What are ACEs and Why Do They Matter? In 2016 1 , nearly half of U.S. children – 34 million kids – had at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) and more than 20 percent experienced two or more. The new brain sciences and science of human development explain how ACEs can have devastating, long-lasting effects on children’s health and wellbeing. These events resonate well beyond the individual child to have far-reaching consequences for families, neighborhoods, and communities. ACEs...

Sound Discipline offers a Building Resiliency series for educators, parents and anyone who works with youth. Our next workshop is March 18 - Building Resiliency 1: Strategies to Engage Youth Exposed to Trauma. Details and registration here. Building Resiliency 2: Firmness Tools is next offered May 6. Details and registration here. You can take these workshops in any order. We appreciate your referrals! Refer your colleagues and friends - we do a drawing each month for a Community Building...

Wednesday, March 25, 2020 2:00pm Eastern Time 1:00pm Central Time 12:00pm Mountain Time 11:00am Pacific Time (AZ) To register, click here . Rick Miller Founder of Kids at Hope and Professor of Practice and Clinical Director at Arizona State University’s Center for the Advanced Study and Practice of HOPE will be joined by very special guests for a series of weekly Online HOPE Forums exploring the soul, science and practice of HOPE during times of uncertainty. Joining Rick for the first of...

In 2015, Dr. Beth Pletcher, a pediatrician and associate professor specializing in genetics, was at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Washington D.C. when she heard two speakers that forever changed her work with medical students. Dr. Beth Pletcher “I went to two talks on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that were so mind-boggling to me that I decided on my drive back to New Jersey that I had to do something about it,”says Pletcher, director of the Division...

Peninsula Hands on Art brings art instruction to public elementary schools in the greater Gig Harbor area. GIG HARBOR, Wash. — Fifteen years ago Marla Morgan was a mom who wanted her own kids to have more art in school. Today, she leads Peninsula Hands On Art , a nonprofit that provides art instruction to more than 4,000 students in Pierce County each year. Reaching every elementary student in the Peninsula School District, it is the program's foundational belief that students across all...

Washington State Essentials for Childhood is launching a series of lunchtime webinar series. Series three and four webinars are: 3 Guiding Truths for Building Regulation and Resilience in Children with Significant Trauma Related Needs Time and Date: April 14, 2020; 12:00 – 1:00pm Presented by: Tiffany Sudela-Junker Mother by adoption, Tiffany Sudela-Junker shares stories from her own personal and parenting transformation along with the science & insight that led her to uncover Three...

Join the SELF-Leadership Cohort Your inner-state makes all the difference, as a care provider and/or leader. We are in a time of disruptive change that has us challenged and facing higher stress loads. We can turn to the N.E.A.R. Sciences to help us upgrade our practices for navigating change (N.E.A.R. = Neuroscience, Epigenetics, ACEs, and Resilience). Are you ready for new strategies and self-care practices? Join the six-week SELF-Leadership Cohort . The cohort launches June 9 th with...

At Washington State Penitentiary, Tony McGuire talks to the inmates in his construction trades apprenticeship preparation (CTAP) class about ACEs, trauma and resilience every single day. Not only is he teaching the guys a trade, but he also teaches them how to be a healthy, happy and well-adjusted employee. Note: Becoming a healthy, happy, well-adjusted employee is way harder than basic carpentry, plumbing, electrical and HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning).

By Ross Hunter, The Chronicle of Social Change, October 11, 2019 As a new leader in the child welfare space, I thought it would be worth my while to do some listening before I made any big changes. So I went on a tour all over the state of Washington. I talked to caseworkers, foster parents, birth families, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and anyone else I could find who had an opinion. I got an earful. “Everything is broken.” “I had a great experience.” “The caseworker never called...

Before the creation of DCYF, funding and services were not always connected. The draft strategic plan helps our agency focus on how we serve children, youth, families and our communities as one entity. This framework helps to build on existing funding and services to strengthen our ability to serve families as well as to disrupt racial inequity and disproportionality in our systems. There is more work ahead for us to accomplish the priorities set out in the draft plan. The process to gather...

You could say that Ann Penn-Charles, a native of La Push, Washington, was a natural resilience builder even before there was an ACE Study. La Push is a Native American reservation on the western edge of Olympic National Park, where the Quileute Nation ancestors of “Miss Ann”, as she is known, have lived for generations. Although she faced hardships growing up on the reservation, including having her first child when she was a junior in high school, she was able to graduate with the support...

Kitsap Strong is excited to launch the 3rd Annual Resiliency Summit! In the hopes of making an engaging and inclusive virtual education experience, we have arranged for a full month of Lunch Time Learning sessions during the Month of October! This month-long (Monday - Friday) lunch and learn series will be a hope-filled experience in connecting, learning, and growing together to build a more resilient community! We are honored to offer increadible sessions provided by: Roberto Dansie-...

Join us on Friday November 6, 2020 from noon to 1:00 PST as we come together and join Satya Chandragiri MD, Bonnie O’Hern RN, Denise PNP, & Michael Polacek RN for a discussion around the tender issue of suicide. Together we will discuss ways people and providers can support each other and encourage communities to take action to support one another around suicide prevention, crisis intervention, and the layers of culture and structural barriers to care. A special emphasis will be on...

By Elizabeth Amon, The Imprint, February 1, 2021 When teens and young adults who’ve lived through homelessness and foster care gather this year to tell Washington state policymakers what their peers need most, the youth advocates will have three priorities: they want lawyers for every foster child, a task force to focus on the experience of Native Americans and better support for the newly independent. The youth advocates, ages 13 to 25, represent seven local chapters of The Mockingbird...