Southern Kenai Peninsula ACEs Connection (AK)

To all of you, who, like me, love this website and want to see it and its communities flourish as we work to prevent and heal trauma; build resiliency: please know there is a move afoot by a small group of strategic partners to find a suitable host for PACEs Connection.

More will be announced in the coming days. In the meantime, friends, we are figuring out email addresses and other communications logistics and opportunities.  

PEACE!

Carey Sipp, former director of strategic partnerships  

csipppaces@icloud.com

Hello partners, members, and friends,

It is with mixed emotions that I am sharing that PACEs Connection will be sunsetting all operations effective Friday, April 26. While it saddens me to see this chapter of PACEs work come to a close, this work is too important to end, and efforts are underway to identify a new home for PACEs to continue its work. At the same time, this presents an exciting opportunity for PACEs to reemerge stronger than ever. Although we intended a seamless transition, there will unfortunately be a need to temporarily pause all new work until PACEs is settled into its new arrangement. Specifically, this means that the website will remain accessible, however, there will be a temporary pause in engagement and interaction with our members, and members will not be able to add new content to their community pages.

Additionally, I have been sharing that I will be stepping away from PACEs to pursue independent endeavors, but I do so confidently knowing that PACEs work will continue. I would like to thank all of partners, members, communities and donors for their unwavering commitment and support over the past few years, and I wish all of you nothing but the best.

PACEs Connection is excited to kick off our 2023 Creating Resilient Communities (CRC) Annual Accelerator Program. (Click here to review a brief description of each event. See below for event times).

The 16 hour CRC accelerator is focused on supporting and developing individual advocates and organizational agents of change in transforming their communities and organizations using PACEs trauma-informed awareness and resilience-building frameworks.

The CRC accelerator will cover fundamental topics such as understanding of PACEs science, community organizing, multi-sector collaboration, and strategic planning; as well as several special topics. See below for quick highlights.

Accelerator Program Highlights:

• The accelerator program consists of 16 hours of a mixture of both relevant interactive learning sessions and informative video modules.
• These events are FREE and OPEN to the public!
• Most events repeat on a monthly basis in case you are unable to attend one month.
• IMPORTANT PREREQUISITE!!! Every participant must FIRST attend the Introduction to PACEs Connection event, and then you may attend the remaining events at your own pace.

Getting Started

Once you have attended Introduction to PACEs Connection, confirmed participants will be sent an email containing the registration links for the following events. Register for any, or all, of the events that interest you.

Introduction to PACEs Connection, offered:

Apr 19, 2023 10:00 AM (PST) / 1:00 PM (EST)

Apr 27, 2023 10:00 AM (PST) / 1:00 PM (EST)

May 1, 2023 1:00 PM (PST) / 4:00 PM (EST)

May 11, 2023 9:00 AM (PST) / 12:00 PM (EST)

May 23, 2023 6:00 AM (PST) / 9:00 AM (EST)

Creating Resilient Communities Topics

Introduction to PACEs Science

PACEs Science and Social Justice

Is PACEs a Movement?

A PACEs Science Lens on Organizing for Social Justice

Organizing For Resilient Communities

Restorative Justice: What's Next?

Introduction to PACEs in Education

Environmental Justice 101

Creating Partnerships on the Path to a Just Society

Click here to review a brief description of each event.

REMINDER: Register here for the REQUIRED first event in this series: Introduction to PACEs Connection. There are several options available; you only need to attend this initial event one time.

➤ Stay tuned for a post with additional dates for this series!

➤ Questions about this series? Email Kahshanna Evans, Director of Resilient Communities: kevans@pacesconnection.com

Has the pandemic stressed you out?

Want to learn the self-soothing skills of Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience directly from the author, Dr. Carolyn Curtis?

Good news! The Dibble Institute has received generous funding for scholarships to the online, full 12-lesson series, Mind Matters Now. The course helps teachers, social workers, medical professionals, and others manage their stress by building resilience skills and practices for mental well-being. (CEUs are available for $40.)

