Blog

As you contemplate your 2017 resolutions, consider investing time in the most vulnerable kids in our community. It might be the highest yielding investment of your life. Stories of neglect and abuse are tragically common. When the abuse ends, ramifications can, and often do, continue well into adulthood. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente conducted a study in the 1990s called the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACEs). Researchers found that in high...

Since raising the alarm five years ago on the threats disproportionately killing African-American children in Sacramento County, progress on curbing those perils has been steady, if slow, according to the group tasked with addressing them. In 2011, a 20-year analysis by the Sacramento County Child Death Review Team showed that black children consistently die at approximately twice the rate of their white counterparts. Reacting to those chilling statistics, Supervisor Phil Serna convened the...

PESI is the leader in continuing education seminars, conferences, in-house training, webcasts and products for mental health professionals. They are offering a trauma informed yoga information for mental health practitioners to our area. When: Monday, January 16, 2017 at 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM Where: CROWNE PLAZA SACRAMENTO NORTHEAST, 5321 DATE AVENUE SACRAMENTO,CA 95841 Cost: $219.99 Single Registration $199.99 Single Registration Advance Price (ends 12/27/2016) $199.99 2+ Group Rate: per person...

On November 1, the UC Davis Department of Family and Community Medicine hosted guest lecturer Dr. Nadine Burke Harris for a special screening of "Resilience: The Biology of Stress & The Science of Hope", a KPJR film directed by James Redford. The film is a follow up from the documentary, "Paper Tigers". "Resilience" takes us on the next step: Learning how trauma informed practices can help dramatically shift outcomes for struggling families in entire communities.

Vacant lots and decaying apartment buildings are scattered through Chanowk Yisrael’s neighborhood in South Oak Park. Across the street is the shuttered Fruit Ridge Elementary School. But even though Yisrael’s neighborhood lacks many things, his home is a scene of abundance. Fruit trees fill his front lawn and grapes line the chain link fence. A passing woman stops to eat the fruit. “My husband is diabetic," she says. "We stop here and get some grapes when his diabetes is acting up." Diabetes...

Shortly after being sworn in to his second term in the California State Assembly, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) this week introduced Assembly Bill 11 (AB 11), which will create a child care early intervention partnership to help California infants and young children suffering from toxic stress. Toxic stress most commonly impacts infants and young children in households where a relative is suffering from physical, emotional or sexual abuse, mental illness, substance abuse,...

Another Choice, Another Chance announces auditions for the play “TRIGGER” written and directed by DeAngelo Mack and cast. The cast of 8 is comprised of 4 female teen/young adults, 3 male teen/young adults and 1 adult male THE PLAY TRIGGER will touch on the historical and generation trauma that young people of color face while growing up in unserved and underserved communities. It will address the link between adverse childhood experiences and chronic health and social disparities that we all...

I am excited to announce that ACEs Connection Network has partnered with the producers of the film, Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain . to host a FREE SCREENING of the film for our members. If you have been t hinking of hosting a screening of CAREgivers in your community or are interested in learning more about secondary traumatic stress and what to do about it, join our ACEs Connection Network for a FREE screening of this film and a virtual chat with the...

The chatter of children in a bright yellow activity center is the only sign of life in south Sacramento’s otherwise desolate Phoenix Park apartment complex. Inside, children line up for an after-school snack before shuffling to supervised recess and homework help with the Focus on Family Foundation, a local nonprofit group. Many of the kids come from homes riddled by domestic conflict, said director Jackie Rose, and if not for the daily program, they wouldn’t have access to healthy foods,...

This year I embarked on a year long project to mentor 5 Samuel Merritt RN to BSN Nurse Scholars at Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento during their public health rotation. I have been able to immerse them in ACEs and Resiliency. In addition to researching ACEs, they have been able to attend many community events to include Resilient Sac's monthly meetings, the screening of Resiliency and the talk by Dr Nadine Burke-Harris and the Health Education Council's Health, Faith, and Justice Summit.

At a recent Resilient Sacramento meeting, a member of our community requested resources for white folx on how to better understand race and privilege. Here is a small list of resources, but the hope is to build a more comprehensive list together. If you have resources to share, please comment! It is imperative that we continue to put race at the center of our work in ACEs and Trauma Informed Care/Services. It is also imperative that white folx take action and accountability and work with...

Earlier this month, over one hundred community advocates attended our inaugural Promising Practices Faith Health & Safety Summit. The summit provided attendees with the opportunity to take a holistic view at how those working within our communities on faith, health and safety issues can better understand and then help to prevent community violence. Attendees were treated to powerful presentations by those working in violence prevention throughout our region, including an inspirational...