Restorative Integral Support (RIS)

PACEs Connection is excited to kick off our 2023 Creating Resilient Communities (CRC) Annual Accelerator Program. (Click here to review a brief description of each event. See below for event times).

The 16 hour CRC accelerator is focused on supporting and developing individual advocates and organizational agents of change in transforming their communities and organizations using PACEs trauma-informed awareness and resilience-building frameworks.

The CRC accelerator will cover fundamental topics such as understanding of PACEs science, community organizing, multi-sector collaboration, and strategic planning; as well as several special topics. See below for quick highlights.

Accelerator Program Highlights:

• The accelerator program consists of 16 hours of a mixture of both relevant interactive learning sessions and informative video modules.
• These events are FREE and OPEN to the public!
• Most events repeat on a monthly basis in case you are unable to attend one month.
• IMPORTANT PREREQUISITE!!! Every participant must FIRST attend the Introduction to PACEs Connection event, and then you may attend the remaining events at your own pace.

Getting Started

Once you have attended Introduction to PACEs Connection, confirmed participants will be sent an email containing the registration links for the following events. Register for any, or all, of the events that interest you.

Introduction to PACEs Connection, offered:

Apr 19, 2023 10:00 AM (PST) / 1:00 PM (EST)

Apr 27, 2023 10:00 AM (PST) / 1:00 PM (EST)

May 1, 2023 1:00 PM (PST) / 4:00 PM (EST)

May 11, 2023 9:00 AM (PST) / 12:00 PM (EST)

May 23, 2023 6:00 AM (PST) / 9:00 AM (EST)

Creating Resilient Communities Topics

Introduction to PACEs Science

PACEs Science and Social Justice

Is PACEs a Movement?

A PACEs Science Lens on Organizing for Social Justice

Organizing For Resilient Communities

Restorative Justice: What's Next?

Introduction to PACEs in Education

Environmental Justice 101

Creating Partnerships on the Path to a Just Society

Click here to review a brief description of each event.

REMINDER: Register here for the REQUIRED first event in this series: Introduction to PACEs Connection. There are several options available; you only need to attend this initial event one time.

➤ Stay tuned for a post with additional dates for this series!

➤ Questions about this series? Email Kahshanna Evans, Director of Resilient Communities: kevans@pacesconnection.com

Need 45 Trauma-Informed Practitioners or Clinicians For Study on Using a Brain Regulation Headband-Bellabee Designed To Help Trauma Survivors Regulate Their Brains. 

All trauma informed practitioners who are suffering with or who work with adults or children suffering with C-PTSD, PTSD, Developmental Trauma, Depression, Anxiety, ADHD & Sleep Disorders are welcome to apply to be considered for this study.

 The deadline to request and submit your application is: March 20, 2020

As a trauma survivor who is thriving, my purpose in aligning with  this initiative is to give back by helping the millions of other trauma survivors gain access to the Bellabee, an evidence-based, leading-edge, safe neuro-therapy headband that has worked for me and for thousands of others around the world in regulating their brains, and therefore regulating their lives.

My background includes being the Acesconnection.com community manager for the Orange County, CA area, a 25 year background as a Master Life Coach, coaching hundreds of people on a personal, spiritual and professional level, hosting a livestream webcast on personal transformation & post traumatic growth, sharing my story as a trauma survivor who went from surviving to thriving, including long term recovery with alcohol, morbid obesity and an anxiety disorder through doing extensive research in order to find an use evidence based brain, body and mind therapies and programs.

I recently accepted an invitation to become a member of the advisory board for Bellabee, Inc., maker of a neuro-modulation headband that regulates brain states, since their mission and products are in alignment with my own. Bellabee is a neuro-tech headband with specific protocols designed to help trauma survivors regulate their brains so they can regulate their moods, sleep, concentration & reduce or eliminate trauma symptoms. When we regulate our brains, we regulate our lives.  For some survivors this means being able to make clear choices — from a regulated brain —  for the first time ever.

One of the main reasons I am thriving today is because, in my mid-fifties, after reading Bessell van der Kolk MD’s book, The Body Keeps the Score-Brain, Mind and Body in Healing of Trauma, I discovered that as a young child my developing brain had been significantly traumatized  (and therefore impacted) by being exposed to a toxic (emotionally neglectful and abusive) environment for the first 18 years of my life. Up until then I had never considered myself a trauma survivor since I thought trauma only applied to sexual or physical abuse.

