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A new report from Children Now details wide disparities in children’s well-being across California’s 58 counties. The 2016–2017 California County Scorecard of Children’s Well-Being looks at a series of indicators organized around the three domains of child welfare and economic well-being; health; and education. The report provides a comparison over time for each of 28 indicators, as well as a breakdown by ethnicity on each data point for every county in the state. Children Now, an advocacy...

I am excited to announce that ACEs Connection Network has partnered with the producers of the film, Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain . to host a FREE SCREENING of the film for our members. If you have been t hinking of hosting a screening of CAREgivers in your community or are interested in learning more about secondary traumatic stress and what to do about it, join our ACEs Connection Network for a FREE screening of this film and a virtual chat with the...

At first, it was scary, admits Joe Muñoz, 19, referring to his experience being admitted into the psychiatric hospital’s emergency room. “It was overcrowded. You feel you do not belong there. You see others who are much worse off than you, like drug addicts and crazy people.” Having been born with partial facial paralysis and an outer ear deformity, called microtia, Muñoz, of Riverside, was bullied by his classmates in high school for being different. They would steal his hearing aids, call...

Compassion Fatigue & Self-Care for Individuals and Organizations Brought to you by Futures Without Violence’s Supporting Organizational Sustainability Institute (SOS Institute) in partnership with the Office on Violence Against Women. Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 Time : 9:30 a.m. PT, 10:30 a.m. MT, 11:30 p.m. CT, 12:30 p.m. ET (1 Hr. 30 Min.) ***Closed caption will be provided. Registration Link:...

An average of 20 veterans commit suicide each day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for Americans Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2015, aims to reduce that number and improve mental health of veterans who are transitioning out of the military. Clay Hunt was a decorated Marine from Houston who committed suicide in 2011 at age 28, according to the White House website. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan and struggled...

A new deal struck with Liberty Healthcare Corporation doubles the number of private staff providing mental health services in county jails and results in more than $14 million in extra costs. Officials say, however, it won't result in net costs to the county. On Tuesday, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to OK an amended contract with Liberty, effective Aug. 23, "for comprehensive mental health and programming services in the County's correctional facilities."...

From the organizers of the 2016 ACEs Conference , San Francisco, CA, October 19th -21st, 2016. Please consider submitting your project today! We know building connections and learning across fields is the best way to advance practices that support children. That’s why we’re very excited to invite you to submit your work to the 2016 Conference on Adverse Childhood Experiences Project Showcase . We’re looking to highlight research, programs, tools or other initiatives that: Highlight the role...

Thirty years ago, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Doris Lessing gave a series of lectures, later published in a book, “ Prisons We Choose to Live Inside ,” in which she reflected on the brutality in the world and asked how individuals and societies could evolve into something better. It’s a sobering book, but Lessing is hopeful — and her main source of hope stems from the capacity of human beings to study themselves and learn from their own behavior. “I think when people look back at our...

After leading an effort in 2015 to provide permanent housing to all identified homeless veterans, top San Bernardino County officials and their partners will now shift their focus to the county’s chronic homeless population. On Tuesday, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors voted to expand and implement its programs and strategies to find housing for 376 identified chronic homeless individuals, including 31 between the ages of 18 and 24. “We learned many lessons in our efforts to...

This is an accessible, practical article. After a brief definition and explanation of resilience, it gives 20 easy, realistic strategies for building resilience in children. Share this with everyone you know! http://www.heysigmund.com/building-resilience-children/

KPJR Films is making its latest documentary, RESILIENCE , available for screenings in local communities. According to Resilience Executive Producer, Karen Pritzker , "We created Paper Tigers and Resilience for all segments of our community to use as tools, both as a source of inspiration and and education, towards trauma-informed practices. Directed by James Redford , RESILIENCE , is a one-hour documentary that delves into the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the birth of...

Mobilizing action can be intimidating. Creating a movement even more so. John Hagel provides the following definition of a movement: “an organized effort mobilizing a large number of independent participants in a grassroots effort to pursue a broad agenda for change.” He indicates that there are two key ingredients in movement making: 1) compelling narratives and 2) fostering creation spaces. In Buncombe County, we are experimenting with both of these notions. Opportunity-based Narrative A...