Blog

(For a picture-filled and engaging version of these notes, please see the attachment.) 02-22-17 Dear Sonoma County ACEs Connection Friends, Thank you to all that participated in today’s ACES meeting. Kate Jenkins started us off with a prompt to learn five things about two of our neighbors in the room. This “mindful moment” encouraged us to focus on listening, while also paying attention to the different sensations that were occurring in our body and mind. Were we focused on what we wanted to...

"Volunteers-4-Youth" is pleased to announce the showing of two important films that explore factors that affect the wellbeing of young people. Resilience View Trailer HERE and Paper Tigers View Trailer HERE These films are free of charge and open to all people who work with and are concerned about the future of our youth. To attend, you need to sign up through the Brown Paper Tickets link (see below). Please sign up soon, as seating is limited. Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the...

An article posted by BBC News captures what the children of Syria are experiencing and how many of these children don't know anything but war. This is a huge public health concern that could lead to irreversible damage to an entire generation of children. Save the Children shares, "Millions of Syrian Children could be living in a state of "Toxic Stress" due to prolonged exposure to the horrors of war." I have attached the Report, Invisible Wounds produced by Save the Children if you're...

The City of Santa Rosa’s Violence Prevention Partnership, funded by Measure O , has launched a Strategic Plan Survey in order to better serve the needs of our community . Please find links to the survey below in both English and Spanish. We ask that you share the survey with our youth and families in-person, through email, and various social media outlets, so together , we can continue to create change for our community. If you’d like to print out the survey and have youth & families...

This white paper published in 2014 by Bridge Housing Corporation in San Francisco, and the Health Equity Institute at San Francisco State University provides valuable information on how to strengthen trauma affected neighborhoods by utilizing the Trauma Informed Community Building Model. Community members living in low-income and public housing may experience cumulative trauma, resulting from daily stressors of violence, poverty, historical racism and disenfranchisement. By addressing the...

As you walk through the courtyard of the Sonoma Charter School (SCS) sounds of stomping feet, clapping hands, and children’s voices singing “round and round” and “shake shake” pour from the performing arts space called the Playbox. Inside, 10 first-graders wearing silk tunics, holding brightly colored fabric pieces, wriggle on the floor like worms, jumping like kangaroos, then gently throw feathers from an imaginary bird in the air. You’ve stepped into the world of Rainbowdance, part of a...

Thank you to all who attended our Culture, Compassion, Competence and Humility Community of Practice Event! Attached are the materials from our day together. Also, below you will find a link to the Brené Brown video on empathy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw If you would like to register for our March event you can register using this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-resilience-on-a-solid-foundation-community-of-practice-tickets-30963526742

In the past, lawmakers didn’t think twice about how doctors treated foster children suffering from emotional traumas such as abandonment and abuse. Nobody controlled how often practitioners prescribed psychiatric drugs that had serious potential for doing more harm than good. Today, investigations into California’s foster care system shed light on the doctors who fuel medication problems by inappropriately prescribing narcotics to the state’s most vulnerable children – ultimately leading to...

Paul Palmer is part of Sober Circle at the Mary Isaak Center (Photo by Beth Shankler) ____________________________ At this time last year, Paul Palmer was going on seven years of being homeless. A methamphetamine addict living along the Petaluma River, he had been in and out of rehab a few times, but it never seemed to work. He mostly kept to himself, staying out of the way of police officers and other homeless people, burrowed deep into the bushes along the river bank on the north side of...

Hanna Institute, at the Hanna Boys Center, is excited to announce that Mark Philpart, senior director at PolicyLink , will be the keynote speaker at its second Professional Networking Breakfast on March 9, 2017. Marc will speak about the Boys and Men of Color Framework , which explores the deep evolutions toward equity that are beginning to take place in our communities. There will also be an open forum discussion in how culturally relevant trauma-informed practices can dramatically improve...

Would you or your group like to know more about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and Resiliency? The ACE Study reveals that ACEs are the leading cause of health and social problems in our nation and the most powerful determinant of the public’s health. Building Self-Healing Communities is about investing in the people who have the most at stake- especially people affected by ACEs—so they can be expert leaders of their own community’s change. Sonoma County ACEs Fellowship Members are...

(For a picture-filled and engaging version of these notes, please see the attachment.) 01-25-17 Dear Sonoma County ACEs Connection Friends, Thank you to all that participated in today’s ACES meeting. Allen Nishikawa graciously warmed washcloths for each member of the coalition to encourage a traditional Japanese “mindful moment” of washing the face and hands with a steaming cloth. Allen offered this in a gesture of showing care for those who often serve as caretakers and may benefit from...