Tagged With "National Wellness Week"
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First Responder Resiliency Center is hosting a conference in Sonoma, CA on June 29-July 1
The First Responder Resiliency Center, a nonprofit organization, is hosting a Resiliency Conference from June 29-July 1. It will be held at Westerbeke Ranch in Sonoma, CA. To register: https://resiliencytrainingcenter.com/training/conference/june-2018/ The First Responders Resiliency Conference is a comprehensive event where participants will be asked to learn and participate in modalities designed to create new ways of thinking, processing and utilizing creative outlets to mitigate stress...
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For the January Meeting: This is Who We Are
Over the last several months, Sonoma County ACEs Connections (SCAC) has been struggling to develop organizational guidelines and committees. We have attempted to adopt them on several occasions but have not been able to agree on a plan. This has been especially frustrating for some of us, because back in November of 2015, SCAC voted to adopt a group of committees. For a variety of reasons however, folks keep wanting to reinvent that wheel. I am proposing one more attempt to discuss our...
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Four Windsor Middle School students arrested after back-to-back fights [PressDemocrat.com]
Ed. note: These kids are 13 years old! It sounds as if this school administration and staff is in dire need of learning about trauma-informed schools, and of taking measures to institute trauma-informed practices! Has the Sonoma County ACEs Connection group had any luck in reaching out to them? ___________________ Back-to-back fights this week injured two Windsor Middle School students and led police to arrest four others on suspicion of assault or weapons possession. One boy...
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Free For a Limited Time: The Raising of America – Early Childhood and the Future of our Nation (Documentary)
We are pleased to inform you of another opportunity to view the acclaimed documentary series, The Raising of America – Early Childhood and the Future of our Nation . In honor of Week of the Young Child (April 10-16), National Public Health Week and National Child Abuse Prevention Month, the series will be made available online for free for a limited time from April 1-17! Please see details below. As you may know, this important film shows how a strong start for all our kids leads to a...
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Free of Violation of Rights - Legal Imperatives That Could Address the Impact of ACEs
Last week, I took a call from a passionate suicide prevention advocate, James Gallant who wanted to discuss an approach for reducing ACEs. "Do you assess kids with disabilities for violations of their legal rights?" James asked. I was stumped at how to answer this, and didn't immediately see the connection to ACEs. But as James went on to share his expertise on the subject, I felt more compelled to find out what we are doing locally. James makes the case that kids with an ACE score of 1 are...
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From Awareness to Action, with Voices of Lived Experience: Wisconsin’s Collective Impact Initiative
Perhaps it wasn’t the optimum time to update the network’s vision and values statements: a virtual meeting held in the midst of a global pandemic. But a record number of people—51, compared to the typical 30—tuned in for the May 1 Wisconsin Office of Children’s Mental Health (OCMH) Collective Impact Council, and they gave the new values statement, which highlights inclusivity and collaboration, an enthusiastic thumbs-up. At the virtual table were members from key state departments—Children...
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Futures Without Violence Presents Webinar Next Week: "The News About Childhood Trauma: Findings and Implications"
Please join us for our free webinar titled "The News About Childhood Trauma: Findings and Implications" , which is brought to you by Defending Childhood in partnership with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and Futures Without Violence . Date: Wednesday, March 16th, 2016 Time: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Eastern Standard Time / 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Central Standard Time / 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm Mountain Standard Time / 11:00 am - 12:30 pm Pacific Standard Time / 10:00 am - 11:30 am...
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GAO report on challenges that states face in addressing child trauma
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on May 22 on the challenges that states face in their efforts to support children affected by trauma. The findings were based in part on interviewing state and local officials in six states (Colorado, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington, and Wisconsin) along with questionnaires to 16 states. The request for the report was made by two Illinois members of Congress, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and Congressman Danny Davis, and...
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Got time for a little brainstorming with ACEsConnection?
On Friday, March 20, 2020, you're invited to join me to talk about how we, as a community, can continue to guide and educate ourselves about to deal with the effects of the spread of Covid-19, and how to continue those efforts with people who don't yet know about ACEs science. And, given this last week, how we can provide more support to stay in the front of our brains instead of feeding our amygdala.
