Blog

Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Violence Prevention Research Award Recipients Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years). For example: experiencing violence, abuse, or neglect witnessing violence in the home or community having a family member attempt or die by suicide Also included are aspects of the child’s environment that can undermine their sense of safety, stability, and bonding such as growing up in a...

Governor Newsom Unveils Partnership with Sesame Workshop for Back-to-School Public Service Announcements We are excited to share four new back-to-school PSAs from the Sesame Workshop featuring Elmo, Oscar, and Grover. The PSAs are available in English and Spanish, and are designed as resources to help kids adjust to the changes in their school environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We know many of you have patients asking for resources to support children. Feel free to share these PSAs...

ACEs Connection was today awarded a $500,000 grant from Blue Shield of California Foundation for its work to support communities and families in these challenging times.

Entities that bill Medi-Cal may now submit a request for the list of providers that have completed the ACEs Aware training and are eligible to bill Medi-Cal. This attestation data should be used for program implementation purposes only, such as confirming that your participating providers have submitted an attestation form and are eligible to bill Medi-Cal. The Department of Health Care Services will release the First Name, Last Name, and National Provider Identifier (NPI) to approved...

Small and medium primary care practices are fundamental in providing medical and behavioral health services in California. This interactive webinar series will guide participants through screening for ACEs and providing trauma-informed care from a small practice perspective. From limited clinic space to leaner budgets and personnel, small practices have challenges in incorporating new screenings and programs. However, they are uniquely positioned to do so as they are widely trusted by the...

Children Now's A Behavioral Health Policy Agenda for California's Kids is now available. September is National Suicide Prevention Month , and children and youth in California are in crisis: Nearly 1 in 3 California high schoolers reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for two or more weeks in a row, so much so that they stopped doing some of their usual activities. Nearly 1 in 5 reported that they have seriously considered attempting suicide. A recent report showed there was a 34%...

This story is part of an occasional series about California-based pediatricians who are incorporating ACEs screening into their practices. In the first installment published in May, which you can find here , Dr. Amy Shekarchi and other team members had just launched their ACEs screening by phone. A community health worker from a clinic affiliated with Los Angeles County’s Department of Health Care Services recently called a teenage patient to find out if she ever felt unsafe in her home or...

By: Jessica Lin Public Health Strategist, CDPH Fusion Center COVID-19 affects all Californians, but marginalized communities and groups at higher risk for COVID-19 are more severely impacted. To make COVID-19 health equity-related information easier to find and use, CDPH has created a new webpage to collect and organize vetted COVID-19 communication materials available in different languages as well as other materials for specific populations, such as older adults and tribal communities.

By: Office of Health Equity Health Research and Statistics Unit Staff I n addition to the race/ethnicity data tables on the CDPH website , the Health Research and Statistics Unit recommends the COVID-19 Health Equity Interactive Dashboard , developed by Emory University. This tool includes state- and county- level data on COVID-19 daily counts, total counts, and rates for cases and deaths, as well as key population characteristics.

Dovetail Learning is offering resilience training for MediCal providers to increase provider resilience to mitigate the affects of vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue that comes with doing the ACEs screening itself. We Are Resilient™ is a research based set of skills for providers and patients to become their most resilient self. Here is the link to register for Part 1 of 2 for a 90 minute training: We Are Resilient™ Training (free to medical providers) in October (date TBD) For a little...

The Hope and Justice category was created under the guidance of educators, youth and young adults and community-based partners. While Directing Change will continue to offer it’s core film-focused contest and curriculums, the Hope and Justice category will accept and award submissions on a monthly basis and in multiple art forms. The Hope & Justice category is an opportunity for young people living through history to express their feelings, take action, and to inspire others through art.

Are you curious about starting an ACEs Initiative in your community? Join one of these upcoming webinars to learn how to start an initiative. I'm Alison Cebulla, the Community Facilitator (CF) for the Northeast USA, Mid-Atlantic USA, and Canada for ACEs Connection. You are welcome to attend these webinars no matter which region you are interested in starting. After the webinar, I will put you in touch with the CF in your region who will help you get started if you choose to move forward. All...