Tagged With "Guiding NEAR"
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How To: ACEs & Resiliency Fellowship
Would your community like to start an ACEs & Resiliency Fellowship to help spread awareness and build capacity for action? Sonoma County would like to share our tools and lessons learned with you. 1. What was the ACEs & Resiliency Fellowship? This remarkable program is unique to Sonoma County California. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) & Resiliency Fellowship is a 9-month intensive interdisciplinary program designed for community members who serve as community educators...
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In Spanish: Handouts for parents about ACEs, toxic stress & resilience
The Community & Family Services Division at the Spokane (WA) Regional Health District has come through again, with a Spanish version of the parent handout (in English) that we posted last year , and which has been downloaded thousands of times. The English versions came about whiledoing a story about the trauma-in formed elementary schools in Spokane, WA .I interviewedp ublic health nurse Melissa Charbonneau who said that she'd been giving an...
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Living near SMART tracks, Petaluma homeless face danger [Petaluma360.com]
Jonathan Rollstin is often unaware that a train is coming until the moment it has arrived. Where the homeless man’s encampment is situated, trains barrel past about 50 feet away, on tracks splitting the graffiti-marred girders of a Highway 101 overpass south of the Petaluma Village Premium Outlets. Despite the obvious dangers and prodding by police, Rollstin, 39, refuses to quit his illegal set-up. “I want to be alone. I don’t want to be in a shelter,” he said Monday...
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Local Teachers Love Learning about ACES!
Grace Harris MFT, Parent Resources Director for Child Parent Institute reported that she recently presented to staff at several schools on ACES and Trauma Informed Care (TIC). When asked, less than 10% of school staff said they were aware of...
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A Santa Rosa neighborhood’s love wipes out hate [PressDemocrat.com]
One man late Thursday night sprayed three hateful words on the garage door of a northwest Santa Rosa family. Sunday afternoon, a clean-up crew of more than 50 people appalled by the display of racism, showed up to wipe away the graffiti and show Fijian immigrants Di and Bentley Chong Wan that one guy with a spray can doesn't speak for them. Residents of the older subdivision near Coffey Park streamed into the cul-de-sac where the Wans have rented a home for the last year bearing covered...
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Mapping the ACEs science movement — How close are we to a tipping point?
[Note: This is most of a keynote presentation I gave at last week's sold-out National ACEs Conference in San Francisco. The energy at this conference was incredible. To all who attended, thank you for doing so. To those of you who weren't able to attend, we hope the posts about the conference give you some idea of the speakers and sessions.] We have come an extraordinarily long way in spreading the word about ACEs science. During the first National ACEs conference in Philadelphia five years...
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MARC Group Postings
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...
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Material from Building Community Capacity to Address ACEs- ACEs & Resiliency Community of Practice Session
Thank you to all who attended our Community of Practice Building Community Capacity to Address ACES on July 25th! Attached are the materials from our day together. Ellen and Oscar's Slides are attached.
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Material from Trauma Informed Organizations- ACEs & Resiliency Community of Practice Session
Thank you to all who attended our Community of Practice Event Trauma-Informed Organizations Attached are the materials from our day together. Brian Farragher Slides are attached, as well as the ACEs and Resiliency Fellowship Impact to Date Handout If you would like to register for our July event you can register using this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-community-capacity-to-address-aces-community-of-practice-tickets-31518403393
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Notes and materials from March 25, 2015
Dear Sonoma County ACES Connection enthusiasts: Thank you to all who participated in today’s ACES meeting. Sometimes the transition between work and a working meeting can be a bit rough. Thankfully, today, Allen provided a...
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Notes and materials from our first meeting of 2015
We had a good meeting last Wednesday. Allen Nishikawa greeted us with a mindfulness practice that helped us relax and be present. ACEs Connection staff Alicia and Jesus joined us and it was a pleasure to meet them in person! Karen Clemmer once...
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Notes from 4/22/2015 meeting
Seventeen Sonoma County ACEs Connection members attended our monthly, in-person meeting on April 22. Once again, Allen Nishikawa greeted us with a warm, steamy hand towel so that we could truly “arrive” and be mindful. We agreed that, for...
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OCAP needs you! Apply now to become a member of their 2019 Citizen Review Panels
Make a difference in the lives of vulnerable children in California. Use your voice to change the child welfare system in California! Convened by the Office of Child Abuse Prevention (OCAP), they are seeking citizen (YOUR) input at their quarterly meetings. Now is your chance to make recommendations to the State! Apply now t o become a member of the California Child-welfare Citizen Review Panels (CRPs). Meetings are held 4 times a year. Participation can be by phone, computer, or in-person.
