Tagged With "Alaska Children's Trust"
Blog Post
Investigating historical trauma endured by Native Americans, Alaska Natives [AlaskaPublic.org]
An Ojibwe woman and independent journalist Mary Annette Pember recently visited Alaska for a series of stories on historical trauma and Native American mental health practices. Pember says the troubled lives of Native Americans reflect their troubled...
Blog Post
Investing in Prevention: Working Together in Early Childhood for Healthy Alaskan Children, Families, and Communities 2015
An Alaska interagency workgroup began meeting in 2013 to put together this report , which has a large section on the effect of ACEs on Alaska's citizens to demonstrate the urgency for resilience-building programs. The state departments that...
Blog Post
Kindness for children with an incarcerated parent [juneauempire.com]
11.2 percent. More than 1 in 10. This is the number of adults in Alaska, that had experienced having a family member in jail at some point during their childhood. Seventy percent of those reporting an incarcerated family member grew up with four or more adverse childhood experiences (i.e. witnessed or experienced domestic violence, substance abuse in the household, sexual abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, household mental illness). These ACEs can lead to physical and mental health issues...
Blog Post
Lunch & Learn: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), Resilience and Trauma-Informed Policy-Making
Join me in Juneau to learn about the impact of ACEs on our communities, workplaces and state. ACEs are a significant contributor to all the issues we struggle with, and cost Alaskan an estimated $866 million per year. Learn examples of trauma-informed approaches to business and policy-making. For those not in Juneau, the Lunch and Learn will be broadcast live and archived at www.360north.org/watch . When: Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at 12 PM – 12:45 PM Where: Capitol Building in Juneau,...
Blog Post
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!
Blog Post
Mat-Su Valley Faith Leaders
Mat-Su Valley faith leaders and all those in faith communtiies who work with children, families, and communities: On April 5th, the Mat-Su Faith Leaders Forum on "Safe Children, Healthy Families" will be held, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at Turkey Red restaurant in Palmer. This is an opportunity to learn about the research on trauma and resilience, hear examples of how other faith communities have applied this research to their services and approaches, and brainstorm with your peer ... s about what...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
National article on Rose Domnick of Bethel, AK -- brilliant Yup'ik trauma prevention and healing expert
"[Domnick] owes her progress to learning traditional Yup’ik ways of healing and dealing with life. 'Our ancestors gave us tools to navigate through the tough times of life. They taught us to take bad experiences and turn them inside out, examine them, talk about them and understand how they have affected us.' In her work with Calricaraq, she and her team help guide others through this process and gain more insight into their own lives. 'We are also finding that our elders are recalling old...
Blog Post
Native American Children’s Safety Act (NACSA)
President Obama signed a new act to amend the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act by enacting certain requirements for foster care placements in Indian Country. Known as the Native American Children’s Safety Act [ LINK HERE ], the new law places some stringent requirements that may actually harm tribal efforts to implement the Indian Child Welfare Act. It’s tough to argue against efforts to protect our children, and the imposition of tough requirements for that...
Blog Post
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.
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
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.
Blog Post
"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.
Blog Post
“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...
Blog Post
Patrick Anderson ’75: Breaking the Cycle [Princeton Alumni Weekly]
How a troubled childhood led to bettering outcomes for Alaskan Native children If only for a short time, there was some happiness in Patrick Anderson ’75’s childhood: swimming in a slough off Alaska’s Prince William Sound, eating fresh herring eggs, and picking berries for his large extended family and placing them into empty 3-quart cans. It was a traditional life of Tlingit and Aleut peoples in Cordova, Alaska, in the early 1960s. But when Anderson was 8, his family moved to Seattle, where...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
Prescription for Play: Children’s play is critical for healthy development [Peninsula Clarion]
Some doctors are starting to write a very different kind of prescription for their young patients — a strong recommendation to “play every day.” While this may sound curious or frivolous to some, research shows that unstructured play is an essential building block for healthy child development. Unfortunately, children today have fewer opportunities to play and grow in healthy ways, which negatively affects their ability to decrease stress, overcome adverse childhood experiences, learn...
Blog Post
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.
Blog Post
Program increases awareness of effects of childhood trauma [JuneauEmpire.com]
Posted January 14, 2018 06:24 am - Updated January 14, 2018 05:44 pm By ALEX McCARTHY Those running CLEAR hope to help students who have suffered from trauma to perform better in school and society. As Natalie Turner walked into a fourth-grade classroom at Glacier Valley Elementary on Friday, the fingers started wiggling. The fourth-graders greeted her silently, holding up their index fingers and bending them up and down. Turner returned the gesture, which they call the “one-finger wave,”...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
Recording: Trauma-Informed Policy Making presentation at Alaska State Capitol
Last Wednesday, March 13th, I had the opportunity to present a Legislative Lunch and Learn to legislators, legislative staff, administrative staff, and the public in the Alaska State Capitol Building. To a room of ~ 30 - 40 people munching on lunch provided by the Alaska Children's Trust , and broadcast live via Gavel to Gavel (now archived here ), I had the honor to premiere the policymaker version of our History and Hope curriculum. This curriculum, and the policy-maker version, was...
