On October 16, I joined in Santa Barbara's Second Annual Bridges to Resilience Conference.  Surrounded by "our people" or 300+ folks like us who care deeply about ending childhood adversity,  I basked in the waves of passion passing back and forth between presenters, participants, and organizers.

With the fires raging in our community at the same time, it was hard for me to consider leaving my post at one of the shelters to participate in this event.  However, I convinced myself attending this event was important.  Santa Barbara was eager to learn from Sonoma County's experience, and I'd prepared a few stories I wanted to humbly share. 

But truly, it was those waves of passion I'd come hunting for. 

I felt overwhelmed by the traumatic crisis of our fires, and I needed an experience to buoy my hope.  I needed fresh ideas for how to combat widespread trauma.  Santa Barbara's conference delivered all of this and more!

Our day began with our beloved Jane Stevens opening up as the Key Note.  I sat in awe of Jane as she shared her personal high ACE score and the coping methods she'd employed as a young adult.  (Did you know Jane used to sky dive?)  Then she detailed her adventures as a journalist, which ultimately led her to focus on stories related to the ACE study.  In a positive twist of fate for all of us, Jane parlayed her writing skills and personal budget to create 2 websites many of us count on - ACEs Too High and ACEs Connection.  Fortunately, Robert Wood Johnson discovered this gem of a woman and her pet projects - now hundreds of thousands of us stay connected and informed through her social network sites. 

Next, Jane pulled together a panel of representatives from several of the ACEs groups across the state.  I sat shoulder to shoulder with my counterparts from Santa Clara (Charisse Feldman), Sacramento (DeAngelo Mack), and San Diego (Godwin Higa).  We took turns sharing our network histories and our most compelling lessons learned.  DeAngelo had the crowd on their feet doing call and response - urging all to proudly claim our roles as community champions.  Charisse's Public Health Nurse expertise and her soothing, encouraging voice gave us hope as she described Maternal Child Adolescent Health program efforts benefitting children and families.  Godwin's wise words on how to work with kids (never mind his trick of giving out candy to kids sent to his principal's office!) and stories of his Hawaiian upbringing encouraged much laughter and appreciation for the powerful role of culture.  

I shared Sonoma County's timeline of ACE's Awareness building.  Starting with Felitti coming to our community and follow-up events with Nadine Burke-Harris, Kathleen Kendall Tackett, Rob Anda, Laura Porter, Brian Farragher and others - we've had many of the leaders in this field championing our effort.  Of course, I shared it was Jane's ACEs Connection frameworks (both digital and her Road Map to Resilience for coalitions) that helped us move from awareness to action. ** Then the Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities grant helped to focus and accelerate our efforts.  (Everyone across our state longed for a MARC grant after I talked about our wonderful experience!)

I then took a bold step and shared Kanwarpal Dhaliwal's "Racing Aces" RYSE materials as our most compelling lesson learned.  I urged everyone to ensure all conversations about family-level aces include a discussion of community-level adversity.  (See the Pair of ACEs resources on ACEs Connection for more on this.)  Otherwise, we end up inavertedly blaming and shaming parents for the tremendous pressures of institutionalized toxic stress.

During lunch I met with the Bower Foundation and a pediatric group looking to develop one of the first academically researched ace screening studies for children in a pediatric clinic.  Their Pediatrician had already taken copious notes about our Dr. Meredith K's efforts during a presentation at last year's Youth Wellness ACE Summit, but they had many follow up questions.  For example, this group is looking to find what immediate health outcomes might result from screenings e.g. reduced asthma attacks.

Later, I attended the inspiring breakout sessions, including the Community Resiliency Model by the Trauma Resource Institute.  (This training is coming to Ukiah on November 6- hope to see you there!)  The Strive Networks preschool programs also offered plenty of inspiration for our community.

Jaiya John closed out our event with a spoken word session dedicated to some incredible boys from the probation camp  (aka the Drama Kings)  who preformed a powerful play for us after lunch.  He chose "I am gonna make you see me..." as a perfect riff for those boys seeking to overcome current ACEs.  I picked up several copies of Jaiya's poetic books - solid resources to carry me through these hard times!

Not quite ready for it all to end, I lingered after the conference, chatting with my new friend DeAngelo from the Sacramento ACEs Connection group. We stumbled on our spouses and kids playing together as the conference wrapped up.  It turns out connections were happening everywhere...

Thanks Santa Barbara for inviting us to make yet another bridge linking our efforts together.  This blast of enthusiastic support was just what this Sonoma woman needed!

 **Karen Clemmer and a few other dedicated Sonoma County folk are also largely to thank for Sonoma County ACEs Connection's formation.