We think everyone who’s joined ACEsConnection has a story to tell. So, we’ll be contacting many of you to ask you a few questions about what inspired you to work on ACEs. We ACEs Connection Network team members will go first, partly because if we want you to participate, we should, too.
1) What personal or professional moment or event in your life inspired you to work on ACEs?
Professionally I am really interested in maternal, child and infant health, specifically early infancy breastfeeding initiation. The two, breastfeeding and ACEs, may not seem to link right away, but I have found it fascinating exploring how much they can go hand in hand when a mother makes the decision on whether or not she wants to breastfeed her child. I am eager to continue to grow professionally incorporating trauma-informed practice into my work and outreach.
2) What does resilience to early childhood adversity mean to you?
You hear that children are resilient all the time, even when faced with adversity or trauma “they bounce back”. I think it is important to not dismiss the trauma experienced during childhood just because the child, on the outside, seems to have been resilient and made it through unscathed. Prevention is best but second best is being informed in how to appropriately handle people who have experienced adverse childhood experiences.
3) How would you like to see trauma-informed practices shape your field?
I come from the field of public health and I would hope that one day, trauma-informed practices are part of the bachelors and most definitely part of the masters of public health curriculum. We often say in public health that there is no one program/intervention fits all. Each program planned for a population needs to be tailored and a trauma-informed approach needs to be apart of that.
4) How do you hope to contribute to and gain from ACEs Connection?
I am excited about the Group feature of the site and hope to be an asset as those grow and become their own little networks of ACEs professionals within the larger group/membership of ACEsConnection.com. I am always here to answer questions that come up within groups and am excited about starting the Young Professionals in ACEs group where members can share information about career development opportunities, internships, jobs, and volunteer opportunities.
5) Basically, what do you do, and what does your organization do?
As the Information Specialist, I am here to help the members navigate/locate anything they may be looking for in the resource center and answer questions that may arise within the ACEsConnection groups and go to the literature. Basically, I am here to help, to be each member's own part-time research assistant for all things related to ACEs. Please feel free to send me a message if you have a question you’d like answered.
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