Before I let you know what I've been up to over the last couple of months, I'd like to first welcome all the new members of our soon to be Canadian ACEs and TI Network.
Over the past few months I have connected with many people from across Canada who are interested in creating a national #TraumaInformedCanada collaborative community. With so much interest nationally, Denise and I have decided it's time to change the name of our community here on ACEs Connection to better reflect the growing membership.
I originally started this community to build local connections. Perhaps once we get enough people from all different regions in the country, we will then create local communities to create more on the ground connections.
In the meantime, with my increasing activity on Twitter, engaging with people across the world who are working on making ACEs awareness, prevention and recovery universal, I'm gathering quite a community of practice myself. It's very validating and heartwarming for me after all my years of speaking out in the vacuum. Many people in Canada are working on the same goal, albeit often using different terminology. Just know that some of us are working on bringing us all together under one umbrella. This community here on ACEs Connection is one of our gateways to that national collaborative.
So on to what I've been up to.
As you may have seen the event I advertised here, I offered a one day workshop in Halifax in June called ACEs: What We Should Know. I had over 60 people express interest in the event. I had 11 actively engage. People who are interested in this topic are so starved for the opportunity to chat with like minded individuals about it, my event ended up being a big discussion. I only covered 1/4 of what I had prepared to present. Therefore I will be offering this workshop again soon. Stay tuned. The biggest issue I continue to face is funding. Because I operate as an independent, I am not eligible for any financial support or even discounts for rentals of government facilities. To host my events at the library for example I would have to pay corporate rental rates for the room and not be able to charge people to attend. So many barriers continue to try to keep me quiet, and still I persist. My online community of supporters are definitely the wind beneath my wings.
Some others are beginning to talk my talk in Nova Scotia though. Over the past 2 months I have attended 4 events hosted by one of the local universities and the College of Social Workers. The highlights from those events I will blog about separately.
Suffice it to say, things are moving in the right direction.
One of my favourite movies is Field of Dreams. Throughout my life I have often motivated myself with the message: If you build it, they will come.
During my most disillusioned times in the past few years, I gave up my belief in that message, but last year, before I started this community, I picked it back up and decided to test it again.
And sure enough, it has worked.
Today, I listened to the recording of Dr. Gabor Mate responding to questions from the audience at the ACEs to Assets conference in Scotland June 11, 2019.
This quote from him gives me the encouragement I need. I even made an image of it so I can share it broadly.
"Keep doing what you're doing in the face of all that works against you, and don't take it personally. Don't take it all on as a job that you're going to have to finish, because you're not going to finish it. But without your contribution, it's going to be much worse. That's the best I can tell you."
Dr. Gabor Mate
We are making a difference. I am making a difference.
We may not yet be achieving the results we wish for, but without our efforts, the situation would be much worse.
Here's another quote I saw yesterday on a t-shirt. I don't know the author, but this speaks to me too.
Life isn't short, but the chapters are.
This tells me to Keep Going!
Thank you for your connection.
If you're not following me on social media, please do.
Twitter and Facebook: @eperryinsights
Linked In: Elizabeth Perry, 1st Voice Trauma Prevention Champion
Stay tuned for those Nova Scotia events reports.
Stay cool as our planet heats up!
Elizabeth Perry
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