Last month, LegacyWorks Group was able to participate in a training surrounding Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) science and trauma informed care, led by Terri Allison. While LegacyWorks Group is a non profit focused on community driven projects, we are not healthcare providers nor do we work directly with youth in the community. Yet we still value ACEs science and wanted to incorporate the language and practices more within our own work. Most of the trainings associated with...

CAPC Intro It’s week three of Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when we pause to appreciate all of the people who come together to support and encourage children, youth and families. Everyone has a role to play in making sure that our community is a great place for children and youth to thrive. Parenting can be hard, and parents must be flexible and strong to meet the needs of their families when challenges arise. Stress can make it harder to be a patient and supportive parent. This...

CAPC Intro April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, an opportunity to appreciate the ways we work together to strengthen families and communities. There are simple steps we can take every day to help reduce the risk factors for child abuse and neglect. With the help of a supportive community, parents and children can be resilient even in the face of adversity. There are seven wellness practices shown to reduce stress and strengthen resilience. This week we are focused on Mindfulness,...

Ask Governor Newsome to sign AB 2660 now

September is Self-Care Awareness Month, and a good reminder to think about how you can support your own mental health. To me, authentic self-care is the radical act of prioritizing your own well-being. It's diving deep, addressing hard things, and understanding how you can best meet your needs in positive ways. It’s not as simple as taking a bubble bath or dancing in your living room, but rather, building a life—day in and day out—that you don’t need to escape from. It’s being honest with...

If there’s one thing that stands out about Rachael Steidl and her work as the Executive Director of YouthWell - it’s a sense of collaboration. Since its founding seven years ago, YouthWell has focused on bringing communities together around addressing youth mental health and ending the stigma or shame surrounding mental health challenges. Their mission has since grown and now extends to adolescents, young adults and their families across all of Santa Barbara County. YouthWell has a key aim...

The Children’s Resource and Referral of Santa Barbara County has been a pillar in the community for over 50 years. The grassroots nonprofit organization began in 1971 as various childcare programs and family workshops offered throughout parks in Santa Barbara. Today, CRR works with an astounding 725 licensed and licensed-exempt child care sites! The organization is composed of dedicated leaders who steward the mission to develop strong and healthy families by providing education, care, and...

July is a time to celebrate all summer has to offer by building bridges and innovating with community to get to the heart of trauma-informed awareness and resilience building. This month, we’ve added new July dates to the summer 2023 *CRC* curriculum—but that’s only half of the good news. Last year, the CRC began as a pilot program. Now that it's evolved, what better time to bring accelerator participants together in a PACEs Connection CRC community than the summer? We are proud to announce...

Awareness about health outcomes are as much about the long-term impact caused by adverse childhood experiences as they are by positive childhood experiences. By providing education on trauma-informed awareness and resilience building frameworks, the CRC Accelerator certification is a tool for both.

Christina Bethell, Ph.D, MBA, MPH, founder of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI), principal author of the groundbreaking study on positive childhood experiences, and creator of the free Well Visit Planner, among other innovations. Two internationally-respected leaders and innovators in complementary aspects of early relational health and childhood and maternal health equity recently launched a partnership they believe will benefit everyone from newborn babies and...

Beyond Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), our members seek to deeply understand strengths-based insights embedded in the remaining ACEs quadrant: Adverse Community Environments, Adverse Climate Experiences, and Atrocious Cultural Experiences.

Something amazing keeps happening in our CRC Accelerator program that we want to shout out from the rooftops this December. Thanks to our committed participants, the number of CRC graduates keeps increasing! The number of graduates has increased by 15x this year. As we head into a new year, w e are grateful for the unique role CRC Accelerator participants have played in expanding the PACEs movement through the willingness to explore healing-centered practices through a PACEs science lens.

The Bridges to Resilience conference is one of the most recognized conferences in California’s coastal tri-counties. Bridges to Resilience seeks to increase understanding of the widespread impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and provide hopeful strategies to build resilience within our communities and across systems of care throughout the Central Coast.

In July, the Partnership for Safe Families & Communities of Ventura County hosted the first Lunch & Learn Session: Mitigating ACEs for Families with Children Ages 0-5. The session educated participants on how sustaining safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for all children and families can prevent adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), increase positive childhood experiences (PCEs), and help all children reach their full potential.

In an effort to keep our free programs accessible to California during a critical time in the PACEs movement, we'd like to learn more about the role PACEs Connection programs have played in your California PACEs initiatives and the impact of your programs.

A resilient community fosters a network of people and resources that can adapt, learn, and thrive in the face of challenges. Building such a community requires intention and effort. One example of such an effort is the Self-Healing Communities (SHC) project in Lompoc, a collaborative partnership between local government, nonprofits, and community members who share the responsibility and long-term commitment to its success.