Complete the application here to apply for one of the Mind Matters Now scholarships (value $49). If approved, you will then be emailed a coupon code.

If you have questions, please email us.

The Dibble Institute is pleased to present an introductory webinar by Rev. Dr. Bryant T. Marks Sr. of the National Training Institute on Race and Equity, which will provide foundational information on implicit bias. It will focus at the individual level and discuss how implicit bias affects everyone. Strategies to reduce or manage implicit bias will be discussed.

Broadly speaking, group-based bias involves varying degrees of stereotyping (exaggerated beliefs about others), prejudice (dis/liking others), and/or discrimination (unequal treatment of others) that occur above or below conscious awareness. Scholars have labeled the subconscious form of group-based bias implicit or unconscious bias. Implicit bias is primarily seen as an attitude or stereotype held about social groups below conscious awareness. Implicit bias has become very important to understand given the decreased frequency of Americans to freely and openly express negative thoughts, feelings and behaviors regarding other racial groups. Implicit bias is everywhere and affects everyone. We all have implicit bias. The impact of our implicit bias on others, however, significantly depends on our social and professional roles in society. Bias held by educators, police officers, physicians, prosecutors and criminal court judges can significantly affect the life outcomes of large segments of society.

Research has revealed that many Americans show a positive implicit bias toward White Americans vs. African Americans, young vs. old and fit vs. obese. Showing a preference for or against any particular group does not mean that a person is prejudiced or will discriminate, but it does suggest that s/he has been repeatedly exposed to certain associations between specific groups and specific traits/characteristics and have stored them in memory. These associations are often very strong and difficult to undue without deliberate effort or ongoing training. It is possible, however, to implement practices or policies that reduce the likelihood that implicitly biased beliefs will lead to biased behaviors.

Objectives:
Participants will understand:

• What is implicit bias?
• What does implicit bias look like in the real world?
• What causes implicit bias?
• How is implicit bias measured?
• How does implicit bias affect the person who holds the bias?
• How does implicit bias affect the attitudes and behaviors of the target group?
• How can implicit bias be reduced/managed at the individual level?

Presenters: Rev. Dr. Bryant T. Marks, Sr., Professor, Morehouse College
When: Wednesday, November 10, 2021, 9:00 am Pacific/12:00 pm Eastern
Duration: 3 hours
Cost: $35.00 per person

The pandemic has had a lasting effect on youth mental health. Moved by a desire to reduce youth’s toxic stress and increase their resilience, The Dibble Institute, in partnership with a team of students and alumni from ArtCenter College of Design and author Carolyn Curtis, PhD, is releasing Me & My Emotions—a new, free adaptation of our beloved Mind Matters Curriculum.

The mobile-friendly Me & My Emotions website features engaging graphics and bite-sized lessons teens can access and practice any time. This digital experience for teens aligns with the same skill sets available in Mind Matters:

• Self-Soothing and Mindfulness Practices
• Managing Stress Effectively
• Developing Empathy
• Developing a life of Intention
• Building and Using a Support System

Check out Me&My Emotions today and share widely!

Becky Antle, Ph.D., Professor of Social Work and esteemed University Scholar at the University of Louisville, won The Dibble Institute’s national competition to evaluate Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience in 2019. As a result, Dr. Antle and her colleagues have conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine the impact of Mind Matters on a host of outcomes related to trauma symptoms, emotional regulation, coping and resiliency, and interpersonal skills for at-risk youth in a community-based sample. Youth in the study reported high levels of childhood trauma and related trauma symptoms upon entry into the program. Following provision of this evidence-informed program by trained providers within community-based organizations, youth reported a reduction in trauma symptoms and improvement in resiliency despite a number of complicating risk factors and across multiple demographic groups.

Join the researchers on this project as they discuss their most recent findings from the pilot of Mind Matters with high-needs youth in the Louisville community. They will focus on youth-related outcomes, lessons learned, and tips for implementing the Mind Matters curriculum in a variety of settings with at-risk youth.

