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Karen Clemmer, the Northwest community facilitator with ACEs Connection, was already deeply interested in the CDC/Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study when she and a colleague from the Child Parent Institute were invited to lunch by ACEs Connection founder and publisher Jane Stevens in 2012. But that lunch meeting changed everything. Karen Clemmer “Jane helped us see a bigger world,” says Clemmer. “She came with a much wider lens. She didn’t look only at Sonoma County, she...

By Brett Simpson, San Francisco Chronicle, June 18, 2020 On Wednesday afternoon, over 300 California educators, parents, and students tuned into Facebook Live to hear high school students speak honestly about their own experiences of racism, implicit bias, and trauma at school. The “ Student Support Circle: Institutional Racism and Implicit Bias ,” was co-hosted by the California Department of Education and the National Equity Project, and is the first among several initiatives state...

Learn4Life quickly realized that in order to reach students’ heads, we needed to reach their hearts. So, we designed the Trauma-Resilient Educational Communities (TREC ) Model which is based on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) science and protocols. TREC is an active approach to understanding trauma. We do more than explain the effects of trauma and encourage understanding amongst our teachers, counselors and staff. All our employees are trained and receive credentials in the foundations...

We know that 200,000 teen girls give birth every year in the U.S., but what about the other half of the equation – the 200,000 fathers? Unfortunately, only about 33 percent of fathers under 18 stick around to help raise the child. When you consider that 70% of those teen moms don’t graduate – it’s not hard to imagine why. Meet Ricky C., 19, who brings his 4-month-old son to school with him every day. He is on track to graduate later this year and grateful that Learn4Life has a dedicated...

The ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities launches today. We want to continue to contribute to the ACEs movement for as long as it takes to create a worldwide healing-centered culture based on ACEs science. We want that to take hold in this world in the same way electricity has — we only notice it if it isn’t there. First, a clarification: Nothing on ACEsConnection.com changes! Membership remains free! Everything our current 300+ communities use stays free, and remains free for new ones.

In this time of great uncertainty in the world, a new approach to leadership is needed: one that recognizes the paramount importance of compassion . As workers face new challenges they’ve never encountered before, expressions of empathy from leaders — as well as other colleagues — have been critical to employee well-being and productivity. And as stay-at-home orders lift and more companies open their doors to their workforce, offering kindness and support to teammates is key to a smoother...

Interest Based: ACEs & African Americans ACEs and Nourishment ACEs Connection for Birth Workers ACEs Connection Resources Center ACEs in Early Childhood ACEs in Education ACEs in Foster Care ACEs in Higher Education ACEs in Maternal Health ACEs in Medical Schools ACEs in Nursing Science ACEs in Pediatrics ACEs in the Criminal Justice System ACEs in the Faith-Based Community ACEs in Youth Justice ACEs In Youth Services Balancing ACEs with HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences)...

Trauma-sensitive educators told us that no matter how the remote learning is taking place across the district, (from direct instruction online as a class group, to remote learning with no face-to-face contact with a teacher or peers, etc.), having a regular time several times a week set aside for students to talk with their teachers —whether it be face to face, on a device or voice only on a phone— is critically important to buffer the traumatic impact of the current situation. Being able to...

From a greater emphasis on mental health to a shift toward more compassion and empathy, here's what we're predicting will change about culture once we return to work. As we start to think about what our offices and businesses will look like once we begin the re-entry to work (our “next normal”), it’s becoming clear that we won’t return to business as usual, not after what we’ve been through and learned as a result of COVID-19. “The pandemic has made it all too clear that we cannot continue...

Here are five ways COVID-19 can change education for the better. The COVID-19 crisis has closed over 124,000 schools in America. Most will be closed until next fall, with many likely experiencing roving blackouts throughout the year. Since the rise of compulsory schooling in America a century ago, there has never been this level of school shutdown. Not during the Spanish Flu of 1918 or World War II, or after 9/11. Looking at the American education system in particular, the post–Civil War era...

Every year, 25,000 teens give birth in California – and 70 percent of teen moms don’t graduate high school. About 1,300 of Learn4Life students are pregnant or parenting, so we are doing everything we can to keep these young mothers engaged in school and learning parenting skills – even during remote learning. Before COVID-19 forced remote learning, parenting teens could bring their babies to school while they studied and took tests. A separate child-friendly area ensured they didn’t disrupt...

HOPE Program Coordinator Staci Roth was featured on KTLA 5 Morning News! Staci talked about how Learn4Life is supporting our students – especially our parenting-students, through home deliveries, virtual parent-circles and so much more. The HOPE program is Helping Parenting Students Excel . To read more of the Learn4Life article, please click here.