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Dennis McCollins recounts some of the experiences that caused him to harden against the world as a teenager. “There were times I went to more funerals than birthdays,” says McCollins, who is the clinical director of the School Based Health Center at Greenwood Academy in Richmond, Calif. And it took its toll: “I spent time homeless. I got expelled [from school]. I was so angry and upset and mad,” he says. Dennis McCollins Then a man that he met when he was sent to Job Corps as a teen turned...

Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.

Thanks to our colleagues at the National Wraparound Initiative for bringing this to our attention. This new bill in Colorado requires screening to identify youth with complex needs, establishes wraparound to serve them, and blends funding across agencies to make it happen! A model for other states to emulate! Child And Youth Behavioral Health System Enhancements Concerning enhancements to behavioral health services and policy coordination for children and youth, and, in connection therewith,...

Sonoma County Field Nursing's Liz George and Julianne Ballard have been busy! Together they lead an effort to develop a PHN home visiting model that integrates ACEs science! Their research will soon be published in The Journal of Public Health Nursing ! Here is the abstract: Trauma Informed Public Health Nursing Visits to Parents and Children (publication pending in Public Health Nursing) Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) research has demonstrated a strong correlation between a traumatic...

By Tommy Neal, 6/26/18, for Our American States NCSL Podcast Of all the games in town it would be difficult to find one more mysterious, unpredictable and least understood than the state legislative game. It is, however, a game not to be taken lightly. What your state legislature does affects many facets of your life—the taxes you pay, the highways on which you drive, public schools, the state supported colleges and universities you or your children may have attended, the state parks that...

With graduation season upon us, I have been thinking a lot about one of my favorite graduation speeches. It’s the speech that Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey’s Anatomy, gave in 2014 at Dartmouth College. She references the typical expected advice from a graduation speech: “Follow your dreams. Listen to your spirit. Change the world. Make your mark. Find your inner voice and make it sing. Embrace failure. Dream. Dream and dream big..." And then she says, “I think that’s crap.”

ACEs Enthusiasts Community Meeting *4th Wed of each month June 28, 2019 from 3:30 to 5:00 Location: Child Parent Institute Sonoma County ACEs Connection About this community: We bring the community together to prevent, heal, and treat ACEs while promoting resiliency. Sonoma County ACEs Connection has a fresh focus in 2019 with an emphasis on community, while seeking opportunities to leverage and coordinate with others. Please join us! PAGE ONE PAGE TWO

Rohnert Park Public Safety Officer David Wattson checks the welfare of a homeless woman at a bus stop in Rohnert Park on Thursday, February 1, 2018. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)

Pediatric nurse practitioner Julia Chang examines Gabriella Cedillos, 11, during her annual physical, at Roseland Pediatrics, part of Santa Rosa Community Health Centers, in Santa Rosa, on Wednesday, November 30, 2016. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)

By the time wildfires tore through his home county of Sonoma, California, Park Guthrie was already convinced that the clock on the climate catastrophe was running out. In 2015, Guthrie, a sixth-grade teacher and father of three, had approached the superintendent of the school district where he worked, hopeful she would sign a resolution endorsing action on climate change. He says he got nowhere. But after attending an advocacy event in Washington two years later, and hearing that the U.S.

By Laura Hagar Rush, Sonoma West Times & News, June 12, 2019. This summer the Sebastopol library will offer a series of free mental health classes for teenagers, thanks to an innovative partnership between the Sonoma County Library system and Social Advocates for Youth (SAY), a nonprofit offering mental health and housing services for youth. The first group will be held on Tuesday, June 18, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at Sebastopol Regional Library, 7140 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol. Sebastopol is...

From Quartzy, By Ephrat Livni May 25, 2019 All the conveniences of postmodern life don’t seem to be relaxing us. Pop songs are increasingly about anxiety and depression . “Burnout” has become the buzzword of 2019 . We’ve all got problems and don’t know how to solve them, though there’s surely never been a time in history when more advice, self-help books, mindfulness apps, and wellness gurus were so widely available to so many people. Maybe the proliferation of advice is one of our issues.