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Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.

Thrive Washington is pleased to announce that the 3 rd edition of the NEAR@Home toolkit is now available and offers home visitors more guidance on how to safely, respectfully and effectively address Adverse Childhood Experiences with the families they serve. This new edition reflects what was learned when the toolkit was incorporated into a Facilitated Learning Process with 225 home visitors and 54 supervisors in the four states of federal Region X: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. It's...

I have avoided writing this blog because there is so much that needs to be addressed regarding the judicial system and trauma – the theme of this newsletter. But of course, it is this avoidance that I, we must resist because avoidance often perpetuates harm. To talk about the judicial system means we have to talk about racism, systemic oppression, power, economics, and trauma and that can feel overwhelming. Even what we call the system can lead to inaccurate assumptions and connections. For...

There's a fantastic five-part series, Whole People , done by PBS, " spotlighting the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) through personal and community stories. It explores the long-term costs to personal well-being and our society. While much work needs to be done, there are many innovative developments to prevent and treat ACES. We all play a role in becoming a whole people." It's amazing. The five topics covered are as follows: Childhood Trauma Healing Communities A New...

Less then 5 years ago long-time trauma informed advocates, Sandra Bloom, MD and Andrea Blanch, PhD, brought together a small group of similarly-minded folks to talk about forming a new national organization focused on trauma informed policy and practice. Months later the Campaign for Trauma Informed Policy and Practice CTIPP was born. In May of 2019, CTIPP was selected by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to receive its Distinguished Service Award for meritorious service to the...

From Mandy Davis, LCSW, PhD, Director, Trauma Informed Oregon As we strive to bring organizations and systems into alignment with trauma informed care (TIC) principles, we must also advocate for accessible and culturally responsive trauma specific services (TSS). The contributors for this newsletter share their approach to helping individuals and families heal from traumatizing events. This is different from TIC which focuses on organizations and systems integrating the knowledge about the...

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...

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on May 22 on the challenges that states face in their efforts to support children affected by trauma. The findings were based in part on interviewing state and local officials in six states (Colorado, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington, and Wisconsin) along with questionnaires to 16 states. The request for the report was made by two Illinois members of Congress, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and Congressman Danny Davis, and...

Join a webinar highlighting how two providers have incorporated trauma-informed care into their substance use disorder treatment practices, shaping the experiences of their patients and staff.

We are excited to offer an exclusive virtual screening to all ACEs Connection members of the new, acclaimed film, CRACKED UP . This documentary film is about the long term effects of childhood trauma, told through Saturday Night Live veteran Darrell Hammond’s journey in discovering adverse childhood experiences at the root of his lifelong battle with self-harm, addiction, and misdiagnosis. The film’s director, Michelle Esrick, and other special guests will join us after the screening window...

Inside the Sesame Street studio in Queens, Elmo is playing “monsterball” with his friend, a new Muppet named Karli who has lime-green fur and two ponytails. (Monsterball, for what it's worth, appears to be the same as soccer, but with a furry ball.) Puppeteers, with their hands raised high and their heads cranked to the side to stay out of the camera’s shot, run around, making Elmo and Karli kick, laugh, and throw the ball. Outside, it’s a chilly gray December Monday, but on set the...

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...