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Gov. Newsom's early childhood advisor describes 'whole-child, whole-family, whole-community' strategy [edsource.org]
For the first time, a California governor has created a position in his office focused on early education. Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Giannina Pérez as his Senior Policy Advisor for Early Childhood. Peréz previously worked for Early Edge California and Children Now, both well-known children’s advocacy organizations. As an advocate, she worked to expand training for preschool teachers and child care providers to better support children who speak languages other than English at home. She also...
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Grand jury uses ACEs science to issue stinging critique of local health department
Editor's note: The Sonoma County Department of Health Services Public Health Department's response to the Grand Jury was filed in September 2017. It is attached to this post. The 2016-2017 Sonoma County (CA) Civil Grand Jury issued a remarkable report today. Tucked among the "Sales Tax Report" and "Elementary School Truancy" was — " Maternal Child and Adolescent Health: Caring for the Most Vulnerable ". The 10-page report casts an unblinking eye on the consequences of adverse childhood...
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Hanna Boys Center Speaker Breakfast - Marc Philpart from PolicyLink (March 9)
Hanna Institute, at the Hanna Boys Center, is excited to announce that Mark Philpart, senior director at PolicyLink , will be the keynote speaker at its second Professional Networking Breakfast on March 9, 2017. Marc will speak about the Boys and Men of Color Framework , which explores the deep evolutions toward equity that are beginning to take place in our communities. There will also be an open forum discussion in how culturally relevant trauma-informed practices can dramatically improve...
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Hanna principal addresses the ‘devastating consequences’ of childhood trauma [SonomaNews.com]
Hanna Boys Center Executive Director Brian Farragher wrote this for the Sonoma Index-Tribune: Since I arrived at Hanna in June of 2014, we have been focused a great deal on the impact of trauma and adversity on the boys and families we serve. Over the course of the last 20 years, research has been conducted on the negative impact “childhood trauma and adversity” has on the developing brain, how these early experiences disrupt neurodevelopment and set children on a...
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Have questions about Nat'l Council's Trauma-Informed Learning Community?
They're holding open office hours this Friday: The National Council’s 2015 Trauma-informed Care Learning Community connects you with trauma experts and agencies like yours to make sure you are offering quality...
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Healing with Yoga
Did you know that yoga can reduce stress and heal the mind, body, and soul? Let me explain how yoga can prevent, treat, and heal Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) and toxic stress. In my personal experience as a Sonoma County preschool teacher, I noticed many children, parents, and teachers in our program had very high levels of stress and anxiety. We all live busy lives and tend to focus on the next activity instead of the one at hand. So I decided to try yoga. I started doing yoga with...
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Health Action to Discuss Addressing Trauma After a Disaster on Friday 12/1/17
Health Action staff writes: "Last month brought an unprecedented catastrophe to Sonoma County and to our neighboring Northern California counties. We want to express our condolences to those of you personally affected by this disaster. We know that many of you and your staff have been directly impacted by the fires, yet you continue to provide relief and services even in the face of your own personal losses. Thank you for all of the work that you and your organizations have done and will...
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helping inmates with children transition back into society
October 28, 2015 UW team to lead research efforts on initiative for incarcerated parents Deborah Bach The University of Washington will play a key role in a new initiative aimed at helping inmates with children transition back into...
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Helping Young Children Recover after the Northern California Wild Fires
Helping Young Children Recover after the Northern California Wild Fires In the aftermath of the wild fires in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Solano countie s that started on Sunday, October 8, 2017, many children and their parents may be experiencing varying levels of distress related to events associated with the fires. The way in which this time of acute stress is handled can be very predictive of the long-term impact of the fires on each of us, especially children. The most important thing...
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How collaboration helps clinic in San Mateo County, CA, tackle ACEs in children
Dr. Elizabeth Grady is a pediatrician at the South San Francisco Clinic, a community clinic of San Mateo Medical Center. She and Susana Flores , a senior public health nurse with San Mateo County Health, spoke with me about how the clinic and other health agencies in San Mateo have been able to craft ways to work together to prevent and heal toxic stress in children. Grady also talked about how she and Flores have been working with the Resilient Beginnings Collaborative (RBC), a group of...
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How do these pediatricians do ACEs screening? Early adopters tell all.
