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The juvenile justice system is a complex web of services with intent to reform and rehabilitate. It plays a crucial role in addressing the needs of young offenders while simultaneously considering their age, development, and potential for rehabilitation. However, concerns have been raised over the disproportionate representation of certain demographics, young black males and those with behavioral or mental health disorders, within the system. Poor minorities often receive harsher treatment...

Back in the 90’s I grew up in a bit of an old school household: dad worked while mom tended to domestic matters. Her days were filled with never ending heaps of laundry, meals to cook, dishes to wash, mail to open, and bills to pay. She took me and my brother to school, sports, and friends’ houses, picked us up, helped us with homework, and functioned as the only true parent in the home. As if those responsibilities were not enough, she addressed other issues that came up and regularly...

Mental health is an integral aspect of overall well-being, yet millions of children and adults face significant barriers in obtaining services while navigating a complex web of requirements. New Jersey is at the helm of progressive initiatives, with efforts being made to dismantle theses barriers to access mental health services and provide families with supportive networks necessary for well-being. Inequitable access to mental health care is shaped by numerous factors. Financial constraints...

PACEs Connection is excited to kick off our 2023 Creating Resilient Communities (CRC) Annual Accelerator Program.

When we think of Adverse Childhood Experiences, we often think of the fallout being chronic illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, and generalized symptoms of anxiety or depression. One additional, potential consequence of ACEs is the development of a personality disorder (PD), which are quite common as approximately 9% of adults in the United States, or about 30 million, experience them. Defined as “an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the...

How do childhood experiences shape our lives? And are there particular events or chronic issues that cause long-term harm? To answer those questions, a great deal of research has been poured into studying ACEs, or Adverse Childhood Experiences, over the past 25 years. ACEs are defined as traumatic events that occur before the age of 18 including, but not limited to, physical, emotional, sexual abuse, and neglect. Following the landmark Kaiser-Permanente study of 1998, where it was found that...

Do you have a unique idea? Do you need funding and resources? Norwescap Regional ACEs Collaborative (RAC) may be able to help! The link to submit your idea for community stakeholders is here: https://lnkd.in/gJCJ2D4t We will contact you for next steps! Central region includes Hunterdon, Somerset, Union, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean! #community #funding #help #aces We look forward to hearing from you!

The Power of Partnerships In the forward to the NJ ACES Statewide Action Plan , the Executive Director of NJ Office of Resilience, Dave Ellis, provides essential insight into New Jersey’s vision of collaboration and partnerships in building a trauma-informed and healing-centered state. Nowhere in the plan are identified silos of service. Families, schools, businesses, early care programs, community health care programs and more are now identified as the community where comprehensive services...

Child maltreatment continues to be a devastating and pervasive problem in the United States. Most children are referred to protective services for neglect. Methods of possible intervention and treatment from a community and family systems approach to maltreatment, rather than societal castigation, is of the utmost importance. Neglect is often an unintended consequence of poverty, limited resources and lack of family support. One could go further and find that adverse environments are...

New data presented by the CDC on Adverse Childhood Experiences ( https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html ) as well as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) ( https://www.samhsa.gov/child-trauma/understanding-child-trauma ) converge in acknowledgement of the urgency in developing a sustainable coordinated system care to support identified high-risk families with complex health and behavioral health care needs. Utilizing integrated data from multiple...

A webinar offered by the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) Thursday, September 30, 1:30 - 3:00 pm EDT Register today . Addressing the mental health needs of child care providers and children in care is vital in the face of the pandemic, a population-level traumatic event. CTIPP is offering a "plug and play" framework to ease the process of developing a continuum of training, reflective coaching, and consultation to build the capacity for supporting relational health...

In 2020, New Jersey, a state with about 9 million people spread over the rural countryside and dense urban areas like Newark, launched a new entity: the NJ Office of Resilience (NJOR). The NJOR is unusual because it is a public-private partnership. It brings together three private foundations as well as the NJ Department of Children and Families to provide community-driven strategies for preventing, treating, and healing from ACEs. Like a ship’s navigator laying out a course on charts, Dwana...