Tagged With "Resilient Colorado"
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4 years after integrating ACEs science, Pueblo, CO clinic improves services for families; cuts ER costs, doctor stress
Four years ago, Dr. Leslie Dempsey would never have talked about ACEs — adverse childhood experiences — with her patients. Now ACEs is a common topic. “Just as I don’t feel awkward asking someone if they smoke or do intravenous drugs, I don’t really feel awkward talking about their childhood traumas in a way that it relates to their health. It’s just integrated into obtaining background and social history,” she says. Dr. Leslie Dempsey Dempsey is a physician in obstetrics who oversees a team...
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Almost 1/2 Colorado's Child Abuse Deaths Known To CP Workers
T oday’s Denver Post Article r eports a just completed state child protection workload study that indicates a need for 574 more child protection workers to keep abused and neglected children safe in the state (a 49% increase). Of...
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Audit: Colorado not monitoring psychotropics for imprisoned youth [DenverPost.com]
Colorado has poor controls over the administration of powerful psychotropic medication to youths in corrections facilities, with state officials unable to show whether they are doing enough to monitor for harmful side effects, according to a state...
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Child abuse hotline a closer reality - Colorado (3 min)
"A single statewide phone number that Coloradans can use to report child abuse is expected to clear a legislative committee Thursday. "The bill could be signed into law as early as next week... "The bill requires the Department of Human Services to...
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Childhood Trauma Isn't New, But the Job this District Created to Address it is - Meet Melisa Sandoval [chalkbeat.org]
By Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat Colorado, February 5, 2020 There’s a lot Melisa Sandoval wants educators to know about childhood trauma. But perhaps the most important thing is this: It’s not a life sentence. The brain can heal from trauma with the right relationships and environment, said Sandoval, the director of social emotional learning and student agency for the 9,000-student Westminster School District in suburban Denver. [ Please click here to read more .]
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Colorado 2018 State Profile
Hi, Everyone: Here’s the state profile for Colorado. To review the entire profile, open the PDF that is attached to this post. If you have corrections or additions, please leave them in the comments section of this post. We’ll be reviewing the comments regularly and doing fact-checks. The information you give us will also help us determine how to organize and expand the information in the state profiles. We will be turning this post into a living profile that, with your help and input, we’ll...
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Colorado Communities on ACEs Connection
CO CITIES, COUNTIES AND REGIONS Denver Metro Durango ACEs Connection Four Corners
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Colorado county named healthiest US community [The Nation's Health]
Report scores 3,000 communities on health-related issues Earlier this year, Douglas County, Colorado, was tapped as the healthiest community in the country, moving up from its previous spot at No. 2. “We give all the credit to our citizens for their healthy choices,” Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas told The Nation’s Health. In March, U.S. News & World Report and the Aetna Foundation released their second annual Healthiest Communities report, evaluating nearly 3,000 U.S.
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Colorado Guarantees Foster Youth Have Rides to School, Support After 18 [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) signed two landmark bills into law this session related to improving outcomes for youth in the state’s foster care system. As of June 1, through H.B. 18-1306 , Colorado became the first state in the nation to dedicate millions of dollars specifically to the educational stability of students in foster care. With the new law, Colorado is committing $2.8 million this fiscal year and $3.9 million the following year to ensure that foster youth have...
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Colorado Has New Momentum to Improve Behavioral Health. The Question Is How.
There’s usually not much good news to be found when you look at Colorado’s record on mental health and substance abuse. By nearly every metric — suicide rate , the prevalence of mental health issues , death from drug overdoses — the state is one of the worst in the nation. But a team of behavioral health professionals and advocates hopes to bring good news soon. On July 1, the new Behavioral Health Task Force kicked off a year-long effort to find a way to “revolutionize” Colorado’s...
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Colorado Launches Two Generation Approach to Family Services [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
Colorado is testing a new approach to providing services to struggling families in an effort to address the intergenerational cycle of poverty, incarceration and foster care. Two Generation (2Gen) is a new initiative by the state recognizing that children and their parents are best served by recognizing the needs of the entire family unit. “CDHS embedded the 2Gen approach into all of our services, recognizing that our clients only succeed when their providers or children also get the support...
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Colorado Launches Two Generation Approach to Family Services [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
Colorado is testing a new approach to providing services to struggling families in an effort to address the intergenerational cycle of poverty, incarceration and foster care. Two Generation (2Gen) is a new initiative by the state recognizing that children and their parents are best served by recognizing the needs of the entire family unit. “CDHS embedded the 2Gen approach into all of our services, recognizing that our clients only succeed when their providers or children also get the support...
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Colorado's Family Friendly Workplace Toolkit
FYI – I wanted to share this resource in case you haven’t seen this yet – This is from our Essentials for Childhood Initiative colleagues in Colorado. Safe, stable, and nurturing relationships are essential to support strong children and families. Employers play a vital role in strengthening families to help children reach their full potential. This toolkit includes resources developed by Early Childhood Colorado Partnership (ECCP) partners to support enhanced family friendly workplace...