Last week, three pediatricians — with a combined experience of 15 years integrating ACEs science into their practices — reflected on the urgency they felt several years ago that prompted them to begin screening patients for childhood adversity and resilience when there was practically no guidance at all. Along their journey , they accumulated a list of lessons learned for other pediatricians and family clinics to use. The three pediatricians participated in the ACEs Connection webinar,...
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How does a regional healthcare organization integrate trauma-informed care?
Slowly, but at warp speed. That’s what it feels like to take on educating 16,000 staff member in 21 hospitals that serve 29 counties, says Becky Haas, trauma informed administrator for Ballad Health. Turning around a culture, especially a health culture that’s more familiar with doing things the “traditional” way rather than embracing change, will take time and lots of repetition.
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How Early Experiences Get into the Body: A Biodevelopmental Framework
Excellent graphic representation of the roots of early childhood experiences across the life course. Attached is a printable version. Copied below is one of several images from the document. " This biodevelopmental framework highlights the shared early childhood roots of lifelong outcomes in learning, behavior, and both physical and mental health. An integrated approach to addressing disparities in those outcomes offers a promising opportunity to devise interventions that attack societal...
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Report Rates Child Well-Being in California Counties [ChronicleOfSocialChange.org]
A new report from Children Now details wide disparities in children’s well-being across California’s 58 counties. The 2016–2017 California County Scorecard of Children’s Well-Being looks at a series of indicators organized around the three domains of child welfare and economic well-being; health; and education. The report provides a comparison over time for each of 28 indicators, as well as a breakdown by ethnicity on each data point for every county in the state. Children Now, an advocacy...
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Report tells a tale of two Sonomas and the missing middle
A report analyzing the state of working in Sonoma County forecasts an ongoing struggle for low-wage employees. In particular, the report shows a dominance of jobs in the service industry with low pay and few opportunities to move up. According to the State of Working Sonoma 2018 , “The future of work paints a grim picture for Sonoma County through 2024, not because there won’t be jobs, but because those jobs will be woefully inadequate for workers to provide for their families. In other...
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Request for Proposal Announcement - Trauma Informed Care Consultant
Valley of the Moon Childrens Home is looking for a consultant to helpstaff transition to a 10-day stay shelter by 2017. Valley of the Moon wants to incorporate the latest research on trauma informed care intotheir program design and staff training. See attached documents for further details or contact: Briana Downey Program Planning & Evaluation Analyst Valley of the Moon Children's Center 112 Children's Circle Santa Rosa, CA 95409 (707) 565-4348 bdowney@schsd.org...
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Request For Proposal Resource Family Training Services
You are invited to participate in a County of Sonoma solicitation. Review this information and use the URL below to login and bid on this solicitation. RFP Resource Family Training Services Description: The County of Sonoma is pleased to invite you to respond to a Request for Proposals for Resource Family Training Services. The Family, Youth & Children’s Services (FY&C) Division within the County of Sonoma Human Services Department is seeking a single qualified entity to provide a...
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Resource List - Trauma Informed Approaches and Autism Spectrum and Other Developmental Disabilities
Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.
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Resources to Support Wildfires Response & Recovery in Northern and Southern California
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC) has compiled resources to assist with response and recovery from the latest California wildfires. Information guides on disaster topics and the Disaster Lit® database provide access to curated, reliable information from vetted Federal, state, and local governments and organizations. Key National Resources NLM Fires and Wildfires Information Guide Content syndication —embed the content of this page...
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Right Start Town Hall: Preventing Toxic Stress in Early Childhood for Health, Social-Emotional Wellness and Resilience
Parents and community members are encouraged to come together for this important community conversation around our children: Right Start Town Hall: Preventing Toxic Stress in Early Childhood for Health, Social-Emotional Wellness and Resilience When and Where: Thursday, Oct 5, 6-8 pm at The Glaser Center, 547 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa Refreshments and childcare available (please register ahead for childcare.) Translation to Spanish provided on headsets. Link to Register: ...
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Right Start Town Hall - See You There?
So...who joins me in wanting to give our children the best start possible in life? It turns out, there is a long list of passionate supporters in our County. We urge you to come to the upcoming Town Hall and connect with folks like you who are committed to preventing childhood adversity and supporting resilience. Thursday, October 5, 2017 ∙ 6 - 8 PM The Glaser Center, 547 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa Information fair, refreshments, onsite free childcare (limited by appt.) available at the event...
