efforts to create this system of care could spur a national movement. That belief was apparent...
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Re: 30 people can end ACEs in your county. Why aren’t they?
Hello Dominic, Thanks for your encouraging and challenging post. In Philadelphia many people would resonate with what you, Becky Haas and your entire team are accomplishing in NE Tennessee. We wish you well! You may be interested to know that our Philadelphia City Council held public hearings on the subject of secondary trauma and staff resiliency programming on Dec. 7, 2018. Excellent preparations for these hearings were made by the Philadelphia ACE Task Force in consultation with two...
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Re: Making Trauma-Informed Multidisciplinary Teams Best Practice
Unable to open this item. Vic www.caregiversfilm.com > On Jun 12, 2019, at 1:26 PM, ACEsConnection < communitymanager@acesconnection.com > wrote: >
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Re: Northeast Tennessee Embraces Empathy as a Path to Healing
Dear Becky Haas, Thanks for your amazing report about trauma informed programming in Northeast Tennessee. And I'm so pleased (and proud) to hear of your creative and persistent leadership in TIC in this area of the country in which I was born (Kingsport) and lived for many years. I am a graduate of King College (Bristol, TN) which will be screening my documentary film, PORTRAITS OF PROFESSIONAL CAREGIVERS: Their Passion. their Pain. sometime later this year. The film addresses vicarious...
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Re: Northeast Tennessee Embraces Empathy as a Path to Healing
Great to hear from you Vic and thank you for your kind words of encouragement. It sounds like you have a much needed documentary coming out and I look forward to looking over your website. I'd love to talk in person and will email you early next week and see if we can set up a time. Blessings on you and the work you do
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Re: Northeast Tennessee Embraces Empathy as a Path to Healing
I'll look forward to learning more about the impressive ACES work you and your colleagues are doing in Northeast Tennessee. Best, Vic
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Re: Northeast Tennessee Embraces Empathy as a Path to Healing
Becky, I wonder if you're familiar with Abraham Verghese's wonderful description of his medical practice in Johnson City, TN, in the 1980's in MY OWN COUNTRY. He describes the incredible challenges of this era with the outbreak of HIV/AIDS -- and his own personal and professional emotional responses, which today we would identify as STS or compassion fatigue. We have been referencing his book and particular quotes from it in our presentation of CAREGIVERS film in hospital screenings and...
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Creating Resilient Communities in 2024: The Year of Cultivating Resilient Networks Through Healing Centered Cultural Wisdom
As we head into our full CRC curriculum this January, we invite current and future CRC Accelerator participants to join us with collective care and self care in mind.
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CRC Accelerator Hiatus Reminder & April “Hour of Power” to Support CRC Participants With Only One Event to Completion Learn CRC Fellowship Next Steps
As we’ve recently announced, the CRC Accelerator is taking an indefinite hiatus, but this moment of growth is anything but goodbye. Two years into this unique program, we are aware of the incredible impact access can have on PACEs initiatives and we now have a CRC Fellowship that grows with each CRC graduate.