 My trauma was mainly due to emotional neglect and abuse.  Since I (as well as my therapists and psychiatrists) didn’t know my brain and nervous systems had been essentially injured in my childhood due to emotional neglect and abuse, I never thought to seek out brain or nervous system based therapies.  I only sought out psychological, and spiritual help.

I had been on an intense psychological and spiritual healing path for over 25 years before I found out I had undiagnosed trauma.  In that time I’d gotten sober, lost over 160 pounds (weight loss I have maintained it for 20 years) and had turned my life around. 

However, it wasn’t until I read  The Body Keeps the Score that I realized that the main reason why stressful experiences that didn’t seem to bother other people would seem to easily trigger me, make me really anxious or make me completely shut down, or why I didn’t have many close friends or have the kind of romantic relationship I wanted, or why I couldn’t handle major stress without regressing into unhealthy behaviors, or why it was still so hard for me to hold a focus, was due to my brain being chronically dysregulated due to un-diagnosed and untreated trauma.

My trauma wasn’t due to sexual or physical abuse.  It was due to my primary caregiver, my mother being so dysregulated (anxious and depressed) due to her own trauma that she could not attune to my emotional needs. This is what is known as emotional neglect.  In addition, she also projected her deep rooted shame onto me.  This is known as emotional abuse.  This type of trauma is also known as relational trauma since it happens in the context of close relationships. 

This type of trauma causes a child’s developing brain to over develop the fight, flight, freeze areas due to it feeling chronically abandoned causing anxiety and depression, and under develop the executive function, causing attention problems, and emotional regulation and impulse control problems.  Once these brain patterns are set in childhood, the brain wires this way and without brain based interventions can stay wired this way for a persons entire life.

My intention in aligning with Bellabee is that by sharing my story of how using a brain training device like Bellabee has helped me,  I can help other survivors be spared years or even decades of unnecessary suffering due to not being aware that they may not only have psychological and spiritual wounds from a difficult childhood, but brain and nervous systems wounds that need brain-based therapies to heal.  

As Bessell van der Kolk, MD states in his book, The Body Keeps The Score, no amount of talk therapy can completely heal a traumatized brain since trauma lives in the brain and body, not the mind.  It is not to say that talk therapy can’t help at all since it has helped me greatly on a cognitive level in terms of understanding what happened to me, having compassion and forgiveness for myself and others, learning healthier coping mechanisms, etc. 

However, if you have unhealed trauma, unless you get brain based therapies to heal your brain and nervous system, you will likely continually to struggle with anxiety, depression, relationships, impulse control, attention and eventually even chronic pain and other illnesses that are due to living in a chronically dysregulated, stressed brain and nervous system.

As a result of training my brain with Bellabee as well as traditional neurofeedback, I no longer need to take meds to sleep at night. I am in a happy, healthy romantic relationship and have several close friends.  I've been able to decrease my dosage of antidepressants by 50 percent and I can hold a focus for much longer periods of time, which has enabled me to be much more successful in my career.

All this adds up to the best news: I am a trauma survivor who is thriving and I believe you & your client’s can too!

This is why I have joined the Bellabee advisory board.  I know what Bellabee and brain training have done for me, so of course I want to share this success with fellow trauma survivors. 

Below is information about Bellabee and the study we are doing with trauma-informed providers.

Participating in this study does require a modest investment of your time and money,  however when you consider the potential return on your investment - a tool that may help regulate your and/or your clients brains, so they can life their best life I believe it is an investment worth making. 

All I can say is that given how much better my life is since I have been using Bellabee, I am certainly glad I did.   

If you resonate with this initiative and feel called to participate, I encourage you to apply.  Please feel free to forward this to fellow trauma—informed care providers you think would be interested in participating.

Information About Bellabee

What is Bellabee? Bellabee is a neuro-tech headband that  provides frequency-specific protocols to train and regulate brain function for children and adults.  There are specific protocols specially designed to help regulate brains with trauma including C-PTSD, PTSD, development trauma, shock trauma, as well as depression, anxiety, attention deficit/hyper-activity disorder (ADHD) and sleep.  It is designed to be used throughout the day during regular activities as well as a night as a sleep aid.

