Tagged With "adolescent health"
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Losing A Generation [AnchoragePress.com]
“There’s an old saying in the medical community,” Dr. Jay Butler says, “statistics are people without the tears attached.” He’d know. He’s Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Division of Public Health at the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services and Chairman of the Alaska Opioid Policy Task Force. In the case of that second job description, sad stories are what drive his work. [For more of this story, written by Aurora Ford, go to ...
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MARC Booklet 2016: Features Alaska
Please find attached the 2016 booklet for the Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) project, including Alaska and the other 13 communities that have been selected to participate in this 2 year learning collaborative. This is a great summary of the work happening in all 14 communities across the country. I look forward to working with you all in Alaska!
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Mining the “lessons learned” from trauma legislation successes
L to R: Afomeia Tesfai, Rep. Geran Tarr, Jeff Hild _____________________________________________________________________ The planned agenda for the “Learning Series: Policy Approaches to Childhood Adversity” workshop at the 2018 ACEs Conference: Action to Access went out the window when an unexpected guest— California Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, MD —was invited to open the session and join the other participants in lively exchanges about their advocacy experiences and perspectives on...
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Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) Represented at California ACEs Conference
(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...
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New Alaska ACEs data reinforces importance of investment in early childhood
Pat Sidmore, our expert for all things data and ACEs and a planner for the Alaska Mental Health Board, Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, has collected new data that outlines when Alaska's children (0-17) acquire their ACEs. The slide below paints a pretty grim picture showing that our children are accumulating 50 percent of their ACEs before the age of 3, and more than 26% of them before the age of 1. Please feel free to share this slide as you see fit.
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New Alaskan training on healthcare and domestic violence available online for 3.25 free CME/CEs!
An engaging, multimedia training series on healthcare and domestic violence eligible for 3.25 free CME/CEs is now available online! The title of the training series is “Domestic and Sexual Violence (DV/SV), The Impact on...
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New Alaskan Youth Healthy Relationships Community Toolkit
A Step-by-Step Guide to Using the ANTHC Healthy Youth Relationships Community Toolkit The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium has collaborated with rural and urban communities to make locally and culturally-relevant resources...
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New Data Paint Fresh Picture of Alaska’s Health Challenges [StateofReform.com]
The Alaska Department of Health and Human Services recently released a new batch of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) indicator reports , and the latest findings offer the closest look to date at how the state is coping with childhood trauma in its cities and boroughs. Taken together, the 12 indicator reports focus on a broad range of traumatic experiences, from neglect to abuse to mental illness. Research has shown that the presence of ACEs in households contributes to serious health...
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NEW FUNDING $3.8M for Integrated Behavioral Health Services in AK
Click here to learn more. HRSA is awarding more than $200 million to 1,208 health centers across the nation to increase access to high quality, integrated behavioral health services , including the prevention or treatment of mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders, including opioid use disorder through the Integrated Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) program.
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Now available: recording of Chris Blodgett's talk on trauma-informed communities
Dr. Chris Blodgett spoke on Thursday, Nov 3rd at the Anchorage Loussac Library to a room of nearly 140 people and 60 more online. His talk "From ACEs to Action: How Communities Can Improve Well-Being and Resilience" was approximately two hours long. Access the webinar video, audio file, and slides here.
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"Paper Tigers" April 5th, 6-9PM, University of Alaska Anchorage
As part of National Public Health week there will be a public showing of "Paper Tigers" at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Admission is free. Light refreshments will be provided. Thank you to Kate Wright, ACEs Connection member, for creating this opportunity for students and other community members to see this important film.
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“Paper Tigers” Makes an Impact at University of Alaska, Anchorage
On Tuesday evening students, staff, and community members attended a showing of “Paper Tigers” on campus at UAA. The showing was a joint effort of Alaska Children’s Trust, Prevent Child Abuse America, and UAA Residence Life in recognition of National Public Health Week. The room was packed and there was an animated discussion after the film. “Paper Tigers’ clearly had a strong impact on everyone who attended. In the written evaluations everyone indicated that they would recommend the film to...
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Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield donates to Alaska Children’s Trust [newsminer.com]
By Erin Granger egranger@newsminer.com FAIRBANKS — Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield, Alaska’s only individual health care company, announced will donate a grant of $220,000 to Alaska Children’s Trust, a state nonprofit program working to prevent issues related to child abuse in Alaska. The grant was part of eight donations Premera gave to eight total organizations across Alaska and Washington, finishing its first year of donations directed toward organizations that support behavioral health...