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Colorado’s Trauma Informed System of Care (COACT)
Colorado’s Trauma Informed System of Care (COACT) What is COACT? Colorado’s Trauma Informed System of Care, or COACT Colorado, is supported by a cooperative agreement between the Colorado Department of Human Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), administered by the Office of Behavioral Health in partnership with the Office of Children, Youth, and Families, and other local partners. The system of care in Colorado builds on existing infrastructure...
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Colorado Steps up Quality Assurance Requirements for Serving Youth with Complex Needs (cmhnetwork.org)
Thanks to our colleagues at the National Wraparound Initiative for bringing this to our attention. This new bill in Colorado requires screening to identify youth with complex needs, establishes wraparound to serve them, and blends funding across agencies to make it happen! A model for other states to emulate! Child And Youth Behavioral Health System Enhancements Concerning enhancements to behavioral health services and policy coordination for children and youth, and, in connection therewith,...
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GAO report on challenges that states face in addressing child trauma
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on May 22 on the challenges that states face in their efforts to support children affected by trauma. The findings were based in part on interviewing state and local officials in six states (Colorado, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington, and Wisconsin) along with questionnaires to 16 states. The request for the report was made by two Illinois members of Congress, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and Congressman Danny Davis, and...
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Hard Childhood Linked To Adult Crime, Poor Health in Colo. Study [patch.com]
GOLDEN, CO -- A new study of Colorado adults shows a correlation between a difficult childhood and adult health problems, lack of productivity and criminal involvement. The study, by the Council for a Strong America shows that adults who report four or more " Adverse Childhood Experiences," or ACEs have a three-times higher risk of an arrest by age 18 and were three times more likely to have a felony charge by age 25. Kids with a higher number of bad childhood experiences also report more...
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How One Colorado Town Is Tackling Suicide Prevention — Starting With The Kids [npr.org]
At the confluence of the Gunnison and Colorado rivers, the town of Grand Junction, Colo., sits in a bowl of a valley ringed by tall mountains, desert mesas and red rock cliffs. For local residents like Victoria Mendoza, sometimes the setting makes her and others feel isolated. "I know we can't really fix this because it's nature," says Mendoza. "I feel like people in our valley feel like there's only life inside of Grand Junction." Mendoza, 17, has battled with depression. It runs in her...
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New Research Maps Where Housing and Health Crises Collide in Colorado [denverite.com]
By Donna Bryson, Denverite, January 6, 2020 Researchers who have mapped neighborhoods across Colorado where housing and health crises overlap hope an online tool they developed will help policy makers and advocates decide how best to use limited resources to support struggling communities. “The purpose of this study is really to be a conversation starter,” said Elysia Clemens, deputy director of the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab at the University of Denver, which funded the study.
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Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: Series Overview [Video]
The first session of the Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: Online & IRL (In Real Life) was a success. Over 100 ACEs Connection members tuned in despite some issues with registration. I have embedded the video in this post. You have also find the video on the ACEs Connection site here . If you have any questions about the series, please contact Ingrid Cockhren , TN & Midwest Community Facilitator.
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Students learn to protect their minds from toxic stress [The Durango Herald]
By Mary Shinn Health & topics reporter Thursday, May 23, 2019 5:03 AM Updated: Friday, May 24, 2019 2:19 PM Big Picture High School sophomore Ava Aragon taught her peers how to focus on the flame of a candle this spring to help them calm down. The lesson was part of a class focused on understanding trauma and stress – and learning to manage and overcome it. Focusing on a flame helps Aragon with her own anxiety, she said. “It gives you an opportunity just to focus on the now,” she said.
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Support, Connect and Nurture: Addressing the impact of ACEs in the pediatric medical home
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have a profound impact on children’s development, increasing risk for chronic disease and mental illness. The Support, Connect, and Nurture (SCAN) project was developed to address the impact of ACEs on the health and well-being of children and families in Pueblo, Colorado. Located at Southern Colorado Family Medicine Residency Clinic (SCFM) and in partnership with Catholic Charities Diocese of Pueblo, the SCAN intervention included the following...
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The Maternal Mortality Rate In The US Is High. Colorado Is Spending To Try To Stop It [Colorado Public Radio]
By Natalia V. Navarro, CPR, June 18, 2019 Nicole Pember has two healthy daughters but during both pregnancies, she could have died. Not only did she have preeclampsia twice, but she also had HELLP syndrome and severe postpartum depression “We just kind of have this expectation also that women just suffer for the good of everyone and it makes it really easy to miss very serious problems,” Pember said. “Things like Preeclampsia, the symptoms are very similar to just kind of like being pregnant...
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Turning Trauma Into Learning in the Classroom [colorado.edu]
By Daniel Strain, University of Colorado Boulder, September 3, 2019 At the start of second grade several years ago, a young boy that we’ll call Carlton to protect his privacy had been through more than most of his school friends. Before classes began, Carlton was diagnosed with lymphoma. But when he got to school, the boy decided to share his story with his fellow seven-year-olds. He even pointed out where doctors had poked him to draw blood. And that’s when something surprising happened,...
