Tagged With "Positive Childhood experiences"
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How To: ACEs & Resiliency Fellowship
Would your community like to start an ACEs & Resiliency Fellowship to help spread awareness and build capacity for action? Sonoma County would like to share our tools and lessons learned with you. 1. What was the ACEs & Resiliency Fellowship? This remarkable program is unique to Sonoma County California. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) & Resiliency Fellowship is a 9-month intensive interdisciplinary program designed for community members who serve as community educators...
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In a room full of caring people, ACEs are high
When Dr. Robert Anda began giving presentations about the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study after its first publication in 1998, he often asked people in the audience to anonymously fill out a ...
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In ACEs Connection webinar, physicians talk trauma, offer tips for helping pediatric immigrant patients
Dr. Raul Gutierrez, a pediatrician in the San Francisco Bay Area, said he and his fellow clinicians see constant fear and its health consequences every single day among the largely immigrant and Latino population they serve. It’s all the result of anti-immigrant policies and the news cycle that feeds the fear. Dr. Raul Gutierrez “It is almost inescapable with the repercussions of immigration policy on the radio, television, social media and from friends and family,” Gutierrez told the 69...
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Infant-Family Mental Health Specialist
I am happy to announce that I have been endorsed by the state of California as an Infant-Family Mental Health Specialist. Please see the attached press release. Jenni Silverstein
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Interview with Dr. Nadine Burke Harris on Weekend Edition
Listen to the interview "What Do Asthma, Heart Disease and Cancer have in Common? Maybe Childhood Trama". https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/01/23/578280721/what-do-asthma-heart-disease-and-cancer-have-in-common-maybe-childhood-trauma Burke Harris is the founder and CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco. She's spent much of her career trying to spread awareness about the dangers of childhood toxic stress. Burke Harris just released a new book, The Deepest Well: Healing the...
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It’s Not Just About Bad Choices [NYTimes]
WHENEVER I write about people who are struggling, I hear from readers who say something like: Folks need to stop whining and get a job. It’s all about personal responsibility. In a 2014 poll , Republicans were twice as likely to say that...
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ITRC 2018 California Conference: Preparing People for Climate Change in California
To See the Conference Agenda, List of All-Star Speakers, and To Register Click Here Why Should Californians Attend This Unique Conference ? From high levels of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), to job and financial struggles, racism and other forms of inequity and injustice, traumatic stress is epidemic today. Climate change will aggravate all of these existing adversities, and add many new ones as well. Yet, California is leading the U.S. in finding innovative new ways to address...
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James Redford and Sonoma County Leaders Discuss Resilience at Sonoma Film Festival
On April 2, film maker James Redford screened his new movie "Resilience" at Sonoma's Film Fest. "I had too much content to create just one film. Paper Tigers became a vehicle for talking about Adverse Childhood Experiences. We furthered the message of hope in the follow-up film Resilience." Redford shared his discovery of the Felitti and Anda study on Adverse Childhood Experiences . "I thought to myself, this study came out almost twenty years ago and the whole world isn't taking action?" He...
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James Redford: The Fairfax filmmaker is back at this year’s festival with a look at an alternative teaching method that is having a lot of success
The Mill Valley Film Festival will be screening the documentary, Paper Tigers, twice: Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 5:50 pm in the Cinearts Sequoia Theater in Mill Valley. Friday, Oct. 16, at 3 pm at the Lark Theater in Larkspur. Click here for tickets....
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January 24, 2018 ACEs Connection Meeting: How should we proceed?
At the January 24, 2018 meeting of the Sonoma County ACEs Connection, the Steering Committee organized work group sessions among members to answer our most important question: How should our group proceed moving forward? All over the room at Child Parent Institute there were large "Post-It" notes on the wall that the groups brainstormed answers to four questions about the direction of our group: (1) What do you enjoy about the General Meetings? (2) What could we use more of/doesn't serve us?