Blog Post
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.
Blog Post
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.
Blog Post
Sen. Heitkamp Discusses the Need for a Commission on Native Children [Indian Country Today]
In this interview published February 5, Senator Heitkamp (D-ND) specifically addressed trauma in the Native American community—both historical and individual—and says that the proposed Commission on Native Children must develop...
Blog Post
"Stalking the Bogeyman" at UAA April 1 - April 24
"Every year, approximately 8,000 Alaskan children are physically or sexually abused. More often than not, that abuse isn’t at the hands of some stranger on the street in a trench coat, but someone the victim already knows and is familiar with." David Holthouse's play "Stalking the Bogeyman" confronts this situation through his Holthouse's own powerful story. The play, produced by UAA, runs Friday, Apr. 1 – Sunday, Apr. 24 at Harper Studio Theatre in the UAA Fine Arts Building (3700 Alumni...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
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. ...
Blog Post
Summer reading list: Turn your everyday kid into a resilient revolutionary [ADN.com]
In my last column , I wrote about how getting lost in a good book can help students hang on to academic advances they made during the school year. What I didn't talk about then is how reading offers an equally crucial benefit to young people by developing what are known as "soft skills" — the emotional intelligence we need in life to feel confident, make good decisions and endure bad things. This is especially critical in Alaska, a state where too many children are victims of society's dark...
Blog Post
Superhero Dreams to Statewide network: My Story of the Alaska Resilience Initiative
I wanted to share with all of you the blog post I wrote about the Alaska Resilience Initiative for the Alaska Children's Trust blog. It's part personal story, part history of this Initiative, part updates on our work and guiding values. https://blog.alaskachildrenstrust.org/2017/06/14/superhero-dreams-to-statewide-network-my-story-of-the-alaska-resilience-initiative/
Blog Post
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.
Blog Post
Surviving abuse: Rally raises awareness of child abuse, neglect [Juneau Empire]
Supportive community members can make major difference, experts say A cold wind whipped in front of the Alaska State Capitol on Friday afternoon, sending pinwheels spinning and a police barricade tumbling. The pinwheels and the traffic barricade were there for a rally in honor of National Go Blue Day, which aims to raise awareness about child abuse and neglect. The annual event also tries to bring attention to the importance of families and communities working together to build a more...
Blog Post
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,...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
The California ACEs Conference
Love from California The Adverse Childhood Experiences Conference got underway tonight in San Francisco with many of the 450 participants attending a meet-and-greet at the Park Central Hotel. The conference focuses on moving from “Awareness to Action”, and includes representatives from education, early childhood, juvenile justice, child welfare, pediatrics, and many other dedicated professionals committed to the ACEs movement. (Left to Right) Michelle Allen; Vanessa Jackson (Parents...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
The Quality of Intimate Relationships in Indian Country
As a research topic, Intimate Relationships are not well understood in Indian Country. This article, [ LINK HERE ] soon to be published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, is a first small step in addressing this gap. Decades ago, I spoke about the difficulties of parenting when you had no examples to emulate. As a boy, I changed diapers, fed babies, soothed fussiness and performed scores of other child care tasks. During one of our early morning talks, my Mother told me that she was...
Blog Post
Thoughts on Trauma Work as I Say Farewell to the Alaska Resilience Initiative
The following letter went out to the list serve of the Alaska Resilience Initiative on Monday, February 24th. I am sharing it here...because the reflections on lessons learned may be useful to those in the broader ACEs movement...
Most important, perhaps: an ethic of self-reflection and of welcoming feedback creates safety, creates a trauma-informed environment. And so, it is both a tool for growth, and a way of walking the walk on trauma-informed, culturally-responsive care.
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
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...
Comment
Re: Expansion of ACEs in Alaska
Thanks Will for sharing this great news. Look forward to learning more about what the additional resources will mean for the movement in Alaska. Elizabeth
Comment
Re: Greetings & introduction!
I look forward to continuing our work together, Laura, and congratulations on your new position and pending addition to the family. I am getting ready to head to Finland shortly to work with researchers who are collaborating on an international study on the emotional security of children and to work on the "ACEs" toolkit for domestic violence service providers. I hope we can connect this blog with the "ACEs in the Arctic" blog where I'll be talking about this work or perhaps I can post in...
Comment
Re: Alaska Native & Native American gathering on trauma and resilience in AK
Thanks for posting this, Laura. I'm looking forward to reading the detailed proceedings. Cheers, Jane
Comment
Re: Taking the Next First Step to Healing Communities in Alaska
@Elizabeth Prewitt PACEsConnection writer