What Technology Is Used With Bellabee? Bellabee uses Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) technology. PEMF technology is a safe, FDA-approved technology with a 40-year proven track record of success and safety with dozens of clinical trials and studies.

Is Bellabee Safe?   If you feel safe using earbuds for your cell phone you will feel safe using Bellabee since it uses even less energy than your phone's headset. PEMF therapy was approved by the FDA in 1979. It actually originated from NASA’s research involving the benefits of using pulsed electromagnetic fields on astronauts for fatigue, depression, and other symptoms following even short trips to outer space.

How Does Bellabee Work? Using Bellabee is like putting an earphone at the back of the head and letting the brain “listen” to the various frequencies it emits. Due to the frequency following response-FFR principle -- the brain will automatically sync with the frequency Bellabee emits, regulating your brain to the frequency or state you set it for.  Bellabee has designed specific protocols for trauma survivors to use to regulate their brains. There are also a specific protocols for anxiety, depression, sleep, concentration and attention deficit hyper activity disorder (ADHD).

In addition, if you have been or are working with a neurofeedback specialist,  you can input custom frequencies into your Bellabee program via the Bellabee IOS or Android app based on the results of a recent brain map (Q EEG) you have had done, or on what your neurofeedback specialist recommends.

Why Using The Bellabee Is Helpful For Trauma Survivors:  One of the most devastating aspects of being a trauma survivor is the way it changes and dysregulates brain function.  Survivors typically have an extremely difficult time regulating their brains and therefore, their moods as well as the ability to sleep and concentrate. 

Chronic brain dysregulation gives rise to the various mental and behavioral health issues that run rampant in the trauma survivor population. These include, but are not limited to  depression, anxiety, panic attacks, attention disorders, various additional mental health disorders, all types of substance and behavioral addictions, and sleep disorders.

Why Is Bellabee Helpful? Our ability to achieve and transition through to optimal, healthy brain, body and mind states determines how successful we are at managing stress, moods, the ability to stay focused, relationships, success in our careers, and getting a good night's sleep. Bellabee helps achieve and maintain brain regulation. 

What Kind of Results Has Bellabee Achieved For Users with PTSD: The following are from PTSD users: Jai Kadilak – “All I have to say is try it . Freaking amazing , I have to admit I felt like It was snake oil but when you relax and feel the effects of it daily, it will surprise you. I think especially this time in the world with the additional political stress this will be a game changer. I have tried many techniques and this really helps things like focus , anxiety, PTSD. We should be blessed for a company to come up with such a positive product or should I say tool.”
“I  have been using the device  for the last 3 weeks, I'm very happy with it  I suffer from Fibromyalgia & chronic PTSD plus many other serious health complications that go with Fibromyalgia; the first time I used this I noticed a BIG difference. I used the Reduced Stress first & it did exactly that! Same with the meditation & improve focus. I can now study, relax & meditate again as I've been unable to do all of these since my accident 11 years ago & I'm extremely grateful Thank you for a great product”  Check out all of the Bellabee success stories by visiting Bellabee success stories.  

What is the Study About? We need to gather more data on how Bellabee is performing for people impacted by trauma by having trauma informed practitioners who are also survivors try Bellabee for themselves, and also by having practitioners offer Bellabee to their clients suffering with various types of trauma. In order to make participation in this study as easy as possible, we are offering study participants the opportunity to purchase a Bellabee at our cost of $79.00.  The retail price of Bellabee is $199.00, so there is a savings of $120.00 when you participate in the study.  Our goal is to help practitioners and their clients try a new tool to achieve brain regulation, and to help Bellabee increase the sample size for this population for our study.

What Is Required?

