January 2019

The next generation is less likely to wear predisposed shackles of trauma because as trauma-informed parents we are re-wiring the traumatically stressed DNA that was passed down to us.

Efforts to improve the health and education of California’s children would get a giant funding boost under Governor Gavin Newsom’s budget, a prospect that’s generating a swell of excitement among child advocacy groups. The governor’s first budget proposal, released Jan. 10, offers numerous supports aimed directly at bolstering childhood health, including $105 million to pay for developmental and mental health screenings for low-income children, almost $110 million to expand home visiting...

Thursday, January 31st, 6:30-8:30pm at The El Dorado County Office of Education, Building B, Room 2, Placerville Join us to watch Resilience, the documentary film that explains the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the new movement to treat and prevent Toxic Stress. After the film we will discuss and share ways to build resiliency in ourselves and the children in our lives. This event is brought to you by Foster and Kinship Care Education of The El Dorado Center at Folsom...

Frederick-area [Maryland] leaders from nonprofits, health care systems and the county health department spent Tuesday defining the most pressing health needs in the community for the next three years. After hours of presentations and discussion, behavioral health, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)/infant health , and chronic health were picked as the top health concerns. The priorities are part of the Local Health Improvement Plan , which the county sets every three years. Volunteers from...

The flames have long since died down, but Fiona Roberts, a high school senior, remains haunted by the memory of being trapped with her mother in a slow-motion race for their lives on the morning of Nov. 8, the day the Camp Fire swallowed Paradise. Driving from their home in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the left-hand side of the road, they gasped at the pop of backyard propane tanks exploding and the sight of embers the size of butterflies swirling in the air. Their fear held its tightest grip...

REDDING, Calif. — Finding new ways to address mental illness and suicide is a growing problem nationwide and the Northstate is no exception. According to Shasta County Health and Human Service Agency, the county averages about 40 suicide deaths a year. That amounts to twice the statewide rate when measured by how many suicide deaths the county has per one hundred thousand people. "There are many potential reasons as to why we have a high rate. One could be social isolation. We have a huge...

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...

I wrote this last year - however the context, coordination & collaboration are worth a second look: The Road to Resilience: A Public Health Approach to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Physicians and public health nurses representing all 58 counties and 3 cities in California came together for three days to discuss The Road to Resilience: A Public Health Approach to Adverse Childhood Experiences . Program Brochure Presentations included (partial list): Health Departments’ Evolving...

From Capital Public Radio, comes an article and audio on insights to our Governor's plan for California's children: "Nurse Wendie Skala worked with teens who were victims of street violence — and she always felt she was getting to them too late. Eventually, she learned about something called “adverse childhood experiences,” or ACEs : The idea that trauma early in life can cause disruptive and unhealthy behavior. And that’s when Skala says a “huge light bulb” went on. “Instead of saying,...

My project for the Center for Health Journalism’s California Fellowship was focused on childhood trauma, zeroing in on a town in Northern California. In the fall, that town — Paradise, California — burned in a harrowing wildfire. The story quickly changed to one of community loss. The story of trauma in two counties My initial project was about Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs. ACEs are one way to quantify how much childhood trauma a person has experienced before the age of 18. Through...

Although AK focused there may be several relevant golden nuggets that are applicable to other regions. Check it out! Please join ACEs Connection and the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) for a free 60-minute webinar this Friday (Jan. 11) starting 8:00am AK/ 9:00am PT/ 12:00pm ET that features a new Alaskan statute directing state policy to incorporate principles of brain development. Hear the story first hand from the champion of the bill in the Alaska legislature,...

Reauthorized and signed into law by President Trump on 12/21/18, some aspects include; * to support a continuum of evidence-based or promising programs (including delinquency prevention, intervention, mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse treatment, family services, and services for children exposed to violence) that are trauma informed, reflect the science of adolescent development, and are designed to meet the needs of at-risk youth and youth who come into contact with the...