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PARENTING GUIDES: Please share to support parents
During this challenging time, parents need more resources than ever. Please let parents know about the following guides from the Yolo County Children's Alliance and the Yolo Child Abuse Prevention Council. All guides are available at www.yolokids.org/forfamilies , and I have attached a summary of the guides if you would prefer to share that. Please note that we will be releasing our positive discipline guide on 4/1/20 ( Handling Your Child's Challenging Behaviors at Every Age ). The guides...
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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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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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Register Today for the Trauma-Informed Agency Champion Training at SCOE on 12/11/17
Register with Sonoma County Office of Education now here: https://www.scoe.org/pub/htdocs/class.html?class_id=7308 This second offering of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) & Resiliency Fellowship will focus on developing former Fellowship members (ACE Interface Master Trainers and Presenters) as Trauma-Informed Agency Champions. As a collaboration between the Sonoma County Office of Education, Sonoma County Human Services, Department of Health Services Behavioral Health and...
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Roseland Library Lives On! [Sonoma County Gazette]
By Duane Dewitt, July 29, 2019 for the Sonoma County Gazette Roseland Community Library Will Live On into the Future Roseland Library will host a “Veterans Connect Pop up”Providing information about benefits available to them Thursday August 15 Roseland Community Library will live on into the future. “The Sonoma County Library has signed a six-year lease on a building at 470 Sebastopol Road, across the street from the current temporary library.” according to Ray Holley of the Sonoma County...
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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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2017 Kids Count Data Book [aecf.org]
Wednesday June 14th the Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 2017 Kids Count Data Book - State Trends in Child Well-Being. This comprehensive report is " a premier source of data on children and families." You can download the report from this post, as well as on the Kids Count website , where you can also access an interactive data map in their Data Center . This is an invaluable amount of data available to the public, relevant to anyone working with children and families - with the...
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ACEs Connection, our Cooperative of Communities, and....Pando!
Last month, we officially launched the ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities. We are SO excited about this! And the communities that are part of the handful of ACEs initiatives that are piloting the Cooperative are, too! Before describing the Cooperative, I want to reassure our 40,000+ members and 277 ACEs initiatives (plus another 100 in development) that have communities on ACEs Connection that nothing on ACEsConnection.com changes! Membership is and remains free ! And it will remain...
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Alternatives to Violence Project: experience the gifts!
I've been thinking a lot lately about the full spectrum of trauma and resilience. Certainly our internal dialogue, what we tell ourselves, is near the root of other communication and actions. Can we shed light on this "intrapersonal communication" to help heal trauma and support resilience? How do we access what's in our heads? One way is to ask ourselves deep questions and speak our truths in a safe environment. This is one of the ways Alternatives to Violence Project brings humanity and...
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Building the Occupy Bench, the new circular conversation starter in the plaza [Sonoma West]
Building the Occupy Bench This handsome circular bench, created by Jim Wheaton, Steve Pierce and Peter Santulli was installed on the downtown plaza in Sebastopol on Thursday, Nov. 29. The city of Sebastopol initiated the building of the circular Occupy Bench of Sebastopol to commemorate the Occupy Movement (2011-2013) and provide a place for community discussion in the downtown plaza. Wheaton, Santulli and Pierce, along with many others, have spent three years working to build the bench.
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Dozens of stakeholders representing thousands of practitioners send public comments on Calif. ACEs-screening plan
Update: We posted this story on Tuesday evening and received a response from the Department of Health Care Services Wednesday that clarifies additional information. DHCS information Officer Katharine Weir said that subject to budget approval by the legislature and the governor: The reimbursement rate will be $29. Federally Qualified Health Centers will also be reimbursed for screening pediatric patients for trauma through Prop 56 funds and federal matching funds. In response to a question...
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The Economics of Child Abuse: A Study of California
While the impact of maltreatment on a child and their family is devastating, child maltreatment also has serious effects far beyond those for the victim. Maltreatment results in ongoing costs to taxpayers, institutions, businesses, and society at large. Local communities bear the brunt of these costs in the form of medical, educational, and judicial costs, though more tragic signs are seen in homelessness, addiction, and teen pregnancy. To create a concrete understanding of the widespread...
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Trauma education and mindfulness help youth living amid gun violence
Armon Hurst, 2nd from left, first row, Teens on Target, courtesy of YouthAlive! Eighteen-year-old Armon Hurst serves as vice president of the student body at Castlemont High School in Oakland, Calif. He has a 4.0 grade point average, is an avid baseball player, and is slated to go to college next year. But until a few years ago, Hurst would find himself waking from nightmares in the middle of the night. It was difficult to concentrate at school, and he wasn’t eating well. Armon Hurst “There...
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Trial by Fire: MARC Sites Collaborate on Trauma-Informed Disaster Response
By @Anndee Hochman During a December 2017 convening in Philadelphia, several leaders from Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) realized they had more in common than a passion for building resilience in their communities. They all hailed from places that had recently been scorched or flooded by natural disasters: wildfires in California and the Columbia River Gorge, hurricanes in Florida, the lingering residue of 2012’s post-tropical cyclone Sandy in the Northeast.