1. Completion of the study application.  See below for how to request an application.
2. You must identify as a trauma-informed practitioner who is either also a survivor, who will use the Bellabee on yourself and/or on a client who is a trauma survivor/s.
3. Using the Bellabee at least 5 times per week for five, 30-minute sessions on yourself and/or on your clients for eight weeks.  (Given that the Bellabee can be worn/used while working, playing and sleeping, this should be relatively easy to accomplish).
4. Rating before and after symptoms related to trauma, attention, sleep, anxiety, depression, impulse control. A form outlining this process will be included with your application that will be emailed to you upon your request for an application.
5. Updating and submitting a brief rating report at the end of the first and second month with the rating comparison of your and/or your clients symptoms severity from a scale of 1-5.
6. The purchase of a Bellabee at our cost of $79.00.  The regular price is $199.00.  You will own the Bellabee after the study is complete.

This study is limited to 45 participants.  All user identity data will be confidential. Qualified participants will be approved on a first- come, first-serve basis. Once 45 participants are chosen the study will be closed.

How To Apply To Be a Participant In This Study:

If you are interested in participating and would like to be considered as a study member, please respond ASAP by requesting an application since spots we be filled on a first come, first serve basis by our applications deadline, Friday, March 20^th, 2020, 5pm PST. 

To request an application email Mary@marygcoach.com with the subject line: Bellabee Study Application.  Include your first name, last name, profession and what types of clients you work with.

For more information about the Bellabee or to see Bellabee’s proven track record of success check out the Bellabee website.

If you have any questions feel free to email me.

I look forward to working with you to heal trauma on a brain, body and mind level.

Thank You,

Mary Giuliani
mary@marygcoach.com

Hello! I’m a Community Manager for the Practicing Resilience for Self-Care & Healing community.This is an introduction to me and this new community.

I graduated with a B.S. in Public Health from Santa Clara University June 2017. And I’m interested in preventing chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, at the community and population level by addressing biological, psychological, and social factors that affect chronic disease outcomes.

As the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, I listened as my parents told me stories about the trauma and hardship they went through to escape persecution in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and in the US as they rebuilt their lives after leaving everything behind. At the time, I had not yet learned about resilience, but my parents’ experiences had sparked my curiosity. I was and am captivated by their strength and perseverance to have begun anew, to establish themselves in a new country, and to talk about their struggles.  

During the 2015-2016 school year, in one of my classes, I first heard about ACEs and resilience. I followed my inclinations, and in summer 2016, I researched building and measuring resilience during my internship at Kaiser Permanente in Hayward, CA. I became interested in the long-term effects of ACEs on individual health, that there can be increased risks of chronic diseases later in life, how resilience can be a protective factor, and community and population mobilization for resilience.

In this community, I hope to learn more about all of you and to provide resources for healing and resilience. Caring for ourselves now could lessen chronic diseases later in life. Through building a community, both in this online community and in the real-life community, we can create a support system that encourages self-care and community resilience.

What you can expect from me in the Practicing Resilience Community:

• Each month, we will focus on one resilience practice to learn and try. You’ll get a reminder in the weekly updates, so you won’t miss it.
• Each week, I’ll also share an inspirational quote and relevant articles/blog posts about resilience. You can share inspiration, resources, articles, and how practicing resilience for self-care and healing is going for you.

I would love to hear from YOU:

• Why you are in this community?
• What resources would you like to see and read here?
• What are your experiences and questions?
• What do you want to share about this topic?
• You are welcome to share your own resilience, self-care, and healing practices. Please add to the blog, the resources, the calendar. I would love to read what you share and I’m sure others will too.
• If you prefer, you are welcome to also message me resources and links and I can post them for you anonymously.

I’m excited to get to know you. Welcome!

How to Attend Chat Event on August 8th @ 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST:

If You are a Member of the Parenting with ACEs Group

1. Go to Parenting with ACEs Group on August 8th. Find Featured Chat at top.

If You're Not a Member of the Parenting with ACEs Group

More about the Chat:            

Carey Sipp is a health writer, parenting educator and trauma-informed communities advocate. She is the author of The TurnAround Mom: How an Abuse and Addiction Survivor Stopped the Toxic Cycle for Her Family and How You Can, Too! She is a frequent speaker on the issues of breaking cycles of addiction and abuse, working to raise awareness of the profound importance of adding trauma recovery to recovery.