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January 24, 2018 ACEs Connection Meeting: Reflections & Visions for the Future
At the General Meeting for the Sonoma County ACEs Connection that took place on January 24, 2018, people came together to reflect on their experience in the coalition and to brainstorm about the future of the group. The questions included: What do you enjoy about the General Meetings? What could we use more of/what doesn't serve us? In a post-fire Sonoma County, where and how could we better serve our community? Does our name truly reflect what we are and where we are going? Who are some...
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July 11th, 4CA Policymaker Education Day on Childhood Adversity in Sacramento
Save the Date: Tuesday, July 11 4CA Policymaker Education Day on Childhood Adversity, Sacramento The California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) invites you to Sacramento for Policymaker Education Day. Our lawmakers need to hear from you about how adverse childhood experiences and childhood trauma affect your community and what they can do to help. Join with allies from across California to engage your elected officials on this important issue. Who: 4CA Policymaker Education Day...
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Kaiser Supports North Bay's VOICES through Youth & Trauma Informed Care Grant
"Kaiser Permanente Northern California Region—Community Benefit Programs (KPCBP)’s Youth and Trauma-informed Care grant program (YTIC), through which 20 community based agencies and school based health centers were funded in 2014, is a critical strategy for addressing community violence by focusing on prevention as well as healing. Experience of trauma in childhood is associated with a range of negative health, social, and educational outcomes. Trauma is frequently undiagnosed or...
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Last Month's Early Childhood Mental Health Summit - Let's Put Our Learning into Practice Now
Just one month ago, on September 28, First 5 and partners pulled together a few hundred community members for an Early Childhood Mental Health Summit called " Building Relationships to Support Families in Times of Stress ." With the local wildfires distressing many families and children, community support is needed now more than ever. The event aimed to ensure participants: 1.) Expanded their understanding of Early Childhood mental Health as the capacity to form close relationships, manage...
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Latest ACEs science research from PubMed, April 8, 2019
Association of Social Adversity with Comorbid Diabetes and Depression Symptoms in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study: A Syndemic Framework. McCurley JL, Gutierrez AP, Bravin JI, Schneiderman N, Reina SA, Khambaty T, Castañeda SF, Smoller S, Daviglus ML, O'Brien MJ, Carnethon MR, Isasi CR, Perreira KM, Talavera GA, Yang M, Gallo LC. Ann Behav Med . 2019 Apr 5. pii: kaz009. doi: 10.1093/abm/kaz009. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:30951585 Similar...
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Leaders in SF public housing deal with their own and community trauma head on
Sengthong Sithounnolat, Jeris Woodson, Donald Greene, Ashley Blanco On a recent Saturday, 10 people gather around a table at the offices of Trauma Transformed in Oakland, Calif., where quotes from figures like Frederick Douglas, Nelson Mandela, and Coretta Scott King grace one wall as light streams in from a skylight above. The group is known as the Resident Warriors, which meets weekly. One participant talks of her recovery from addiction and her mother’s murder. Another mentions being...
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Legislation Signals Growing Support for Significance of Trauma Indicators [CaliforniaHealthline.org]
As a college student, Rob Bonta had a summer job working as a counselor for troubled kids. Now, two decades later he is bringing legislation to address some of the needs he saw then. “I worked with some of these kids as a counselor out of college, and I’d walk them home and hear some of these stories,” Assembly member Bonta (D-Oakland) said. “Shootings they heard. Or shootings they witnessed the night before.” It was the summer of his junior year at Yale, when...
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Local Researchers' study shows: Trauma support for welfare recipients helps them earn more [medicalxpress.com]
People on welfare can earn more money in their jobs—and potentially leave the program—if the trauma they've faced since childhood is addressed, Drexel University research shows... "Financial education without the trauma-informed peer support had virtually no impact on improving income and in promoting health," said Mariana Chilton, PhD, director of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities and professor in the Dornsife School of Public Health. "Once the trauma-informed peer support was mixed...
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Local Teachers Love Learning about ACES!
