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OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Oklahoma lawmakers are set to bring awareness to ACEs, known as Adverse Childhood Experiences and PACEs, Positive and Compensatory Experiences. Both the House and Senate have simple resolutions naming April 7 th ACEs and PACEs Awareness Day in Oklahoma. In the House, the resolution's primary sponsor is Rep. Carol Bush with many co-sponsors. In the Senate, co-sponsors are Sen. Brenda Stanley and Sen. Carri Hicks. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are potentially...

The landscape and language about childhood adversity and trauma have morphed and changed over the past few years. We began talking about adverse childhood experiences, expanded to talk about adverse community experiences and now include adversities within the environment at large including historical trauma. People are searching for ways to ensure that we are identifying positive experiences that help shape and build resilience as well as the adversities impacting long-term health and social...

Hello Friends, Colleagues, & Fellow Advocates! The Center for Family Resilience and the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Oklahoma State University annually host the Chautauqua Conference on Family Resilience. With a focus on individual and family resilience, the event brings together researchers, service providers and policy makers around a series of research presentations around a common theme. The ultimate goal is for resilience research to pave the way for...

THIS IS A RE-POST OF A BLOG FROM THE paceSCONNECTION MAIN SITE. THE CONTENT IS CONSISTENT WITH RESEARCH. IT COMES FROM LIVED EXPERIENCE.... WRITTEN BY: RON ARNOLD 3/14/221:55 PM (The following is an email I sent out to staff.) So, in the work we do, what’s our fundamental challenge? I think it has a lot to do with directing peoples’ attention. In social work, we want people to make changes toward ensuring safety, relationship permanence, and well-being for themselves, and, in the case of...

Interpersonal trust is a crucial component of healthy relationships. When we interact with strangers, we quickly gage whether we can trust them. And those important social skills may be shaped by our earliest relationship with caregivers. Adolescents who had an insecure attachment to their mothers as toddlers are more likely to overestimate the trustworthiness of strangers, according to a new study from the University of Illinois. “The idea is to understand whether early attachment...

Below is a great opportunity for Oklahoma coalitions to hear the strengths and lessons learned from other state's successful coalitions. Below, I have copied and pasted an email I received about this event: There is significant energy in North Carolina around multi-sector coalitions as a tool to address the four realms of ACEs and trauma in the state. The Winer Family Foundation, Kellin Foundation, and NC Partnership for Children will present on wonderful work going on throughout the state.

Registration Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/near-science-beyond-aces-building-self-healing-communities-tickets-253242042767

By Kat Jeanne, Photo: Billy Hefton/Enid News & Eagle, Enid News & Eagle, February 28, 2022 Child abuse prevention is a national and statewide effort for organizations like Parent Promise/Prevent Child Abuse Oklahoma, whose executive director spoke to Enid Rotary Club members Monday on how her organization is impacting families and children through their work. While creating thriving families and children is the goal, the challenge is in preventing adverse childhood experiences that...

I recently listened to an interview featuring David Richo. He wrote a book several years ago, How to be An Adult in Relationships , in which he explained what he calls the Five A’s that help relationships flourish. What he said made so much sense, and I saw applications beyond individual relationships. I believe we can use the Five A’s to better understand relationships with others and ourselves and even apply it to other contexts. He explained that the Five A’s are what we need as infants...

This video clip explains why ACE scores should not be used as a screener. Dr. Anda, one of the co-principal investigators of the ACE Study, discusses his concerns about misuses of ACE scores and how the 10 question ACE survey was developed simply as an activity for one of his presentations. It was never intended to be used in isolation or as a screener to rule in or rule out interventions. For the full 22 minute video, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfx5vOHFfxs

Has the pandemic stressed you out? Want to learn the self-soothing skills of Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience directly from the author, Dr. Carolyn Curtis? Good news! The Dibble Institute has received generous funding for scholarships to the online, full 12-lesson series, Mind Matters Now . The course helps teachers, social workers, medical professionals, and others manage their stress by building resilience skills and practices for mental well-being. (CEU’s are...

Healing from trauma requires a multi-faceted process. Bessel van der Kolk, Dan Siegel, Bruce Perry, Stephen Porges, Laura Porter and The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University all incorporate the felt sense of safety and belonging and strengthening capabilities in their protocol or frameworks for healing from trauma. All three concepts, when interconnected, create a synergy for personal and community growth and healing. Creating safety and belonging are important first steps in...