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Principal Progress: Trauma-Informed Efforts at One Alaska Elementary School
Before Deanna Beck had ever heard of the 1998 ACE study, before she became principal of Northwood ABC Elementary School in Anchorage, she was a special education teacher who saw the ways trauma scrawled through her students’ lives.
On the one-minute reading tests Beck administered, she would notice steady progress—40 words a minute, then 50—followed by dramatic drops; a child would suddenly be stumbling along at three or four words a minute.
She began to ask the kids what had happened.
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Reading the Signs of Trauma
I lived in Kotzebue, AK, for four months. One reason I was attracted to the community was an opportunity to introduce the concept of childhood trauma and ACEs. I did that. The Northwest Arctic School District had a wonderful and compassionate superintendent, Dr. Norm Eck. I had a few conversations with Dr. Eck about ACEs and how it affects children as they become adults. Dr. Eck accepted the information and had plans to examine it more deeply, but eventually retired and the spread of...
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Research commission examines mental health issues in the Arctic [AlaskaDispatchNews.com]
When Alaska Health and Social Services Commissioner Valerie Davidson parked her car in downtown Anchorage Monday and walked to the swanky Hotel Captain Cook for a meeting with prominent policymakers, she did what she...
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Resilient, Period: Trauma, Healing, Equity, and the Alaska Resilience Initiative
This visually-engaging short film shows what roles the Alaska Resilience Initiative plays in the trauma and resilience field and the ways in which we prioritize equity, a comprehensive understanding of trauma, and indigenous worldviews and resilience practices in our work.
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Resolve to connect with others more [HomerNews.com]
Tis the season of resolutions. I always hate to see how people start off with such positivity and idealism, plan to be stronger and healthier, and so often end up with that horrible stain of failure and resignation. Every year people fail to stop smoking. Fail to do enough exercise. Fail to lose weight. Then out come the excuses. But I would like to throw an idea out there. What if no excuse was necessary? What if we stopped punishing ourselves and instead looked to real solutions? Real...
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ROCK Juneau carries kindness forward [JuneauEmpire.com]
Tayler Shae and Becky Roth _________________________________________ Two thousand and seventeen thank yous to former Juneau Police Department Lt. Kris Sell and her 2017 Year of Kindness Committee members. Their vision and efforts really activated our community to be more thoughtful and compassionate. Kindness really does make a difference. R.O.C.K. Juneau (Raising Our Children with Kindness) is continuing the kindness celebration by hosting a Year of Kindness for Kids during 2018. R.O.C.K.
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Roubideaux to Leave HHS Months After Receiving Top-Tier Indian Health Position[Indian Country Today Media]
June 4, 2015 Less than four months after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created a special, top-tier position for Dr. Yvette Roubideaux to advise HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell on Indian health and other Native-focused matters,...
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Self-Healing Communities
"A comprehensive model of building community capacity in Washington helped make dramatic reductions in rates of health issues and social problems ." We are on our way to creating a more resilient nation. Washington State demonstrates how influential it is to build up local community's self-sustaining resiliency programs! Read the article See the report See Executive summary
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Speaker: Childhood trauma can lead to health problems [JuneauEmpire.com]
What if health issues, addictions and premature death are caused by the role of repressing childhood trauma? Vincent J. Felitti, M.D., made this case to a packed room at the Walter Soboleff Building Tuesday, backing up his assertions with decades of study, research and analysis. His conclusion was that repressed adverse childhood experiences can manifest in adults by altering their well-being, causing disease and even premature death. “Addiction is the unconscious, compulsive use of...
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State Health Boards Support Findings On Adverse Health Effects To LGBTQ Alaskans [KYUK.org]
When they met this week in Bethel, the state behavioral health boards took a look at the Alaska Mental Health Board (AMHB) and Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (ABADA) report about the adverse effects of discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Alaskans. The boards decided to endorse the report's findings that discrimination brings a higher risk of drug and alcohol abuse and other risk behaviors. The boards think that more access to health and community...
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State of Alaska Playing Catch Up
As one who has been advocating for change in addressing childhood trauma for many years now, I have learned that change is extremely difficult for most people. There needs to be a reason for it. When Dr. Felitti was in Juneau last week, his planned testimony before the House Health & Social Services Committee was cancelled. The Legislative leadership mandated no hearings could be held unless they dealt with the state budget deficit. It was odd because what Dr. Felitti has to say is of...
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States Produce a Bumper Crop of ACEs bills in 2017—nearly 40 bills in 18 states
A scan done in March by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) through StateNet of bills introduced in 2017 that specifically include adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the text produced a surprising volume of bills (close of 40) in a large number of states (18). A scan done a year ago produced less than a handful. NCSL is a bipartisan organization that serves both state legislators and their staffs. The shear volume of bills in so many states represents a promising...