Grace Harris MFT, Parent Resources Director for Child Parent Institute reported that she recently presented to staff at several schools on ACES and Trauma Informed Care (TIC). When asked, less than 10% of school staff said they were aware of...
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Lumpers and Splitters: Who Doesn’t Believe in ACES?
Here’s the problem. Since you are reading this on ACES Connections, you are likely not the type of person who questions ACES. Like me, when you first heard about ACES, you shouted “Eureka!” or felt the heavens open up or maybe simply thought “Well, that makes sense.” Writing this blog, I’m preaching to the choir. After all, there is so much scientific evidence to support ACES, doesn’t everyone believe it? Well, working in Public Health...
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MARC Booklet 2016: Features Sonoma County
Please find attached the 2016 booklet for the Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) project, including Sonoma County and the other 13 communities that have been selected to participate in this 2 year learning collaborative. This is a great summary of the work happening in all 14 communities across the country. I am looking forward to working with you all as we tell your story to the world!
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MARC Group Postings
Dear Sonoma County ACES Connection members, This morning I was reading the ACES Connection's MARC group postings and when I read the WA state proposal, I had to share. There seem to be many similarities to what we want to accomplish, although we are working on a smaller (local) scale - maybe we might learn from their statewide processes too? Very exciting! I particularly like how they are planning to bring their individual partners together into a more formal group and their shared decision...
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Marin Community Clinics in California screen babies for ACEs, provide support in effort to prevent trauma
When Marin Community Clinics (MCC) first considered screening their patients for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) they already had decided that if they were going to prevent children from acquiring ACEs, they had to take a radical approach.
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Material from Neurobiology: the Powerful Science Behind your ACEs Work - ACEs & Resiliency Community of Practice Session
Thank you to all who attended our Community of Practice Event Neurobiology: the Powerful Science Behind your ACEs Work! Attached are the materials from our day together. If you would like to register for our June event you can register using this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trauma-informed-organizations-community-of-practice-tickets-31518134589
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Material from Trauma Informed Organizations- ACEs & Resiliency Community of Practice Session
Thank you to all who attended our Community of Practice Event Trauma-Informed Organizations Attached are the materials from our day together. Brian Farragher Slides are attached, as well as the ACEs and Resiliency Fellowship Impact to Date Handout If you would like to register for our July event you can register using this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-community-capacity-to-address-aces-community-of-practice-tickets-31518403393
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Materials from Culture, Compassion, Competence and Humility Community of Practice Event
Thank you to all who attended our Culture, Compassion, Competence and Humility Community of Practice Event! Attached are the materials from our day together. Also, below you will find a link to the Brené Brown video on empathy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw If you would like to register for our March event you can register using this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-resilience-on-a-solid-foundation-community-of-practice-tickets-30963526742
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Learning How to Convince Leaders to Create Trauma-Informed Programs, Systems and Environments.
How do you build a narrative around ACEs science, bolster it with data and convince your leadership that integrating it is critical for the community you serve? Representatives from San Francisco Bay Area health and social service agencies had an opportunity on December 5 to learn about ACEs science, find data sets to help them make a case for supporting ACEs education and resiliency programs, and then role play ways to deliver powerful messages. Donielle Prince, ACEs Connection Network’s...
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Medical students' ACE scores mirror general population, study finds
A national survey published in 2014 revealed a disturbing finding. Compared to college graduates pursuing other professions, medical students, residents and early career physicians experienced a higher degree of burnout. Citing that article, a group of researchers at University of California at Davis School of Medicine wondered whether medical students’ childhood adversity and resilience played a role in their burnout, said Dr. Andres Sciolla, an associate professor of psychiatry and...
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SONOMA COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ACT (MHSA)2017-2020 Three-Year Integrated Plan & Annual Update for 2015-2016
To read the full report, click here : Mental Health Services Act Integrated Report 2017 - 2020 Or see attached for a printable version of the report.
