Tagged With "A Better Normal"

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with an increased risk of preterm birth. About half of all Florida residents have experienced at least one ACE and 21-30% of Alachua County residents have experienced 2 or more ACEs (Bright et al). In 2017 in Alachua County, 11.7% of live births were less than 37 weeks gestation (FLHealthCHARTS), which is higher than the overall rate in Florida. The aims of this intervention are to build resilience in pregnant women with a history of ACEs...

By Andrea L. Lowe, The Chronicle of Social Change, June 10, 2019. Several years ago , my sister and I watched my 2-year-old nephew’s behavior change dramatically. He started wetting the bed, throwing temper tantrums and getting frustrated so quickly. In any other child, it might have been normal “terrible twos,” but in him we knew something was definitely wrong. At the time, my sister and her husband were getting divorced. Ultimately, we found out that my nephew thought it was his fault,...

On Friday, March 20, 2020, you're invited to join me to talk about how we, as a community, can continue to guide and educate ourselves about to deal with the effects of the spread of Covid-19, and how to continue those efforts with people who don't yet know about ACEs science. And, given this last week, how we can provide more support to stay in the front of our brains instead of feeding our amygdala.

Domestic violence not only affects the individual directly involved, but also the children who are indirectly involved by witnessing the violence. Spreading awareness to children can prevent future generations from normalizing domestic violence in the home. This project will target children in the Gainesville area to help them find peace and resilience from these incidents. Schools and teachers will play a large role in this project by giving students information on what healthy...

Alcohol abuse in households across the nation is an issue deeply felt by those who are impacted. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse Alcoholism, an estimated 88,000 people (approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women) die from alcohol-related causes annually, making alcohol the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Furthermore, according to a 2012 study, more than 10 percent of U.S. children live with a parent who has problems with alcohol abuse and...

By Andrea Cipriano, The Crime Report, May 7, 2020 On any given day, approximately 43,600 people younger than 18 years of age are held in youth detention facilities across America. Even under normal circumstances, many detention facilities are unable to provide a clean and safe environment for these young individuals, and the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the trauma these children experience in detention, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Incarcerating young people...

Therapist and author Dr. Tian Dayton, who first started writing about ACEs science more than 20 years ago, will address grief and maintaining emotional sobriety during COVID-19. Carey Sipp, Southeast community facilitator for ACEs Connection, will host this community conversation, and Alison Cebula, Northeastern regional community facilitator, will moderate.

Room erupts in applause for the grandmother of witness William Kellibrew during July 11 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing. The power of personal stories from witnesses and committee members fueled the July 11 hearing on childhood trauma in the House Oversight and Reform Committee* throughout the nearly four hours of often emotional and searing testimony and member questions and statements (Click here for 3:47 hour video). The hearing was organized into a two panels—testimony from...

Please join us for the ongoing community discussion of A Better Normal, our ongoing series in which we envision the future as trauma-informed. College graduates across the world have been celebrating their big day virtually this month, missing out on the right of passage that marks their stepping into new realms of adult and professional life. Many students and recent graduates are feeling the negative impact of the current pandemic: being housing displaced, adjusting to virtual classrooms,...

As protests erupt across the country and around the world demanding justice for George Floyd, a black man who was killed while in Minneapolis police custody, higher education must play a leadership role in addressing the issues at their center—racism and white supremacy. The devastating video that shows Mr. Floyd pleading for his life follows high-profile news reports of the killing of Breonna Taylor, a young black woman who was shot in bed by Memphis police engaged in a botched search for a...

Interested in learning what it takes to Grow a Resilient Community? Do you want to learn how to become a member of ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities? If so, please join us Tuesday, July 7th, 12-1pm PDT for our next 'A Better Normal' community discussion series. In this discussion we will be talking with Brian Semsem of Fresno's Every Neighborhood Partnership. We will be talking to Brian about what led him to work with ACEs and resilience. In addition, we will be discussing the path...

“In order to cope,” writes Mary Trump, “Donald began to develop powerful but primitive defenses, marked by an increasing hostility to others and a seeming indifference to his mother’s absence and father’s neglect….In place of [his emotional needs] grew a kind of grievance and behaviors—including bullying, disrespect, and aggressiveness—that served their purpose in the moment but became more problematic over time. With appropriate care and attention, they might have been overcome.”