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Stemming the tide of childhood trauma [ADN.com]
As parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, neighbors and community members, we all know children and care about their well-being. Likely all of us know at least one child who struggles in school, who acts out in class or shuts down and withdraws, who often goes to the nurse or goes home sick, and who shows up at school late many days — if at all. Perhaps we find ourselves wondering what is the most likely cause of all these different problems and what we can possibly do to help. The good...
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Stopping the flow of childhood trauma from one generation to the next [JuneauEmpire.com]
During opening remarks for the Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition’s conference, “Adverse Childhood Experiences and Suicide,” Alaska Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott talked about the challenging and traumatic experiences he and his family experienced. “My mother — a full-blooded Tlingit lady — her entire experience of life was that of adversity. Her mother was born, and living at the time that missionaries came to our community and changed our world forever,” he said to an audience of more than 200...
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Story about the Aleut Community of St. Paul in The Guardian
This story, told compellingly for The Guardian by Alaskan journalists Jill Burke and Ash Adams , shows the power that communities, tribes, and individuals hold for healing from child maltreatment and intergenerational trauma, and the importance of funding community-led solutions. This story was made possible in part through travel support from the Alaska Resilience Initiative , via funding from the Health Federation of Philadelphia Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities project. ...
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Suicide Rates Rise in the U.S.
I became extremely interested in suicide prevention after two of my young cousins committed suicide within six months of each other. I began to study the current state of suicide prevention in 2008 and began to envision what I refer to as a future state in about 2009. I wrote a very quick paper summarizing my research because two of my dear friends were deeply engaged in suicide prevention, one as chair of a prevention task force and the other as a teacher, coach and mentor. I gave three...
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Support needed for HCR 21 (ACEs Bill) -- incl. testimony THIS Saturday
1.) Write a letter of support for HCR 21. Please email them to Rep. Tarr's office as soon as possible so we can add them to the bill packet.
2.) If there’s an opportunity to give public testimony, please send Rep. Tarr's aide your name and contact number before Wednesday, March 30th.
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Survey, conference aims to help Juneau residents find causes of disease, illness [CapitalCityWeekly.com]
A negative experience as a child can have a big impact on a person’s health, and the Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition wants to begin figuring how those experiences are affecting the people of Juneau — and spreading the word about the link in the first place. “The ACEs study seems to be well-known within specific communities (like behavioral health) but broadly, in the community, it’s not well known,” said Hilary Young, Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator for Juneau Youth Services and...
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Taking the Next First Step to Healing Communities in Alaska
On the heels of a state policy victory , grassroots advocacy led by the Alaska Resilience Initiative continues to move toward the goal of systemic change by publishing a brief for people who occupy strategic positions across the state. While Alaska Senate Bill 105 builds a framework for changing the system, that's only a beginning. A new document, “ Toward a Trauma-Informed, Resilient, and Culturally-Responsive Alaska ,” authored by Andrea Blanch, is designed to help elected officials,...
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Thank you, Alaska!!
It was a terrific and fast five-day visit, and I definitely want to return. The start of the trip was in Anchorage, where on Friday, May 29, I met about 25 people who gathered at Alaska Children’s Trust to chat about what’s...
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The economic costs of ACEs in Alaska [StateofReform.com]
The Alaska Mental Health Board and the Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse have explored these questions and found that childhood trauma has profound costs. A national study demonstrates that costs of childhood trauma begin immediately ( $48,000 during childhood for every substantiated report of harm ), and those costs continue for decades into the future. The report, Economic Costs of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Alaska , takes an initial look at potential savings with...
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To solve Alaska’s opioid crisis, call addiction what it is [adn.com]
Another opioid overdose death. Another drug-related crime. Another billion dollars spent on ineffective treatments. News about the opioid crisis keeps getting worse. Simple solutions haven't changed the epidemic's course. The number of deaths has continued to increase, driven by an influx of illicit fentanyl sold as heroin, as well as counterfeit pills and other illicit drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine often contaminated with fentanyl. To effectively treat this evolving public health...
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Trauma & Resiliency Summit in the Columbia River Gorge
Hello all! The Columbia River Gorge is hosting a Trauma & Resiliency Summit on October 20th & 21st, 2016 in The Dalles, OR. Registration is made free to attendees through MARC Grant funding. If you are in the area please join us! And please note that registration is only available prior to the event as we have a limited amount of space. Claire
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U.S. Senator Heitkamp spreads the word about trauma to Senate colleagues and urges advocates to do more
At a March 8 breakfast meeting in Washington, D.C., the featured speakers—U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota (left) and Judith Sandalow, Executive Director of the DC Children’s Law Center (CLC)—used the vivid image of children growing up with “black mold climbing the walls,” referring to unsafe physical and emotional environments at home and in communities, exacerbated by poverty but not limited to poor households. Heitkamp described how the science now explains what we already...