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Upcoming Training Opportunity, "Trauma Informed Care: NEAR Informed Solutions"
The Public Health Institute and John Muir Health are excited to sponsor this one-day training. This is a training for providers, educators, and community leaders to better understand Trauma Informed Care. The training will share insights and strategies from the self-healing communities work in Washington State. This training will be held on February 27, 2018 from 9:00am-3:30pm at the First 5 Conference Center. The address is: 1115 Atlantic Ave., Alameda, CA, 94501. For more information,...
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Upcoming Training Opportunity, "Trauma Informed Care: NEAR Informed Solutions"
The Public Health Institute and John Muir Health are excited to sponsor this one-day training. This is a training for providers, educators, and community leaders to better understand Trauma Informed Care. The training will share insights and strategies from the Self-Healing Communities work in Washington State. This training will be held on February 27, 2018 from 9:00am-3:30pm at the First 5 Conference Center. The address is: 1115 Atlantic Ave., Alameda, CA, 94501. For more information,...
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Sonoma County ACES Connection Meeting 7-26-17
Dear Friends, We look forward to coming together to continue our efforts to raise awareness around Adverse Childhood Experiences & Resiliency. Join our community coalition’s meeting on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 at 12:30 at 625 5 th Street, Santa Rosa in the City View Rooms. Attached is the agenda for our meeting and last months meeting minutes. Your voice, community insight, and local action is helping us achieve community healing. We thank you for your participation and support! (Please...
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Sonoma County ACEs Connection Meeting February 28, 2018
The Sonoma County ACEs Connection has had some exciting meetings the past few months, exploring the many directions our group can and will take in the coming months. Attached you will find a typed up version of our brainstorm sessions from the February, 28, 2018 General Meeting of the Sonoma County ACEs Connection. The topics addressed included: (1) What will the be the group's norms and dedication to safe space look like? (2) What type of resiliency events should our group engage in? (3)...
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Sonoma County ACES Connection Meeting Minutes 9-28-16
(Please see attachment for a colorful and engaging version of these minutes.) Dear Sonoma County ACEs Connection Friends, Thank you to all that participated in today’s ACES meeting. Today, we started the meeting with a mindfulness activity where we used our sense of smell and touch (but not sight!) to explore an object. Tuning into our senses is an easy mindfulness activity we can incorporate into our daily life. Ellen Bauer shared a brief overview of the “ Self-Healing Communities ” model...
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Sonoma County ACEs Connection Strategic Planning Session Update
Thanks to all of the members who contributed to our Strategic Planning Session on 6/29/16. The engaging agenda is attached to this post, as is the presentation on the scope of the problem of ACE's in Sonoma County. Our fabulous facilitator, Selena Polston (Innovation Team Program Manager for Public Health) captures some of our meeting highlights in these notes: ACES Connection Retreat: Developing a Vision Statement Wednesday, June 29, 2016 Elsie Allen High School What Makes A Great Vision...
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Sonoma County to cut testing program tied to special drug court (pressdemocrat.com)
The resulting $8.5 million budget shortfall within the county’s behavioral health division is expected to result in the layoff of up to 40 employees who deal with substance abuse disorders, mental health counseling and treatment. Because the county is not mandated to provide drug testing, the Orenda Center program that handles random screening for drug- and drunken-driving court as well as other programs for drug-addicted mothers are slated for closure, said Barbie Robinson, health services...
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Sonoma County Trauma and Resilience Network One Pager
Attached find a 2018 version of Sonoma County community profile detailing information about your community ACEs initiative. This will be shared with CA legislators at the Trauma-Informed Policymaker Awareness Day on May 22nd in Sacramento. I attach it here as a PDF ready to print and share! I also have uploaded into 'Resources for Downloading' the same PDF, and an editable Word document so that you can update or otherwise improve it. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to...
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Wildfire Mental Health Services Collaborative Invites You to RSVP to August 2, 2018 Meeting
Dear Colleagues, Summer is flying by and we want to honor our commitment made to you at the May wildfire mental health services mapping session by reconvening our group for an update on August 2 from 9:00 to 11:00 am. The location for our meeting is Medtronic, 3850 Brickway Blvd, Santa Rosa, CA, 95403. There are no special parking instructions. Enter through the main entrance and check with the receptionist. There will be signs to direct you to our meeting room. Because this is a secure...
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Trauma Informed Care: NEAR Informed Solutions
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Re: PARENTING GUIDES: Please share to support parents
Thank you! I’ll check those out and appreciate the list very much. If possible, please add ours? (I blog posted here on it yesterday). Compassion in Action: Emotional First-Aid for Children. On Amazon. Thank you!