"We studied what it meant to be “mentally tough” and what characteristics the mentally tough athlete possessed. Characteristics of Mentally Tough Performers Cope more easily with setbacks Have control over anxiety and use it productively Have higher self-confidence Use more positive self-talk Have a positive outlook on the future Set specific goals and visualize accomplishing goals Have a support network" "But the reality is that the majority of people who experience stressful or traumatic...

    The Children's Resilience Initiative's web site,  ResilienceTrumpsACEs.org  has an  assortment of resilience-building tools for elementary school-age children.     Because we understand the impact of trauma on a...

Understanding the long-term impact of developmental trauma, how trauma impacts the brain, and the science of resiliency is a powerful first step toward change. It is exciting to watch people begin to let this knowledge soak in… and even more exciting when they begin to ask “Now what?” As I have worked with organizations across the state, I have found that often what they are really looking for is the curriculum or recipe book that they can follow for their clients or students. Even those...

Words like trauma-informed and resiliency get thrown around a lot these days. And for many, the visions they call up are a bit too glossy. You see resiliency and trauma-informed aren’t always pretty. Resiliency can look like closing the bathroom door and collapsing in tears… but then washing your face and going back into the world, carrying the belief that you can survive and the hope that things will get better. It looks like begrudgingly going on that walk with a friend, when the little...

A Trauma Primer for Juvenile Probation and Juvenile Detention Staff August 12, 2015 Juvenile justice probation and detention workers play an important role in helping system-involved youth and families navigate justice and social service systems;...

BY SARAH ELMS  selms@record-eagle.com TRAVERSE CITY — Local pediatricians and counselors are hopeful a new partnership will give more children access to mental health care. Kids Creek Children's Clinic pediatrician Stephanie Galdes said...

Business is the toughest door to get in when it comes to ACEs work, but chambers of commerce hold (some) of the keys to government when it comes to shaping the local civic space. If you're inclined to leverage the profit world, this brief can serve as a sign post to find the sweet spot between ethical responsibility and economic prosperity. The Future of Work Begins with a City's Youngest Residents

Brian Whiston is the new guy in town at the  Michigan Department of Education,  and it looks like he's got poverty on the brain. Whiston and the state Board of Ed early this week convened a group of folks from around the state to  share...

What if I told you that I was a victim of child sex abuse? As a survivor of child sexual abuse , I have a clear understanding of the importance of addressing stigma and shame as it pertains to sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape. Victims, especially young children, often do not disclose sexual abuse. Those who are witnesses of child sexual abuse, or who are trusted by survivors enough that they confide in them, are often ill-equipped to handle the responsibility. And, many times, parents...

This is an older article but it is appropriate for us as we seek system changes (in all systems affected by Adverse Childhood Experiences) including the Health Care System:  The article is from last year's Pediatric News and is by Dr. Howard who...

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...

Awesome! I once titled a chapter "Love isn't Always Pretty" for much the same reasons you mention. But I love the way you put it, so real and with a true compassion. In the end, we will always still be human. We will make mistakes (and hopefully learn from them). We will misinterpret what we see. We will forget ourselves and act poorly. But the Trauma-Informed environment will help us gain in patience and understanding, learn to see others as innocent and learning too. It helps us to learn...

Thank you for this. Very well said. It's a warm fuzzy. I will be sharing it. I'm reading David Kenny's book now too. He says he has a similar chapter about love. Can't wait! Such great writers you two are!!.

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...

A webinar offered by the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) Thursday, September 30, 1:30 - 3:00 pm EDT Register today . Addressing the mental health needs of child care providers and children in care is vital in the face of the pandemic, a population-level traumatic event. CTIPP is offering a "plug and play" framework to ease the process of developing a continuum of training, reflective coaching, and consultation to build the capacity for supporting relational health...

Ask a current Detroiter what stands at the junction of the Detroit and Rouge Rivers in the Delray neighborhood, and they may tell you about Zug Island: blast furnaces, mounds of coal, and gated-off trestle bridges guarded by signs warning “No Trespassing” and “Cameras Prohibited.” There is no sign at the site, however, of what Delray residents in the 19th century would have seen on the opposite riverbank: the Great Mound of the River Rouge, an enormous mound where generation after generation...

Please join us for a new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly virtual Zoom series will feature conversations facilitated by Porter Jennings-McGarity, PACEs Connection’s criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and strategies being used in this area...

By Maria Di Mento, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, March 1, 2022 The technology billionaires Steve and Connie Ballmer pledged more than $425 million to the University of Oregon to create an institute where the university’s researchers and experts in children’s behavioral and mental health will work with Oregon’s public school systems, families, nonprofits, and state agencies to tamp down the surge in mental-health issues children and youths in the state are facing after two years of the...

Love this topic!

PACEs Connection is excited to kick off our 2023 Creating Resilient Communities (CRC) Annual Accelerator Program.

Credit: Freya Lowy Clark for The 19th To read more of Barbara Rodriquez' article, please click here. Cierra walked into the Bowens Senior Center with trepidation, but also hope. The promotional flier that brought the mother of three to this community center a few miles outside of Detroit offered to help people eliminate any active warrants for their arrest — people like her, who had a warrant for a years-old traffic violation. But something else on the flier also caught her attention: Along...

To read more of the American Bar Association's article, please click here. The American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law is piloting a new community-based initiative in Michigan to address overreporting by medical professionals of Black, Indigenous and Latino/a children to the child welfare system. Nationally, injuries in Black children are 9 times more likely than those in White children to be reported as abuse despite evidence that child abuse and neglect occur at equal rates...