I am often asked, “What are the benefits of ACEs prevention work being data-driven, cross-sector and systemic?” I also hear, “Isn’t raising awareness of ACEs enough?” These are important questions. From our work in child welfare we know that many parents struggle to gain access to behavioral health care, safe shelter and living wage jobs. Imagine twenty-year-old single parent Deirdre with her three-year-old son Ethan. She grew up experiencing emotional trauma and faces huge challenges. She...

By Claudia Rowe, May 3, 2019, The Seattle Times Rising Strong Twice a day for months, Cicelia Bracken and her children tracked the progress of their home-under-construction, watching as beams were erected to sketch the outlines of an imagined life with a working kitchen. At 31, Bracken hadn’t had a place where she could shut the door and sit with her thoughts for years. Nor had her four young children, all of them under 6, who peered into the windows, jostling for first pick of the new...

Before Claire Ranit spoke to her local Rotary Club about ACEs science, she needed to know if her listeners would be elephants or riders.