Blogs

Partner Showcase No. 7 -- Dr. Don Ashley is not your typical pediatrician. If I’m reading Dr. Ashley correctly, he suggests that our bodies hold memory patterns from early childhood experiences that control our biological and decision making processes throughout our lives. In his words: “Pretty scary to have your body sabotage your health, sabotage your marriage, and sabotage your work”. New brain science and the study on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) reveal that certain habits that...

I am excited to announce that ACEs Connection Network has partnered with the producers of the film, Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain . to host a FREE SCREENING of the film for our members. If you have been t hinking of hosting a screening of CAREgivers in your community or are interested in learning more about secondary traumatic stress and what to do about it, join our ACEs Connection Network for a FREE screening of this film and a virtual chat with the...

{Photo above is the visual depiction of my human design} Have you ever wondered how the day and time of your birth, coupled with the precise location in which you were born could help you enhance your own resilience? If you’re like me, that thought may have never crossed your mind. And until very recently, I had never heard of “this thing” called Human Design , a visual representation of how individuals function that names our feelings and provides insights into how we work as human beings.

PREVENTION/EDUCATION -- I was recently asked to comment on developing a new drug prevention program. A format was given and these are the questions I was asked to address: What would be your goals for the program? What current model, from a Drugs and Society text book, would you use and why? What components would you include? Explain how your program components would be designed and what they would include. Would you make any changes if you worked with elementary students? Try as I might, I...

Partner Showcase No. 6 - Sonia Cole The Heart of the Matter -- “We realized that in order to have a trauma informed practice we needed to have trauma informed self-care in order to not only sustain our careers but actually increase our compassion”. Sonia Cole Paradigm shifts were uncommon several years ago. Today, in our fast paced world of technology and change we might face new paradigm shifts every day. Sonia’s words are important because they contain a format that can help us shift from...

Partner Showcase No. 5 - Melissa Clearfield. -- Just as healthy crops require healthy seeds to be selected from healthy plants, and planted in healthy soil to be nurtured with water and sunlight, healthy people require healthy parents who can supply them with the essential requirements to thrive. A man who attempts farming and grows crops in poor soil, without water or sunlight will be a man who fails at farming. A parent who attempts to raise a child without first understanding the...

Students at JLA are reminded that change starts with themselves In 2004, after nearly a decade as program director at Jubilee Leadership Academy (JLA), a Christian alternative boarding school for troubled boys ages 13-18 in Prescott, WA, Rick Griffin decided to take a job in Phoenix, AZ, to work with adults with developmental disabilities. There, he began to see similarities between the issues they were having and what he saw in the kids at JLA. “There was a cognitive reason these adults I...

(L to R) Teri Barila from Children's Resilience Initiative in Walla Walla, WA along with Dr. Ariane Marie-Mitchell from San Bernardino County, CA ACEs Task Force share their ACEs journey in their communities Representatives from several MARC communities were among the 450 people who attended the 2016 Adverse Childhood Experiences Conference in San Francisco, CA on October 19th and 20th. This is the third CA ACEs conference sponsored by the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), and it was also the...

The Resilience Art Festival marks another successful initiative that was kicked off 4 years ago by the Children’s Resilience Initiative (CRI). The festival originated when Teri Barila responded to the question “what does resilience mean to you”? This year, Whitman College stepped in and augmented the festival with a fund raiser. The art was displayed at two locations. First, a booth was set up at the Farmers Market for the resilience art display. When the market closed at 1 pm the students...

(l to r) Teri Barila, director of the Children's Resilience Initiative; Dr. Ariane Marie-Mitchell, assistant professor in Loma Linda University Preventive Medicine and Pediatric Depts. (Photo: Jennifer Hossler) _________________________________ Sauntering on stage to the beat of Everyday People by Sly and the Family Stone, four “heroes” of the ACEs movement took their seats for a panel on trauma-informed and resilience-building communities on October 21, the last day of the 2016 Adverse...

CRI is artfully informing the eyes and minds of Walla Walla visitors and residents to see a new light. Flags wave from street lights, a banner fly’s over 2 nd Avenue, and a comment box that engages pedestrians at town square reads “Heart Matters. What is on yours?” Timely and pertinent information about how to join the movement to restore, improve, and reform our society.

Now I know why Rick Griffin is so well loved by the Walla Walla community. I joined a group of 40 people last night and engaged in an entertaining evening of fun and learning. We played games and laughed while Rick directed the fun and informed us about the importance of community care. One of the games we played gave us the direct experience of caring for others. I was amazed how good I felt after an hour of learning and games. Then today as I sat in a critical thinking class at WWCC I...