Blog

Please join us for a new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly virtual Zoom series will feature conversations facilitated by Porter Jennings-McGarity, PACEs Connection’s criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and strategies being used in this area...

PLEASE SIGN ON TO THIS MEMO TO SUPPORT OUTREACH ALONG THESE LINES TO THE ADMINISTRATION! If the goal is to impact meaningful change, it might prove helpful to view vaccine fear through a trauma informed-lens. There is an intentional shift from the use of the word “hesitancy” and instead using the more specific and appropriate term “fear”. We are more likely to change that which we better define and understand. The following memo has been developed with input from an interdisciplinary team of...

We all have inner strengths and resilience that can help us deal with challenges and stress. To help us manage stress, PACEs Connection and ACEs Aware created a handout based on seven evidence-based stress busters , as described in the Roadmap for Resilience: The California Surgeon General’s Report on Adverse Childhood Experiences, Toxic Stress, and Health . These interventions can help reduce stress, improve health, and build resilience. Please share widely! The handout is available in the...

This handout is based on the work of Donna Jackson Nakazawa , who worked with us and generously allowed us to paraphrase content from her book, Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology & How You Can Heal . Donna's book specifically addresses those of us parenting with ACEs (which she also does brilliantly in the powerful documentary, Wrestling Ghosts , which is about parenting and healing from ACEs). This handout can be downloaded, distributed, and used freely. It is...

Please sign onto and share this memo supporting using a trauma-informed approach to decreasing vaccine hesitancy! Many of the challenges we are facing with vaccine hesitancy can be better understood by looking at the issue through a trauma-informed lens. The following memo has been developed with input from many of the clinical and academic thought leaders from the trauma healing field to offer supportive guidance to the Administration. To successfully address this challenge, we need to...

Please join us for a new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly series will feature conversations facilitated by Porter Jennings-McGarity, PACEs Connection Midwest and Tennessee community facilitator and criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and...

On Indigenous People's Day, we celebrate the values, practices and policies of Tribal Nations, which treat land and water as an ancestral gift to be preserved and protected. As we cope with oil spills, wildfires, and historic droughts, that worldview can help guide us to a sustainable, equitable, and healthy future. Now more than ever, we need that wisdom to help us reclaim the health of the earth > More RWJF resources: Connecting Indigenous Knowledge and Practices webinar : Learn how...

Our version of a “Path to a Just Society” is our first attempt at creating a common language and identifying points along the path to a just society. The Race and Equity workgroup of PACEs Connection started the project in early 2021, following a staff meeting where we realized that we, our organization and the movement needed this. We think it can help all of us gauge where we are, where we want to be, and what’s needed to get to the next level of integrating practices and policies based on...

We are just a few days away from broadcasting our all-new 7-day event October 4‒10 , which includes the Talks on Trauma Series Part 2 , a showing of the Wisdom of Trauma Movie, daily meditations, integration sessions, and artistic performances. Dr. Gabor Maté will be in conversation with 33+ trauma experts, physicians, authors, visionaries and artists. The talks will be exploring how trauma relates to parenting, chronic pain, the medical paradigm, the climate crisis, politics, spirituality,...

A webinar offered by the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) Thursday, September 30, 1:30 - 3:00 pm EDT Register today . Addressing the mental health needs of child care providers and children in care is vital in the face of the pandemic, a population-level traumatic event. CTIPP is offering a "plug and play" framework to ease the process of developing a continuum of training, reflective coaching, and consultation to build the capacity for supporting relational health...

While natural disasters can strike at any time with very little warning, families and communities can take steps to prepare in the event that a disaster does occur. With the devastation caused by ongoing events (hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, COVID-19) across the nation, this reaffirms the need for disaster preparedness. Our thoughts are with the families, children, and communities who have been affected by these disasters. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) has resources...

The state of Florida received a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to implement Handle with Care in any Florida community that wants it. This grant includes training, resources, and technical support for both school districts and police departments as the program carries out. Initial funding to implement the program is vital because, once off the ground, upkeep for the program is inexpensive. The SAMHSA grant will only last for four more years,...