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...

For the final week of Child Abuse Prevention Month, our stress-busting strategy is Supportive Relationships. Supportive relationships make a significant impact on our social, emotional and physical well-being. Renowned psychiatrist and trauma expert, Dr. Bruce Perry writes, “The more healthy relationships a child has, the more likely he will be to recover from trauma and thrive. Relationships are the agents of change and the most powerful therapy is human love.” We will be highlighting the...

Thank you Wilderness Youth Project for sharing your love of nature and its healing properties. So many kids are benefitting from your mentorship!

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, an opportunity to appreciate the ways we work together to keep families strong. Everyone has a role to play in making sure that our community is a great place for children and youth to thrive. Whether acting as a caring neighbor, a family member, a parent, or coworker, we can prevent child abuse and neglect by helping parents be the best they can be. There are seven wellness practices shown to reduce stress and strengthen resilience. This week...

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...

Thank you Rachael and YouthWell for building collaborations that support our youth!

“As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and one for helping others.” ~Audrey Hepburn I remember this moment vividly, almost as if I was in her classroom yesterday. The elementary student ran over to me, a grin spreading wide across her face, before she wrapped her arms into a tight hug around my legs. Her eyes glowed with excitement as she told me she had recognized me from helping in her classroom a previous year. After four years of reading to...

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...

In April we recognized National Child Abuse Prevention Month, an opportunity to highlight the importance of working together as a community to keep families strong so that children and youth are safe and thriving. Each year, our local campaign has a theme. This year, we invited you to focus on how community support strengthens families. The conditions in which people live, work, play and learn can have a big impact on wellness. Adverse community environments can create challenges for...

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...

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.

The 2023 Bridges to Resilience conference inspired us all to think more deeply about HOPE and how we might increase access to positive experiences for children and youth who have been exposed to high doses of adversity. In this post-pandemic world we recognize that many of our youth are suffering and in need of support. The November Lunch & Learn hosted by the KIDS Network of Santa Barbara County explored the four building blocks of HOPE from a youth perspective and elevated youth voices...

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.