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Virtual Room of Refuge — A Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Virtual Room of Refuge — A Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic The Virtual Room of Refuge has been designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to provide a place of calm and release from stress. It is full of resources for mindfully taking a pause for self-care, and hopefully bring a smile to your face. Resilient Colorado has curated these resources and we will be updating it periodically. Feel free to bookmark this page for easy access any time you need a break. We hope these resources help...
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Webinar: Building Resilient Communities with Elaine Miller-Karas
This webinar will explore integrating a biological based model to reduce the impacts of toxic stress for children and adults. It is a model both for prevention and to use in the aftermath of adverse event.
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[WEBINAR] Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: How to Tell Your Community Story GRC 2.0 Celebrate
ACEs Connection presents, "Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: Online & In Real Life (IRL)", an interactive webinar training series focused on developing existing and potential online community managers and IRL ACEs champions. This series is dedicated to providing insight into creating sustainable and effective online & IRL ACEs initiatives. In this fifth session, we’ll talk about why it's so critical to tell your story far and wide. This incudes how to blog and share...
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Welcome to the State of Colorado ACEs Connection Community! We’re glad you are here.
Welcome to the State of Colorado ACEs Connection Community! We’re glad you are here. This community exists to share resources, research, and information, exchange ideas, and work collaboratively across sectors to develop solutions that support trauma-informed and resilience-building practices in all domains of life and work. Much like our rugged mountains, we are a state with grit and heart, we are committed to working together to build the resilience of our youth, families, businesses,...
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LAUNCH Together Supports Social Emotional Well-Being in Southwest Denver
As the COVID-19 pandemic blurred from days into months, the leadership team of LAUNCH Together Southwest Denver began hearing about the sense of anguish and confusion felt by directors of early-childhood learning centers: Should I re-open? Is that financially feasible? Is it ethical? And how do I decide, in a sea of fast-changing information about a virus scientists are still struggling to understand? LAUNCH Together SW Denver, a collaborative formed in 2016 to boost community capacity to...
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Denver donates bison to Cheyenne and Arapaho nations, citing conservation and reparation (upworthy.com)
Prior to European colonization of North America, millions of bison roamed the Great Plains. By the turn of the 20th century, those numbers had dropped to less than 1,000. The deliberate decimation of buffalo herds was a direct attack on the Native American people, who colonizers saw as an obstacle to their "Manifest Destiny, " and who the U.S. government engaged in a systematic attempt to eliminate or force into docile submission. For thousands of years, bison were a sacred, inseparable part...
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Free therapy for students: How Colorado is responding to the youth mental health crisis (kqed.org)
Image: (dragana991/istock) To read more of Ann Schimke's article, please click here. Roxana Alvarado Martinéz, a high school sophomore, had told only close friends she was seeing a therapist to help her with anxiety and insomnia. Roxana is part of a generation that has grappled with unprecedented mental health struggles over the last few years amid a pandemic that stoked stress, fear, and isolation for people young and old. She’s also one of thousands of Colorado youth taking advantage of a...
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On the Ute Mountain Ute reservation, a new school aims to preserve culture, language, sense of community (coloradosun,com)
First-grade student RedSky Lang draws on the whiteboard during a Ute language vocabulary game led by Betty Howe, a tribal elder and Ute language teacher. (Shannon Mullane, Special to The Colorado Trust) To read more of Mark Stevens' article, please click here. Twelve miles south of Cortez, in the southwest corner of Colorado, a right turn on Mike Wash Road leads three miles up to the town of Towaoc on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation. Towaoc is pronounced toy-awk . The town is due east of...
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The 2023 Creating Resilient Communities Accelerator Program is now Open For Registration
PACEs Connection is excited to kick off our 2023 Creating Resilient Communities (CRC) Annual Accelerator Program.
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The Bizarre — and Hypothetical — Case That Sparked the Supreme Court's Regressive LGBTQ+ Discrimination Ruling (people.com)
Lorie Smith, the Christian web designer who sparked a landmark Supreme Court decision. PHOTO: RACHEL WOOLF FOR THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETTY IMAGES To read more of Virginia Chamlee's article, please click here. On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to allow a Christian web designer to refuse her services to LGBTQ+ people, a historic decision that walks back hard-fought human rights battles and paves the way for businesses to legally discriminate based on a person's sexual orientation or...
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Using White Privilege to Ban Guns (yesmagazine.org)
Here 4 the Kids, a group led by Black, Brown, and Indigenous women and supported by white women committed to ending gun violence, staged a three-day sit-in at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on June 5, 2023, asking Gov. Jared Polis to issue an executive order banning guns and instituting a buyback program in the state. PHOTO BY RJ SANGOSTI/MEDIANEWS GROUP/THE DENVER POST VIA GETTY IMAGES To read more of Jonita Davis' article, please click here. Their biggest challenge is going to be...