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RSVP now for HANNA SUMMIT! See flyer for details
Message from Brian Farraghe r: Good morning – I wanted to reach out on behalf of Hanna to let you know about a conference we’re hosting January 29-31, 2020 called The Hanna Summit: The Ecology of Resilience, Transformation Through Trauma-Informed Care. The Hanna Summit is an immersive three-day conference focused on learning and sharing new and proven approaches to trauma-informed care (TIC). Attendees will hear from leading TIC experts and participate in interactive discussions and...
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Safe & Sound: Integrating protective factors and ACEs science to end child abuse in San Francisco in 50 years
It was almost a ritual, but one that regularly disrupted the parenting class at a San Francisco-based child abuse prevention organization. Every time a siren blared in the streets below, a female participant bolted out of the room to seek safety in the windowless interior rooms of the multilevel labyrinthine white Victorian that houses Safe & Sound . Molly Jardiniano And it didn’t just happen in the parenting class. “When she heard the fire trucks, she said she would become paralyzed,...
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San Francisco Dept of Public Health Trauma-Informed Systems Initiative
I thought you might be interested in taking a look at the 2014 year in review from the SF Dept of Public Health's Trauma-Informed Systems Initiative. It's attached, below. The Department made the commitment to train all of its 9,000 staff...
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San Mateo (CA) launches county initiative to tackle ACEs and build resilience
Attendees at the San Mateo event participate in ice-breaking exercise When you’re working with people who've had a lot of childhood and adult adversity, it’s hard for you to believe that anyone else can have a bad day, says Laura van Dernoot Lipsky. “Your neighbor or your best friend says: ‘I’ve had a bad day.’ And you think, ‘Oh, I’m sorry you had a bad day; were you sex trafficked today? No, you were not!'” Laura van Dernoot Lipsky Van Dernoot Lipsky, the author of Trauma Stewardship: An...
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Santa Barbara Presents 2nd Annual Bridges to Resilience Conference on October 16
Sonoma County ACEs Connection members are supporting the: 2nd Annual Bridges to Resilience on October 16 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm We hope to learn from our sister community, and invite local folks to consider participating in this well planned event. Jane Steves, ACEs Connection, will serve as the Key Note, and I'll share our local lessons learned as part of a panel discussion. Details below: Santa Barbara County Children’s System of Care presents… Bridges to Resilience: Building a...
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Save the Date! Building Human Resilience for Climate Change in California Conference January 24-25, 2018
Wednesday-Thursday, January 24-25, 2018 The California Endowment's Oakland Conference Center Registration Opens July 1, 2017 Flyer attached Why Attend This Conference? Trauma and toxic stress affect many people today in the California. The acute disasters and chronic stresses generated by climate change can aggravate many of these ongoing adversities, and create altogether new ones as well. The result can be rising mental health problems including severe anxiety, depression, PTSD, and...
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Self-care leadership
Join the SELF-Leadership Cohort Your inner-state makes all the difference, as a care provider and/or leader. We are in a time of disruptive change that has us challenged and facing higher stress loads. We can turn to the N.E.A.R. Sciences to help us upgrade our practices for navigating change (N.E.A.R. = Neuroscience, Epigenetics, ACEs, and Resilience). Are you ready for new strategies and self-care practices? Join the six-week SELF-Leadership Cohort . The cohort launches June 9 th with...
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September 20th, 2017 Gang Awareness Training for Parents
Gang Awareness Training for Parents September 20th, 2017 Wednesday, 6:00pm-8:00pm Roseland Elementary The two-hour workshop is designed to engage parents by bring in violence prevention experts and resource specialists who will respond to questions and concerns so together, we can gain greater parent involvement and find positive alternatives for today's youth. Free food, Childcare, and Parking with Spanish & English For more information go to www.srcity.org/ThePartnership
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Sharing two ACEs-related references
Karen Clemmer sent the following as an email yesterday: Dear Sonoma County ACES Connection members, Since our last meeting, a couple items that might be of interest have come across my desk and both frame ACES around a Life Course perspective! ...
