Shannon has over 25 years experience working with children in preschool and after school settings. Originally from Boston, Shannon holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology as well as an Associate’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. Since moving to Florida in 2000, she has built a career working in the early intervention field with ages 0-5, as well as working with truant teens as a case counselor in child welfare and currently as the Behavior Specialist for the YMCA of the Suncoast.

Photo credit: Florida's Governor's Office The story below illustrates the urgent need to proactively build psychological and psycho-social-spiritual--Transformational Resilience--for climate change related disasters. It describes how the mental health impacts of these disasters often becomes most acute months after a disaster occurs, which is long after mental health first aid and other disaster mental health services have ended. Prevention is the only solution, and the focus must be on...

The Beyond ACES Summit: The Impact of Race, Culture, and Poverty registration is LIVE! The summit theme is #MovingBeyondACES (adverse childhood experiences). This year is historically significant because it marks the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans to Virginia. It was also a time that marked significant trauma. The summit touches on many different aspects of life and history. It was showcase the heartfelt talent of youth through dance and movement, music, theatre and...

Information (recording, slides, and resources) on the June 6 webinar "Florida’s Early Childhood Courts: Transforming Child Welfare" is now available (and soon to posted in the ACEs Connection webinar section on the homepage). This well-attended and received webinar was sponsored by the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health and co-sponsored ACEs Connection and the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice ( CTIPP ) Webinar Summary Every six minutes in the...

A few weeks ago I was at a big kickoff event for a new county-wide project to address what our communities feel are the biggest concerns we face. It definitely had its moments and I was all eyes and ears ready to absorb new info and be inspired by the power of coming together for a purpose. One of the last things that I heard that morning was to show the promise of next steps – the speaker said that basically in order to do anything meaningful – you, of course, need a building which – good...

By Andrea L. Lowe, The Chronicle of Social Change, June 10, 2019. Several years ago , my sister and I watched my 2-year-old nephew’s behavior change dramatically. He started wetting the bed, throwing temper tantrums and getting frustrated so quickly. In any other child, it might have been normal “terrible twos,” but in him we knew something was definitely wrong. At the time, my sister and her husband were getting divorced. Ultimately, we found out that my nephew thought it was his fault,...

Note: Many of you have seen the documentary film, Cracked Up, or plan to watch today. The viewing portal remains open until 4p.m. PST and 7p.m. EST. Please use this link to register for the viewing if you've not done so already. Please email me at cwhiteaces@gmail.com or leave a comment if you had sign-in or tech issues while accessing the film so we can help. Here's the detailed post about the Twitter town Hall and guests. Here's the reminder information: Time: 4 - 5 p.m. PST / 7 - 8 p.m.

Saturday Night Live veteran Darrell Hammond will be joining the live Twitter Town Hall i mmediately following the virtual screening of Cracked Up! T he documentary film details the long term effects of childhood trauma, told through Darrell’s personal journey in discovering adverse childhood experiences at the root of his lifelong battle with self-harm, addiction, and misdiagnosis. Please join us for this unique chance to hear directly from Darrell Hammond, joined by the film’s director,...

I will always remember the day that, as a student teacher, I watched as a student entered my second-grade room covered in blood. After quickly establishing that he was not injured, we learned that the blood was that of his brother who had been shot the night before. No parents were around that night, so this second grader became the sole caregiver of his bleeding brother. My student would never be the same. We didn’t care about grades or test scores. We just knew that this moment would...

Please join this June 6 webinar on Florida’s early childhood courts (aka “safe babies courts”) hosted by the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health and co-sponsored by the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice and ACEs Connection. Background: Every six minutes in the U.S., an infant, toddler or child under the age of 3 is removed from their homes for alleged abuse and neglect and placed in state custody through the child welfare system (Zero to Three).

There's a fantastic five-part series, Whole People , done by PBS, " spotlighting the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) through personal and community stories. It explores the long-term costs to personal well-being and our society. While much work needs to be done, there are many innovative developments to prevent and treat ACES. We all play a role in becoming a whole people." It's amazing. The five topics covered are as follows: Childhood Trauma Healing Communities A New...

RADICAL GRACE – WHAT I LET GOD SEE AND ACCEPT IN ME ALSO BECOMES WHAT I CAN SEE AND ACCEPT IN MYSELF. AND EVEN MORE, IT BECOMES THAT WHEREBY I SEE EVERYTHING ELSE. ~ RICHARD ROHR For the past three months, I’ve been driving through various parts of Florida witnessing events and gatherings of communities committed to creating safe, loving, trauma informed, and trauma healing spaces. On Friday February 22nd, I was in Tarpon Springs, attending the monthly gathering of Robin Saeger’s...