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Join 4CA in Sacramento on July 11 for Policymaker Education Day on Childhood Adversity! Our lawmakers need to hear from you about how childhood adversity affects your community and what they can do to help. Join with allies from across California to engage your elected officials on this important issue. (Bonus! lunchtime pep talk by Senator Holly Mitchell!) Who: 4CA Policymaker Education Day is designed for California residents who care about preventing and mitigating the effects of...

(For a picture-filled and engaging version of these notes, please see the attachment.) 4-26-17 Dear Sonoma County ACEs Connection Friends, Thank you to all that participated in today’s ACES meeting. Holly White-Wolfe started us off with a meditation app (voice recording) that was shared at the MARC Gathering in Philadelphia. This “mindful moment” encouraged us to focus on our breath, noticing the rise and fall of our chest as a way to center ourselves throughout the day Nick Dalton from the...

Anyone who’s ever searched for a rental on Craigslist has seen the parenthetical message next to a listing: No Section 8. It’s a barrier to many who can’t afford Sebastopol’s median rent of approximately $2,000. The Section 8 housing voucher choice program assists low-income individuals and families with their rental payments. In Sonoma County, the program is administered by the county’s Community Development Commission (CDC), spearheaded by executive director Margaret Van Vliet. According...

I’d like to tell you about one of the greatest obstacles to the health, well-being, and educational success of Sonoma County’s youth: childhood trauma. Statistics suggest that nearly one in five children in our county has suffered two or more of these negative experiences, which range from death of a parent to physical or emotional abuse at home to extreme bullying at school. Research tells us that this exposure dramatically increases children’s risk for behavioral problems in school as well...

Jamie Dorvilus wiggled in her seat, eagerly waiting her turn to talk about how   she was feeling that day. At least once a week, her first-grade class at Rohnert Park’s Evergreen Elementary School moves the desks out of the way for a “circle,” where they discuss their feelings and worries and practice positive behavior and communication skills, like giving and accepting compliments. Dorvilus, 7, said it’s safe to share. No one ever teases. “It’s the only time I get to say something and...

The phone rings. Your teenage son has run away and gotten into a fight. Again. He’s back at Sonoma County’s juvenile hall off Highway 12 in rural east Santa Rosa. For the next several months, you attend meetings with his public defender, make his court appointments and visit him twice a week while working full time and shuttling your other children between school and sports. Then you get the bill. There’s no daily charge for adults booked into Sonoma County Jail, but that’s not the case for...

Lisa Moore rattled a rainstick before urging her Cook Middle School students to shut their eyes or look down. “Let what’s stressing your mind go,” she said between deep breaths. “As you breathe out, let all that stuff go.” Students exchanged glances. Some giggled, distracted by classroom visitors. Ultimately, the eighth-graders sank into their seats, closed their eyes or looked at their feet as their teacher’s soothing voice led them through their afternoon “mindfulness” session. Twice a...

PI’s Adverse Community Experiences and Resilience (ACE|R) report outlines specific strategies for building resilience, elicited from those living or working in areas highly affected by community trauma. The ACE|R framework was featured recently in articles in USA Today , The Register-Guard , the Center for American Progress , and the San Francisco Chronicle , among others.

Thank you Laura Porter for sharing this video with our community. This video highlights some of the impacts of incarceration on children and families, and an innovative and unlikely partnership that has reached a sometimes overlooked population of children. The video doesn't directly discuss ACEs, but the back story is all about ACEs (and saving money). Washington Partnership Bolsters Parental Resilience, Documented in National Film Press Release – Department of Corrections Washington State...

The so-called restorative circles aim to build trust and understanding and reduce misbehavior. They’re popping up in schools all over the county, in part from the efforts of agencies like Restorative Resources and the Sonoma County Office of Education, which have trained educators on these practices. The Santa Rosa nonprofit last year received $100,000 from the county to launch the alternative justice program. It was one of the recommendations issued by the Community and Local Law...

Thank you Marilyn Veincentotzs for sharing this article with us! Here is a snip it of the shocking findings, "The death rate for young people who suffer a first episode of psychosis (FEP) is 24 times greater than that of their peers in the general population in the year following the episode, a new study suggests. This finding is "striking," lead investigator Michael Schoenbaum, PhD, of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, told Medscape Medical News . "We know that...

Sonoma County Behavioral Health is excited to offer a Mental Health First Aid Training on May 30 th and May 31 st , 2017 for May is Mental Health Month. Mental Health First Aid is a public education program that introduces participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental illnesses, builds understanding of their impact, and overviews common supports. This 8-hour course (broken up over 2 days) uses role-playing and simulations to demonstrate how to offer initial help in a mental health...