The organization Zero To Three estimates that in the U.S., a child is taken into the child welfare system every six seconds. “Many of society’s most intractable problems can be traced back to childhood adversity. Being in the child welfare system increases the likelihood of more adversity and criminality. Baby court is a proven approach to healing the trauma of both child and parent, and breaking the cycle of maltreatment,” says Mimi Graham, Ed.D ., director of the Florida State University...

The election is upon us. In two short weeks, we voters in this country decide who will lead us for the next four years. We have the opportunity to embrace — as a national priority — the tenets of understanding, nurturing and healing that underlie the science of adverse childhood experiences and move in a direction that embraces cultural and racial equity and anti-racism. Or not. What is clear is that no matter what, the ACEs movement will continue.

Register for A Better Normal- Our reckoning with race and equity at ACEs Connection

Join us on Friday November 6, 2020 from noon to 1:00 PST as we come together and join Satya Chandragiri MD, Bonnie O’Hern RN, Denise Proudfoot RN, & Michael Polacek RN for a discussion around the tender issue of suicide. Together we will discuss ways people and providers can support each other and encourage communities to take action to support one another around suicide prevention, crisis intervention, and the layers of culture and structural barriers to care. A special emphasis will be...

It wasn’t until his fifth prison term in a North Carolina county jail — his fourth conviction for driving under the influence — that Michael Hayes volunteered to take an ACE survey that changed his life. The 48-year-old father of six sons and one daughter had spent a number of years in and out of prison. During his last term, to get some time out of the cell where he spent 16 hours a day, he volunteered to attend a class offered by RHA Health Services, a nonprofit that incorporates the...

We have some very exciting news! As of today, ACEs Connection is now PACEs Connection. PACEs stands for Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences.

Please join us for our next installment of A Better Normal, our live webinar series in which we imagine and create our society as trauma-informed! You may have seen we changed our name recently from ACEs Connection to PACEs Connection. Please join us to learn all about the groundbreaking research of Positive Childhood Experiences and how this is going to transform the work we are all doing. >>Click here to register<< PACEs and HOPE Live Event Friday, March 26, 2021 Noon PT / 1pm...

By the year 2050 approximately 46 million US adults aged 18 years or older will be diagnosed with a depressive disorder according to research by Heo et al 1 . The magnitude of this health condition urges mental health researchers to identify common etiologies of depression. Along with what can be done to circumvent an increase of this disorder within the population. The CDC reports that preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) could reduce up to 21 million cases of depression. This...

The nearly $2 trillion American Rescue Plan Act has several buckets of funding that can be used to promote trauma-informed and healing-centered projects. PACEs Connection communities can apply for this funding, according to leaders of the Campaign for Trauma-informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP), the National Trauma Campaign, and PACEs Connection. The “Better Normal” webinar on Friday, May 14 at 3 p.m. EST; Noon PST, Dan Press, Jesse Kohler and Marlo Nash of CTIPP will begin by describing...

Working as a doctor is already a stressful job, but factor in the reality that we are living in a pandemic, then the job gets significantly more difficult. A study that surveyed 7,288 doctors found that “45.8% of physicians were considered to be experiencing at least 1 symptom of burnout based on a high emotional exhaustion score or a high depersonalization score” and “37.9% of US physicians had high emotional exhaustion” 1 . As a result of stress, demanding hours, poor time management, and...

Background Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are defined as negative experiences that occur in childhood and affect children’s mental and physical health throughout their life (Felitti et al., 1998). While ACEs are prevalent among American youth, youth in Alachua County, FL experiences a disproportionate amount of ACEs (CDC, 2022b). In a study done by the Florida Department of Children and Families, researchers found that 69.2% of Alachua high school students had experienced at least...

Statement of Need Obesity is a condition where there is excessive accumulation of fat primarily due to eating habits and lifestyle. Numerically, a body mass index (BMI) over 30 indicates an individual who is obese. A BMI between 25.0 – 29.9 and individual is considered overweight. A BMI between 19.9 – 24.9 is considered normal weight. Below 19.9 is considered underweight. According to the CDC, the prevalence of obesity in America is 41.9% between 2017 and 2020 (CDC, 2022). Non-Hispanic...

Anxiety, depression, and substance abuse are just three issues that children aged 11 through 18 are enduring as a result of adverse childhood experiences. In Calhoun County, Florida, the rate of children who skip school out of concern for their safety, felt hopeless, and experienced over 4 ACEs was drastically higher than all other counties in the state. To address these risk behaviors and predecessors to chronic health conditions or even dropping out of school, our program aims to utilize a...