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Middle school tackles everybody's trauma; result is calmer, happier kids, teachers and big drop in suspensions
Sixth grader Cayla White (right) helps lead class meditation with Niroga Institute’s Lauren Banister (photo: Laurie Udesky) ________________________________ During the 2014/2015 school year, things were looking grim at Park Middle School in Antioch, CA. At the time, staff couldn’t corral student disruptions. Teacher morale was plummeting. By the end of February 2015, 192 kids of the 997 students had been suspended -- 19.2 percent of the student population. “I was watching really good people...
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Monthly Meeting for May, agenda, notes, etc
Quick reminder, we meet the 4th Wed of each month, from 3:30 to 5:00 at Child Parent Institute. Please join us if you can! See below and attached for details regarding our May meeting. Karen
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More than 70 4CA participants converge on Sacramento, talk ACEs to power
Mai Le, an ACEs champion and program associate with First 5 San Mateo, wasted no time getting to the point of why she was asking lawmakers to support legislation that would help prevent adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). “When I was a child, my father had a psychotic break and was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia,” she said in a conversation with Eric Dietz, a staff member for State Senator John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa). L-R: Eric Dietz, Richa Sharma, Mai Le “I’m a high achiever,...
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My hopes for a trauma-informed California
Every evening, I try to engage my daughter in reflection, gratitude, and hope. I try to practice the same, but tonight, I felt the need to share with you all. Today I had the opportunity to attend the Toward a Trauma-Informed Northern California Summit 2018 – it was an incredible experience. We were welcomed with a moving, informative, and engaging keynote speaker, Dr. Isaiah B. Pickens , who laid the foundation for what would be a day of growth, reflection, connection, and peer support. He...
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New 5 Year El Dorado County ACEs Collaborative Action Plan Workbook for 10/2018-10/2023
Attached is the 5 Year El Dorado County ACEs Collaborative Action Plan Workbook for 10/01/18-10/01/23. Action Plan updated as of 5_2019.
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New brief from MARC: Building Stronger Networks
Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities has released a new brief, Building Stronger Networks (May 2019) . Drawing from existing literature and informed by a series of interviews conducted by Dr. Andrea Blanch and Dr. David Shern, this brief explores how a framework recognizing adverse childhood experiences, trauma, and resilience (ATR) can facilitate community collaboration. See what movement builders from across the country have to say about the value-added of the ATR framework in...
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NEW Essentials for Childhood Kidsdata.org ACEs Topic
Hello, Sonoma County! Please see this exciting news shared by Gail Kennedy, MPH of ACEs Connection. This information was shared to the California ACEs Action group (original post is below). You can see how Sonoma County compares with the rest of the state. Please share with others! - Jen Hossler "On behalf of California Essentials for Childhood, I am very excited to announce the release of a new Child Adversity and Resilience data topic on Kidsdata.org! This has been a collaborative effort...
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New Grant Opportunity & Program for Bay Area Health Centers: Resilient Beginnings Collaborative
In partnership with Genentech Charitable Giving, the Center for Care Innovations is excited to launch the Resilient Beginnings Collaborative . We’ll select 5-7 Bay Area organizations to participate in this 24-month learning and action community dedicated to addressing childhood adversity in pediatric safety net care settings. We’ll provide access to technical expertise, in-person convenings, site visits to exemplars, and coaching, as well as $80,000 grants to each participating team. If you...
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New head at Petaluma nonprofit Mentor Me [Argus Courier]
Robert Florez doesn’t mind talking about his troubled childhood, or his run-ins with the law as a young man that struggled to be heard. When he was a freshman at a high school in Grass Valley, living in Nevada City after years of causing a ruckus in his hometown of Watsonville, he stole a car with some friends and lit a small fire on school grounds. The local school board was ready to expel them, but the superintendent stuck his neck out and went against the board, granting him one final...
