Photo credit: Texasarchitects.org An updated map of laws and resolutions addressing ACEs science and trauma-informed policies is now available in the “Laws and Resolutions” section of Map the Movement (you can also find "Map the Movement" on the navigation bar on the ACEs Connection home page). The earliest law on the map was passed in the state of Washington in 2011, creating an ACEs science public-private partnership. The data base of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) is...

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...

By Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, PESI, January 7, 2020 Trauma is horrendous. It overwhelms its victims and often the people who try to treat it. It reshapes one’s sense of self, bodily experience and brain organization — leaving people stuck in terror, isolation, and shame. My life’s work has been to find the most effective pathways to healing trauma. It’s why I founded the Trauma Center, have been part of groundbreaking research, and wrote the #1 New York Times bestselling book The Body Keeps...

Programs, organizations, and systems that make a commitment to implementation will differ in many ways–from the service context, to the motivation for change, to hoped-for outcomes, and resources available. Nonetheless, in a developmental way, implementation moves through a number of common steps that we’ve tried to reflect in the Road Map below. The Trauma Informed Care Screening Tool (found below the Road Map) builds on the Road Map by delving into each phase and offering a series of...

REDDING, Calif. — Finding new ways to address mental illness and suicide is a growing problem nationwide and the Northstate is no exception. According to Shasta County Health and Human Service Agency, the county averages about 40 suicide deaths a year. That amounts to twice the statewide rate when measured by how many suicide deaths the county has per one hundred thousand people. "There are many potential reasons as to why we have a high rate. One could be social isolation. We have a huge...

While the impact of maltreatment on a child and their family is devastating, child maltreatment also has serious effects far beyond those for the victim. Maltreatment results in ongoing costs to taxpayers, institutions, businesses, and society at large. Local communities bear the brunt of these costs in the form of medical, educational, and judicial costs, though more tragic signs are seen in homelessness, addiction, and teen pregnancy. To create a concrete understanding of the widespread...

Trauma-informed care is the new gold standard. For the last several years, Echo has been providing professional development in trauma-informed care but we’re beginning to notice a worrying aspect of the new push to train staff and transform systems. Some human service professionals are seeing ‘trauma-informed care’ as another skill to add to their resume or a box to check off on a grant proposal. But if the information stays with the professionals and is not used to empower survivors, then...

ACEs Connection will begin highlighting ACEs and Resilience initiatives by county. We're starting this effort off by listing the recent ACEs Aware grantees by county.

Thursday, September 3, 2020 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT | presented by Dr. Vincent J. Felitti *Priority will be given to Medi-Cal providers* The ACE Study reveals how typically unrecognized adverse childhood experiences are not only common, but causally underlie a number of the most common causes of adult social malfunction, biomedical disease, and premature death. Moreover, it enables one to see that the Public Health Problem is often an individual’s attempted Solution to childhood experiences...

Transform Trauma with ACEs Sciences Film Festival & Follow-Up Discussions The following weekend watch parties and follow-up discussions are co-hosted by ACEs Connection, The Relentless School Nurse , and The Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy & Practice (CTIPP) . We appreciated the filmmakers for making these films free to watch for our members and for the public programming of PBS. The films we’ll feature are as follows: Portraits of Professional Caregivers Whole People Part 1...

Transform Trauma with ACEs Sciences Film Festival & Follow-Up Discussions The following weekend watch parties and follow-up discussions are co-hosted by ACEs Connection, The Relentless School Nurse , and The Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy & Practice (CTIPP) . We appreciated the filmmakers for making these films free to watch for our members and for the public programming of PBS. The films we’ll feature are as follows: Portraits of Professional Caregivers Whole People Part 1...

RESILIENCE RISING - Virtual Conference Monday, November 2, 2020 from 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM JOIN US FOR A FREE REGION-WIDE CONFERENCE ON TRAUMA AND RESILIENCE - ALL ARE WELCOME! RESILIENCE RISING is targeted to educators, service providers, treatment professionals, parents, and community members interested in building more trauma-informed and resilient communities. Please register Click here to register Adverse Child Experiences (ACEs) are early traumas that affect brain development and that can...

In partnership with the Blue Shield of California Foundation, the Center for Care Innovations (CCI) is launching Amplify Healing Connections , a learning collaborative to strengthen multi-sector partnerships that prevent domestic violence and promote health and well-being for young people and their caregivers. In the context of this program, multi-sector partnerships are partnerships involving organizations across two or more sectors. What We’ll Provide Amplify Healing Connections seeks six...

SACRAMENTO – The Office of the California Surgeon General today released the first California Surgeon General’s Report - Roadmap for Resilience: The California Surgeon General's Report on Adverse Childhood Experiences, Toxic Stress, and Health. The report serves as a blueprint for how communities, states, and nations can recognize and effectively address Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress as a root cause to some of the most harmful, persistent, and expensive societal and...

The Transform Trauma with ACEs Sciences FREE Film Festival continues this weekend. Please join us to watch parts 1, 2, and 3 of the PBS Whole People series at your convenience, on ACEs Connection, by clicking play on the videos below: Whole People | 101 | Childhood Trauma | Episode 1 (27 min) Preview: Whole People | 102 | Healing Communities | Preview | Episode 2 Whole People | 102 |Healing Communities Episode 2 (27 min) Whole People | 103 |A New Response | Episode 3 (27 min) This is one of...

The past year has been like no other. With a global pandemic, heightened attention to social justice, political divides, and natural disasters-children are on an emotional rollercoaster (and parents are, too)! Join Dr. Shauna Tominey to discuss strategies for helping children, families, and educators manage emotions and stress as we help them make sense of the world around them. • Reflect on the challenges of the past year and connect these challenges to social-emotional development and...

In partnership with First 5 Humboldt and funded by the First 5 California Home Visiting Coordination Grant, the California Center for Rural Policy has just released the Humboldt County Home Visiting Program Environmental Scan. The findings and recommendations in the environmental scan are grounded in partner workgroups, interviews, and surveys that occurred in 2020-21 and capture the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on home visiting services. Excerpts: "The organizations that provide home...

Happy New Year! ⭐ 1. High Quality Virtual Classes and Trainings for Parents and Professional Development - through continued partnership with Lilliput Family Services, OPEC, College of the Siskiyous Foster/Kinship Care Education program, Siskiyou Human Services - MHSA a menu of high-quality trainings were offered including monthly trainings by Dr. Ernie Mendez and Ce Eshelman, LMFT. Knowledge of parenting and child development is an important protective factor. Through the virtual parenting...

Beyond Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), our members seek to deeply understand strengths-based insights embedded in the remaining ACEs quadrant: Adverse Community Environments, Adverse Climate Experiences, and Atrocious Cultural Experiences.

Nationally recognized days of awareness remind us of important civil and human rights movements led by Black and African-American communities and social justice advocates. February puts leadership, education, access, justice, policy, and governance under the spotlight. Through a PACEs science lens, this month is an opportunity to consider trauma-informed transformation through a PACEs science lens as the way forward.