We are pleased she will talking about menopause, parenting, and ACEs in the next Parenting with ACEs chat. Sipp shares information, insights, and experiences. Everyone is welcome to join this conversation. Chat topics to be covered are:   

• Menopause & ACEs
• Medical professionals & ACEs awareness
• Puberty & Menopause

Direct link to today's Parenting with ACEs Chat event.  Questions? Contact @Christine Cissy White / Parenting with ACEs Group

We’ll start to populate the new Resource Center next month. One of the sections lists ACE surveys that have additional questions. 

The CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study revealed that ACEs contribute to most of our major chronic health, mental health, economic health and social health issues. 

It measured five types of abuse and neglect: physical, verbal and sexual abuse; physical and emotional neglect. And five types of family dysfunction: a family member with mental illness, or who has been incarcerated, or is abusing alcohol or other drugs; witnessing a mother being abused; losing a parent to divorce or separation.

Of course, there are other types of childhood trauma, and there are ACE surveys that include other types of trauma, based on the experiences of the population surveyed. These other types include racism, bullying, witnessing a sibling being abused, witnessing violence outside the home, living in an unsafe neighborhood, experiences unique to being an immigrant (such as losing a parent to deportation), and involvement with the foster care system.  

So far, we know of seven ACE surveys that have additional questions. We're searching for more. If you know of others, please leave a comment so that we’ll have a list that's as complete as possible:

1. The Philadelphia Urban ACE Study added five other ACEs — witnessing violence other than a mother being abused, experiencing discrimination based on race or ethnicity, feeling unsafe in your neighborhood or not trusting your neighbors, bullying and ever in foster care;

2. Children's Clinic pediatrician The ACE survey used by the Children's Clinic in Portland, OR (but I just heard that Dr. RJ Gillespie, who's managing the project has changed the additional questions, so I'll look into that);

3. Center for Youth Wellness ACE surveys (Dr. Nadine Burke Harris), which add six additional questions; 

4. The Roseland Clinic in Santa Rosa (I don’t have a link to their survey yet);

5. The World Health Organization ACE questionnaire; 

6. The Family Center's ACE survey, which asks the 10 questions in different ways, to accommodate to the language used by the people who take its survey to describe particular types of trauma; 

7. Elsie Allen Health Center's survey, which asks six additional questions.

The National Center for Excellence in Homeless Services (NCEHS) at the University at Albany has been leading efforts in supporting the advancement of homeless services since 2013. Guided by the Restorative Integral Support (RIS) model, NCEHS supports RISing leadership in the homeless services field. The Center offers Integrally-informed leadership training emphasizing whole person homelessness response to homeless service agency directors. In addition to leadership training, NCEHS promotes best practices, supports homeless service leaders in fostering social networks for resilience and recovery, provides guidance on innovative funding opportunities, and offers assistance in designing policies to enhance homeless services.

NCEHS also serves as a major disseminator of information related to homelessness. Program examples from around the nation and key findings from the latest research studies in the homelessness field are highlighted on the Center's blogsite (click here to check out the most recent blog post).

Click here to learn more about NCEHS by visiting its website.

This was produced by KPJR Films, and edited by Jen Bradwell. 

The Restorative Integral Support (RIS) model gives service providers and community planners a concise framework to map out multiple dimensions of a given problem. At Chugachmiut, a non-profit agency serving the Native people and communities of Alaska's Chugach Region, the RIS model has been used to conceptualize an ACE-informed approach to the problem of suicide among Alaska Natives. Read about the application of RIS at Chugachmiut in the attached article below, written by Chugachmiut Executive Director Patrick Anderson.

We recently posted a blog highlighting RISing leadership in ACE Response at Senior Hope Counseling, Inc., a center of healing for older adults recovering from addiction and a partner of the New York State Capital Region HEARTS Initiative. The blog made an appearance on the ACEs Connection home page. Here is a link to the blog in case you missed the post and would like to read more about an example of RISing leadership in ACE Response for older adults: https://www.pacesconnection.com/...ponse-at-senior-hope

A free online course is now available to anyone interested in learning more about ACEs, resilience, and Restorative Integral Support (RIS) as an ACE response approach. A range of topics are explored in 13 course modules, covering approximately 12 hours of course material (which you are able to complete at your own pace). The online course was created and arranged by Associate Professor Heather Larkin and her team at the University at Albany.

For more information about the course, download the attached flyer below and please feel free to share it with anyone who may be interested in this opportunity. Thank you!