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...

We developed ACEs Connection's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Tool — called the Inclusion Tool, for short — to ensure that ACEs initiatives across the world focus on being inclusive when forming a steering committee, recruiting leaders, providing education about ACEs science, recruiting members, or providing resources and services within their communities. The more inclusive your ACEs initiative is, the more diverse it will be, giving your initiative a real shot at achieving equity and...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.(WCTV) -- Across the nation child homelessness is a growing issue, including here in the Big Bend. It's a topic the community will work to address on Thursday at the Mayor's Office Community Summit on Children. "It's hard, without help," said Joy, who has been living with her husband and two young children at Hope Community in Tallahassee for the last year. Hope offers transitional housing for families and single women who are experiencing homelessness. "You know, trying to...

Last week, three pediatricians — with a combined experience of 15 years integrating ACEs science into their practices — reflected on the urgency they felt several years ago that prompted them to begin screening patients for childhood adversity and resilience when there was practically no guidance at all. Along their journey , they accumulated a list of lessons learned for other pediatricians and family clinics to use. The three pediatricians participated in the ACEs Connection webinar,...

Room erupts in applause for the grandmother of witness William Kellibrew during July 11 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing. The power of personal stories from witnesses and committee members fueled the July 11 hearing on childhood trauma in the House Oversight and Reform Committee* throughout the nearly four hours of often emotional and searing testimony and member questions and statements (Click here for 3:47 hour video). The hearing was organized into a two panels—testimony from...

On the 27th of April 2018, Rowan-Salisbury School System hosted a showing of the movie Resilience at the Norvell Theater in Salisbury, North Carolina. Upon entering the lobby of the Novell Theater, shortly after 6pm that evening, the amount of enthusiasm and partnership surrounding the showing of Resilience and the trauma work being done within the community was breathtaking. The lobby was filled with teachers and social workers and many key community stakeholders, all working together to...

In the aftermath of recent hurricanes and wildfires, the Sesame Street in Communities team wanted to reach out to provide information on our available resources to help families cope in the aftermath of natural disasters, and other traumatic experiences. Bilingual videos, articles, printables and more, are all available for free on our website at www.sesamestreetincommunities.org . Here are the links to a few topic pages that may be most useful to you as you work with families in the...

Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...

Better Living Solutions has started the Spark of Hope Project to provide as much hurricane relief for the people of the Florida Panhandle as we can. Our mission is to bring our community together to our neighbors who are in desperate need of basic essential items and assist them in the long recovery process ahead. With the holiday season coming up, this can be a difficult time for those who still don't have power, running water, a hot meal, or even a roof over their head. We need your help...

Robbin Sotelo Redd, Executive Director of the Tarpon Springs Housing Authority and the Local Community Housing Corporation and Vice-Chair of the Peace4Tarpon Board of Directors, likes to tell the story of the preemie hats. A retired woman in the community saw a poster in the library for Peace4Tarpon and began attending the group’s meetings. She realized that she had suffered trauma, beginning with her premature birth, and she wanted to heal that wound. So she knitted 64 preemie hats, one for...

To read the announcement and all details, click HERE and see below key dates. BUILD is looking to support dynamic collaboratives driving sustainable improvements in community health. Are you ready to BUILD with us? For this new third cohort, BUILD is looking to support up to 17 innovative collaboratives across the US t hat include a community-based organization, hospital or health system, and public health department working together in dynamic ways to address upstream challenges and drive...

Connie has lived in Tarpon Springs for over forty years. During that time, she has served as Interim Director of the Chamber of Commerce and “cut the ribbon” for many new businesses. It was here that she came to know and love the people of Tarpon Springs and developed a heart for both the youth and elderly. As one of the founders of “Wellness Ministries”, Connie works with folks experiencing homelessness by providing food, clothing, medical and spiritual support. She volunteered for over...

The University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions partnered with Peace4Tarpon under the Robert Wood Johnson Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) grant. Together they created 2 online graduate courses that focus on addressing ACEs and creating trauma-informed and resilience-based programs from a public health approach. Peace4Gainesville and Peace4 TheBigBend have also contributed to these courses. This post is intended to showcase some of the work of the...

The World Health Organization has compiled a recent meta-analysis about how much ACEs cost us Millions of adults across Europe and north America live with a legacy of ACEs. Their findings suggest that a 10% reduction in ACE prevalence could equate to annual savings of $105 billion. Programs to prevent ACEs and moderate their effects are available. Rebalancing expenditure towards ensuring safe and nurturing childhoods would be economically beneficial and relieve pressures on health-care...

Dear Trauma Friends & Colleagues: We are applying for CDC ACES grant to further our efforts toward a trauma informed state. It’s a collaborative effort across state agencies to improve ACES data collection and utilizes to target prevention strategies. Details in the attached overview. It’s a long shot with only 4 awards but our statewide collaborative efforts are a big strength and it might help push us to the top if we had many letters of support. Attached is a draft letter that you...

ACEs initiative participants in communities where there is tension between the community and law enforcement will want to join Becky Haas in a compelling conversation on law enforcement, ACEs science, COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement and protests. Haas is a nationally recognized adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) science initiative builder and trainer. She and colleagues Renee Wilson-Simmons, the head of the ACE Awareness Foundation of Memphis, Tennessee, and Maggi Duncan,...

Southeastern ACEs Connection and national CTIPP leaders on the quarterly leader call welcomed guest speaker Rebecca Lewis-Pankratz (top left) for their quarterly call. Also among those present were (top row l-r) Carey Sipp, Jesse Kohler, Jesse Hardin, (second row, l-r) Patti Tiberi, Mebane Boyd, Jen Drake-Croft, Dan Press, (third row, l-r) Mimi Graham, Christopher Freeze, Margaret Stagmeier, (fourth row, l-r) Emily Marsh, Liz Peterson, Alyssa Koziarski and Janet Pozmantier. Also present was...

On behalf of ACEs Connection , the CTIPP (The Campaign for Trauma -Informed Policy & Practice), and the Relentless School Nurse , we want to invite you to the streaming of parts 4 and 5 of the Whole People documentary series on the weekend o f M arch 12th through March 14th, 2021. We will stream both parts on ACEs Connection in the Transforming Trauma with ACEs Sciences Film Festival community. The documentary viewing will be followed by a discussion with special guest, Father Paul...

Please make a commitment to personal use ONLY! NOW Playbook Transformative Community Capacity to Advance Equity We are excited to share the Vital Village Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) Playbook . The NOW Playbook is a resource guide designed to provide tools for local leaders, community coalitions and networks, educators, practitioners, and policymakers working to promote the wellbeing of children and families, advance equity, and align systems of care and education in...

CTIPP CAN Call - Trauma-Informed Early Childhood Initiatives - September 15th, 2-3:30pm ET/11am-12:30pm PT - Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/742183645 Meeting ID: 742 183 645 One tap mobile +19292056099,,742183645# US (New York) Please join us for next week's CTIPP CAN Call, which will focus on building mental well-being for infants, toddlers and preschoolers and the adults who care for them. This month's presentation will feature Drs. Kaitlin Mulcahy and Gerry Costa, and Kelly...

This is the third of three stunning illustrations showing how PACEs (positive and adverse childhood experiences) affected the family of Cendie Stanford, graphic artist and founder of the nonprofit ACEs Matter. This one looks at her positive childhood experiences. The day before her 16th birthday, Cendie Stanford’s older brother was shot and killed by a young man who, just two years earlier, had been her boyfriend. “I was heartbroken that two people I loved were out of my life forever,” says...