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Shifting the focus from trauma to compassion
photo: Rolf Schweitzer/CCO Dr. Arnd Herz, a self-described champion for ACEs science, would like nothing more than to witness a greater appreciation of how widespread adverse childhood experiences are. Herz, a pediatrician and director of Medi-Cal Strategy for the Greater Southern Alameda Area for Kaiser Permanente Northern California, would also like to encourage more people in health care to engage in a trauma-informed care approach, a change in practice that he says not only benefits...
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Should Sonoma County merge its school districts? [Press Democrat]
By Susan Minichiello, Aug 11, 2019 for the Press Democrat As its schools face declining enrollment and shrinking budgets, local policymakers are asking why Sonoma County has 40 public school districts — and exploring whether they can save money and improve students’ education by consolidating. Only four counties in the state have more school districts than Sonoma County, which has been carved into an intricate, often overlapping mosaic of public agencies responsible for educating nearly...
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Simple Resilience Tips
(This is a written version of a presentation I gave at our January Meeting.) For the past year, Sonoma County ACEs Connection worked to make more people aware of Adverse Childhood Experiences. But especially after the big fires, it feels important to also talk about resilience. I want to start a discussion about simple resilience techniques that anyone could apply in their work, social and/or personal life. This is not new information, because the best resilience methods have been used by...
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Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) Hosting Free 8-Week Counseling Groups
Many people continue to feel impacted by the fires from October 2017. Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) is hosting free 8-week counseling sessions to help heal and recover after the devastation. The Child, Teen, and Young Adult Groups will use play, art, journaling, and self-care techniques while the Parent Education group will focus on teaching parents how to support their children and learn stress reduction techniques for themselves. Please see flyer below for more information.
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Solano County launches its ACEs and resilience initiative inviting all to take action
Elizabeth Huntley recalls the day when her family’s life was turned upside down. “One day my mom woke up and she packed up all of our clothes, all five of us…and she took me and my younger sister who had the same father… down to my paternal grandmother’s house…and she left us there. She took my middle sister to a town near Birmingham, Ala., and left her there. She took my only brother and an older sister back to Huntsville and left them at a sister’s house. Then she went back to that housing...
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Solano County's (CA) ACEs initiative, a robust community effort, makes room for input from all
In a house called “Johanna’s House” on a tree-lined side street in Vallejo, Calif., four women are filling out the adverse childhood experiences (ACE) survey given to them by Maria Guevara, the founder of Vallejo Together, an organization that serves homeless residents in Vallejo. The house was named for Johanna Dilag, a homeless woman who was found dead along with her dog.
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Sonoma Community Resilience Collaborative
Hello Friends— We hope that you and your families are safe and staying well! These past few weeks have been tough on our community. The power outages, Kincade fire, and evacuations have profoundly affected our individual emotional and physical health, our social functioning, our overall well-being, and the health and security of our community. The Sonoma Community Resilience Collaborative has trained over 200 people from our community to deliver FREE mind-body skills to build the social...
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Sonoma County ACEs Activity Timeline
Hello, I just wanted to share with everyone this activity timeline that I put together! This timeline looks at all the action and awareness we have spread around Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resiliency throughout our community over the past few years. Thank you all for the wonderful work you do in our community!
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Sonoma County ACES Connection MARC Proposal
Members have asked to see the proposal as submitted. Here it is for your reference.
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Sonoma County ACES Connection Meeting 1/27/16
Dear Supporters & Friends, We look forward to seeing you next Wednesday January 27, 2016 from 12:30 2:00 in the City View Rooms at 625 5 th Street. Our upcoming agenda and meeting materials are attached, and minutes from December follow here: December 14, 2015 Paper Tigers is a testament to what the latest development science is proving: that one caring adult can help break the cycle of adversity in a young persons life. Sonoma County ACES Connection...
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Sonoma County ACES Connection Meeting 10-26-16
Dear Friends, We’ll be gathering at the Valley of the Moon Children’s Home for our next meeting of the Sonoma County ACEs Connection. (Many of you may already plan to be there for the “ACEs, Trauma Informed and Self Care” workshop with Brian Farragher.) During this compelling meeting we’ll hear about the Master Training event with ACE Interface and Dr. Anda, the California ACEs Conference hosted by the Center for Youth Wellness, among other exciting announcements. We will also be doing the...