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Hello My Beloved PACEsconnection Community! Your Invited! I wanted to personally invite you to join me and my special trauma warrior guests, Carey Sipp, Andi Fetzner, and Teri Wellbrock for my Zoom Book Launch Party for my new book: "It's Not About Food, Drugs, or Alcohol: It's About Healing Complex PTSD"! There will be FREE giveaways, Q&A, special guests, and tons of FUN! To join the party you must register via the below Zoom link:...

In 2016, on the "old" ACEsConnection site, I posed the question: Was Jesus' Ministry Trauma-Informed? What resulted was a definition for a trauma-informed ministry that has been used and cited by others (based on the SAMHSA guidelines for a trauma-informed organization), a post that has been viewed over 4,000 times ( LINK ) and a curriculum that I wrote as part of my doctoral program at Multnomah Biblical Seminary in Portland, Oregon: Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks . It is an eight-week...

In 2016, on the "old" ACEsConnection site, I posed the question: Was Jesus' Ministry Trauma-Informed? What resulted was a definition for a trauma-informed ministry that has been used and cited by others (based on the SAMHSA guidelines for a trauma-informed organization), a post that has been viewed over 4,000 times ( LINK ) and a curriculum that I wrote as part of my doctoral program at Multnomah Biblical Seminary in Portland, Oregon: Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks . It is an eight-week...

(l-r) Judge J. Corpening; Ben David, district attorney, New Hanover County; Chief Justice Paul Newby; Judge Andrew Heath, executive director, Administrative Office of the Courts of the Chief Justice's ACEs Informed Courts Task Force. David and Heath serve as Task Force co-chairs . “There is not any more important work going on in the State of North Carolina,” said Ben David, District Attorney for New Hanover County and co-chair of the Chief Justice’s ACEs-Informed Task Force . The Task force...

Once the healing of hidden wounds from adverse childhood experiences has sufficiently progressed, attention can turn to developing a richly satisfying future. Your innate inner strengths, experiences, and acquired skills will help rewire your brain for a brighter future.

This book is the result of my passion for uniting the insights gained from trauma-informed ministry and God's Word. I have dedicated the last decade of my ministry to better understanding the effect of traumatic experiences—especially those that happen in childhood—on human spirituality, resilience, and our capacity to hope. I believe it has made me a better minister of the gospel and a better follower of Jesus Christ. It has certainly opened up my heart and mind to a greater appreciation of...

Adverse childhood experiences understandably can numb feelings, including feelings of joy, happiness, and pleasure. Making time to be joyful rewires the wounded brain. Once healing has progressed, the capacity for joy can usually be expanded through the repeated application of proven joy strategies.

PACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities is proud to present the “Intersection of Faith, Healing, and PACEs Science” webinar January 19, 2023, from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM CST ! This webinar will explore how the application of PACEs science can invoke healing and mitigate harm in faith-based communities. This is a free event, but donations for participation are being accepted. Mathew Portell, PACEs Connection director of communities, will lead a panel of experts to discuss how traditional...

Strengthening the wounded soul can improve psychological and physical wellbeing and help to complete the recovery process. Although ACEs, understandably, can numb feelings, including spiritual feelings, once healing has progressed, spiritual feelings can often be successfully cultivated.

I’m dismayed that our federal government’s health-related initiatives and websites do not include spirituality in their frameworks for health and wellbeing. Consequently, the spiritual dimension of health is not recommended as a resource to improve individual health and wellbeing and the nation’s public health.

While the process of forgiving painful offenses from childhood can be very difficult, efforts to forgive bring great rewards. The process begins with acknowledging the pain, applying self-compassion, and taking even small and faltering steps to get the forgiveness ball rolling.