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New Interactive Maps and Charts on ACEs in California
This page offers county and statewide data, resources and words of wisdom from leaders who are putting the research to work and sharing insights about best practices: https://hdplus.livestories.com/s/adverse-childhood-experiences-aces/57ed3feb84b8870017615ac0/ Called an Interactive Digital Primer, this page also reveals: A Social Movement, Driven By Communities And Rooted In Medicine. A fast-growing network of community based organizations, medical and social service professionals, and...
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New organization calls all pediatricians to end crisis that's "hiding in plain sight"
When the question of screening patients for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) was first raised a couple of years ago, Santa Barbara pediatrician Andria Ruth had mixed feelings about it.
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New Publication in Health Promotion Practice Journal Provides a Framework for Action on ACEs
Advocates, leaders, and professionals in the child health and well-being space have identified a need for concrete steps for building resilience to prevent ACEs. Current frameworks focused on ACEs fall short of including a multilevel approach, considering the role of health equity in well-being, and providing concrete, tangible steps for implementation across the life span. The empower action model addresses childhood adversity as a root cause of disease by building resilience across...
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New Sesame Street Tools Help Build Resiliency [rwjf.org]
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Sesame Workshop share a common vision of giving all children—especially the most vulnerable among us—a strong and healthy start in life. We know that childhood experiences lay the foundation for children to grow into productive and successful adults, and promoting healthy behaviors and supporting families from the very beginning can help kids thrive. But it’s equally important to address challenges that can undermine their healthy development. That’s...
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New York Life and Change in Mind Institute at the Alliance for Strong Families and Communites Partner on Grant Program to Support Communities Impacted by Disaster
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 1, 2018 – New York Life Insurance Company and the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities today announced the launch of a new grant program to support children, adults, families, and communities experiencing trauma resulting from natural disaster or community-wide tragedy. The partnership will serve as the first-ever disaster-focused grant for the New York Life Foundation, the charitable arm of the company. The program, Building Resilience in the Face of Disaster,...
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No ACEs, low resilience worse than high ACE and resilience scores, study finds
What does measuring resilience tell us about pregnant women who have experienced ACEs? For one thing, it affirms that understanding how a mom-to-be weathers difficult experiences gives greater meaning to her ACE score and what it might mean for her children. That was one of the takeaways from a recent study in the Journal of Women’s Health entitled “ Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental and Behavioral Health Conditions During Pregnancy: The Role of Resilience ,” says Dr. Carey Watson,...
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Noble Brains, Healthy Lives [Sonoma Medicine]
A young child’s brain is a wondrous thing. By age five it contains about one quadrillion neural connections, more than all the links in the entire Internet. But by adulthood one-third of those connections disappear. The pathways used most...
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Nominations are OPEN for the Sonoma County ACEs Connection Coalition Steering Committee
Dear ACEs Connection Members, We would like to invite you to formally participate in the election process for the ACEs Connection Coalition Steering Committee. The following positions are available for 2-year terms: Co-Chair (2 positions) Secretary Treasurer We are accepting nominations through August 20th . You can elect yourself or if you would like to nominate a member, please let us know as soon as possible, so we can reach out to them to see if they are interested in running. Please use...
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Notes and materials from 10/29 meeting
Here are Karen's great notes from our last meeting. Dear Sonoma County ACES Connection members! Here are notes from today’s meeting. It was such a lively discussion I was not able to capture everything! We now have a set...
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Notes and materials from 11/19 meeting
Here is another set of great notes drafted by Karen Clemmer. Dear Sonoma County ACES Connection members! For all who made came to the meeting – thank you for trudging through the rain to participate in our Nov 19 th meeting! ...
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Notes and materials from March 25, 2015
Dear Sonoma County ACES Connection enthusiasts: Thank you to all who participated in today’s ACES meeting. Sometimes the transition between work and a working meeting can be a bit rough. Thankfully, today, Allen provided a...
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Notes and materials from our first meeting of 2015
We had a good meeting last Wednesday. Allen Nishikawa greeted us with a mindfulness practice that helped us relax and be present. ACEs Connection staff Alicia and Jesus joined us and it was a pleasure to meet them in person! Karen Clemmer once...