Tagged With "collective trauma"
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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...
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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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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...
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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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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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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...
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Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain - FREE Screening for ACEs Connection Network!
I am excited to announce that ACEs Connection Network has partnered with the producers of the film, Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain . to host a FREE SCREENING of the film for our members. If you have been t hinking of hosting a screening of CAREgivers in your community or are interested in learning more about secondary traumatic stress and what to do about it, join our ACEs Connection Network for a FREE screening of this film and a virtual chat with the...
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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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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,”...
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Putting Alaska Native hopes, voices at center of state’s ACEs movement (socialjusticesolutions.org)
Before the Alaska Resilience Initiative could push forward on any of its goals—to grow a sustainable statewide network; to educate all Alaskans on brain development, adverse childhood experiences , and resilience-building; and to support organizational, policy and practice change to address trauma—its leaders had to start by listening. Specifically, they had to listen to Alaska Native people. That’s why Laura Norton-Cruz, program director of the Alaska Resilience Initiative, partnered with...
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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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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...
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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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Role models can change a community [HomerNews.com]
Role models are truly vital to a healthy and resilient community. I’m not just saying that, that is science. Luckily, this community has so many wonderful people with amazing talents and impressive stories that it would be impossible to share them all. We are also lucky that there are certain events, like the recent Women of Distinction Awards, that give us the chance to honor some of these local icons. Interestingly, the recipient of the Lifelong Learner Award this weekend, Linda...
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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...
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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 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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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/
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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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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...
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The Story of Vigor Shipyards
A trauma-informed, resilience-building shipyard based in values of authenticity, wholeness, and love? Yes, it's true, and it's here in Alaska.
Watch this 20-minute video made by consultant Tom Mann, who worked closely with Vigor Shipyards General Manager Mike Pearson in Ketchikan, which tells the remarkable Vigor story:
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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.
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Thrive Washington: 3rd Edition of NEAR@Home Toolkit Released
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...
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Tools for Trauma-Informed Change
The Alaska Resilience Initiative website ( www.akresilience.org ) is meant to be a community-building hub, a place to come for resources and a place for you to share resources that you have developed or that you use. We have two resource pages on the site: one is for background on trauma and resilience, and this one is for tools to support trauma-informed and culturally-responsive practices: https://www.akresilience.org/traumainformed-change/ If you have tools, particularly if you have...
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Toxic Stress, Toxic Streets (4 minute video)
This video is about 2 years old, but I just came across it last week and wanted to share with you all. It is a powerful statement by the students at Leadership High School in San Francisco, CA. They speak about the ongoing adversity and toxic stress in their daily lives and in their community, all through the power of music. The youth voice is so important as we work to bring trauma-informed and resilience building practices to communities. Link to video: Toxic Stress, Toxic Streets
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Transforming perspectives on trauma through paintings of hope [AlaskaPublishing.org]
Tarah Hargrove stands before a massive painting. One side is dominated by grey cinder blocks and stencils of guns. The other by a yellow sky filled with birds. And in the center is a giant portrait of Hargrove, herself. Her chin is lifted, and she looks defiantly at the viewer, magenta radiating from her hair. “So my inner narcissist was like, ‘Yay! My face!” Hargrove said, laughing about her first impression of the four-panel mural painted by University of Alaska Anchorage students. Though...
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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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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...
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...
Ask the Community
New Group - ACEs in Arctic
Check out this new group - ACEs in the Arctic Group! The purpose of this group is to create an ongoing dialogue on childhood trauma and resilience between circumpolar communities and others interested in the Arctic. This dialogue will help to...