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Visit to Juneau, Alaska, by Dr. Vincent Felitti
Dr. Vincent Felitti spent three days in Juneau, Alaska this week as a guest of the Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) and its president, Dr. Rosita Worl . He was invited to speak about the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experience Study and how it might benefit Alaska, specifically the Alaska Native community. Beginning with a radio appearance and a community reception with about 100 people in attendance, Dr. Felitti was well received. While in Juneau, he met with Alaska Native...
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Walker signs opioid addiction prevention bill
"The state’s public health director, Doctor Jay Butler, leads that team and says prescriptions are only one part of the problem. 'Things that we still need to do address access to treatment for people with addiction, undoing some of the stigma that is associated with a variety of addictions, and then also getting into the more fundamental questions, such as how do we mitigate and prevent adverse childhood experiences, which we know is one of the drivers that puts people at risk for substance...
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Webinar Learning Series begins tomorrow: State Policy Approaches to Addressing Childhood Adversity, Wednesday, January 10, 10am PST (1:00 PM EST)
Reminder of tomorrow's ( Wednesday, January 10, 10am PST/1:00 PM EST) webinar on State Policy Approaches to Addressing Childhood Adversity Please join us for a three -part learning series hosted by the California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity and ACEs Connection . We'll hear from states that are making great strides towards adopting trauma-informed policies and practices. Three-Part Learning Series: Webinar 1: Overview of State Level Efforts to Address Childhood Adversity and...
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Webinar Learning Series: State Policy Approaches to Addressing Childhood Adversity, January 10, 10am PST (1:00 PM EST)
Please join us for a three -part learning series hosted by the California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity and ACEs Connection . We'll hear from states that are making great strides towards adopting trauma-informed policies and practices. Three-Part Learning Series: Webinar 1: Overview of State Level Efforts to Address Childhood Adversity and Highlights from Oregon, Tennessee, and Wisconsin Date: January 10th, 10AM PST (1:00 PM EST) Speakers: Elizabeth Prewitt, Policy Analyst, ACEs...
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Week of events aim to show benefits of mindfulness [HomerTribune.com]
Take a breath. Notice the feeling of your breath. Take another. According to medical researchers, you have just done something profoundly positive for your physical and mental health. Over the next week, everyone from parents to health care providers will have a chance to learn more about the potential benefits of mindfulness thanks to a series of workshops and presentations organized by South Peninsula Hospital. The series will feature both local presenters knowledgeable about mindfulness...
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What other ACE surveys have additional questions? We know of seven.
We’ll start to populate the new Resource Center next month. One of the sections lists ACE surveys that have additional questions. The CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study revealed that ACEs contribute to most of our major chronic health, mental health, economic health and social health issues. It measured five types of abuse and neglect: physical, verbal and sexual abuse; physical and emotional neglect. And five types of family dysfunction: a family member with mental...
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Wisconsin state agencies end year one of trauma-informed learning community; goal is to be first trauma-informed state
Here in California, many people think that it’s only liberal Democrats who have a corner on championing the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and putting it into practice. That might be because people who use ACEs science don’t expel or suspend students, even if they’re throwing chairs and hurling expletives at the teacher. They ask "What happened to you?" rather than "What's wrong with you?" as a frame when they create juvenile detention centers where kids don’t fight, reduce...
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Youth Alliance for a Healthier Alaska (YAHA) needs applications from teens by 3/31
I wanted to share this flyer and message from Jenny Baker at the State of Alaska's Adolescent Health Program, because it's a fantastic way to get Alaskan teens involved in a meaningful leadership position (which we all know is a protective factor that builds resilience) and it's a way to have their experience and voices shaping health and social service programs in Alaska so that these programs can be more effective with youth -- which is our goal, right? Please share with teens in your...
Ask the Community
Addictive Behaviors, Childhood & Trauma Experiences Impact on Suicide
September 8, 2016 - Anchorage, AK September 9, 2016 – Fairbanks, AK Alaska Federal Health Care Partnership will be hosting a workshop focused on the impacts of addictive behaviors and childhood trauma on suicide. Dr. Donald Warne comes from a long line of traditional Lakota healers. Dr. Warne holds an MD from Stanford University and a Master of Public Health from Harvard University. He is also a Diplomate of both the American Board of Family Practice and the American Board of Medical...
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2019 Alaska State of Reform Health Policy Conference
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