Blog

Dear Sonoma County ACES Connection members, This morning I was reading the ACES Connection's MARC group postings and when I read the WA state proposal, I had to share. There seem to be many similarities to what we want to accomplish, although we are working on a smaller (local) scale - maybe we might learn from their statewide processes too? Very exciting! I particularly like how they are planning to bring their individual partners together into a more formal group and their shared decision...

If you work with clients in health or human services, you will at some point work with an interpreter. Have you thought about the awkward position they occupy? Language is only part of the problem. They must be “white” enough to understand and navigate the bureaucratic culture, while being black/brown/yellow/red enough to understand the client’s worldview and concerns and to be able to gain the trust of the communities they serve. When I worked with refugees, I often served...

Note: I was asked to repost this blog on the Sonoma County site, so if you have already read this, there is no new content. My ancestry is 100% Japanese, but I probably could pass as Native American. I’m straight, but having worked some 20 years in HIV services, there were many times people assumed I was gay. My ACE score is zero, but I could pretend it was five or six. How would you know what is true? How will all our newly recruited “trauma informed’...

Note: I was asked to repost this blog on the Sonoma County site, so if you have already read this, there is no new content. There is a game in which you tell people two truths and a lie and folks must guess which one is the lie. Want to play? One: I lived and worked on a seaplane for several months. Two: for a time, I built musical instruments for a living. Three: I helped several women escape domestic violence. To help you figure out which one is the lie, let me tell you a...

Members asked for contact information in case they wanted to reach specific members. Here is the information people supplied via Survey Monkey. If you wish to be added to the contact list, please go to the following link and complete the brief survey. This way, we know the information is correct and that you have approved the release of this information. We will post updated lists as needed. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SC-ACES

  Dear Sonoma County ACES Connection members,   I am excited to remind you that our  next meeting is Wed 12/16 from 12:30 to 2:00  in the Public Health building located at  625 Fifth Stree t Santa Rosa, 95404.  Several members indicated that they were feeling conflicted, they wanted to be at our meeting and also attend the training at Child Parent Institute, and as such we will push back our start time to 12:30 and end at 2:00 so everyone has the...

Santa Rosa City Schools and Upstream Investments invites you to a private screening of the Paper Tigers documentary by James Redford.  Paper Tigers follows six troubled teens over the course of a year at Lincoln High School, an alternative school in rural Walla Walla, WA, that specializes in educating traumatized youth.  Then principal, Jim Sporleder, convinced his school that traditional punishments like suspension were only exacerbating the problems of the students.  He...

Jeremy Loudenback from the Chronicle of Social Change posted a story about last week's California Policy Convening on Childhood Adversity that the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) hosted in San Diego. Here's the beginning:    Last...

At our November meeting, we asked members to select a committee and we were also asked to create an official contact list. Please complete this short survey, even if you have already signed up for a committee. We need to verify your contact...

Fifteen members attended. Attendance was anticipated to be lower, because many members had prior commitments. Allen Nishikawa opened the meeting and introduced Elisabeth Chicoine, Manager of the Public Health Family Health Section. She announced that...

Many of the women in Moms United to End the War on Drugs have been advocating for increased access to treatment options like methadone or naloxone, used to treat opiate overdoses, for years — sometimes decades. Now, they say that things are...

Members have asked to see the proposal as submitted. Here it is for your reference.