Objectives:
Specifically, webinar attendees will learn:

1. How Mind Matters is being implemented in community partnership for at-risk youth with fidelity
2. How Mind Matters is being evaluated using rigorous process and outcomes evaluation methods
3. How Mind Matters is making a difference in the lives of youth served
4. How to use effective implementation and facilitation skills to provide Mind Matters to youth across a variety of settings to achieve positive outcomes

Presenter: Becky Antle, Ph.D., MSSW, MFTA, Professor and University Scholar, Director Center for Family and Community Well-Being, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY.

Who should attend: Program managers, educators, practitioners, community workers, evaluators, policy makers, advocates, counselors, trauma workers, curriculum reviewers, and anyone interested in working with youth.

When: Wednesday, October 13, 2021, 4:00 pm Eastern/1:00 pm Pacific

Duration: 60 minutes

Cost: Free!

By Cathy Giessel, Anchorage Daily News, May 2, 2021

Alaskans love to fish! Already, trips to favorite fishing places are being planned, and dreams of big catches dreamed.

By Adriana Gallardo, Nadia Sussman and Agnes Chang, ProPublica, and Kyle Hopkins and Michelle Theriault Boots, Anchorage Daily News, June 1, 2020.

Alaska has the highest rate of sexual assault in the nation. These women and men did not choose to be violated, but they now choose to speak about what happened.

ALASKA HAS the highest rate of sexual assault in the nation, nearly four times the national average. About one third of women in Alaska have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. Yet it is a secret so steeped into everyday life that to discuss it is to disrupt the norm.

These 29 women and men did not choose to be violated, but they now are choosing to speak about what happened to them.

Last year, the Anchorage Daily News partnered with ProPublica to investigatesexual violence in Alaska, and explore why the situation isn’t getting

[Please click here to read more.]

On the eastern edge of Missouri, leaders of the Alive and Well network had generated a robust media campaign to help people understand the impact of trauma and toxic stress on health and well-being. There was a monthly column in an African-American newspaper, spots about toxic stress and resilience on urban radio stations and weekly public service features on the NBC affiliate, with physicians, clergy and teachers advocating ways to “be alive and well.”

Two hundred and fifty miles to the west, a similar cross-sector coalition, Resilient KC, was sponsoring workshops, hosting a learning collaborative and recruiting community “ambassadors” who could bring the science of ACEs and resilience to clients, colleagues and policy-makers in business, the armed services, education, justice and health care.

On both sides of the state, those networks saw their grant funding trickling to an end. So they decided to join forces, share strategies and form a not-for-profit organization that could spread the impact of their work across Missouri and the region.

Resilient KC—a partnership between a pre-existing network, Trauma Matters Kansas City (TMKC), and the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce—was one of 14 locales to receive a two-year Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) grant. The work drew interest from the local arts community, the Kansas City Royals and the police; Captain Darren Ivey became a tireless champion, consulting with other police departments and designing trainings on vicarious trauma.

But as the MARC grant drew to a close in 2017, Resilient KC leaders thought about how, “if we really want to sustain the movement and think about where we are going in Kansas City, we need to be a not-for-profit,” says Marsha Morgan, who helped launch TMKC while working as chief operating officer of Truman Medical Center’s department of behavioral health.

Meanwhile, leaders of Alive and Well St. Louis, under the auspices of the regional health commission, knew that their mission—increasingly focused on racial equity—had grown beyond the bounds of a health-focused organization.

“We kept turning to our partners in Kansas City to ask, ‘How do we do this?’ We shared information and expertise. We were both trying to solve the same problems,” says Jennifer Brinkmann, now president of Alive and Well Communities, launched as a 501c3 in early 2018.

Alive and Well built a structure that reflects the network’s aim to make change both at the “hyper-local” and institutional levels. To accomplish that, the network recruited 500 “ambassadors,” community volunteers who attend a two-hour trauma awareness training and elect a steering committee— one in St. Louis, and one in Kansas City—to set priorities and drive the work locally.

In St. Louis, Alive and Well also hires neighborhood residents—individuals who are interviewed, trained and paid an hourly rate to deliver workshops on trauma, self-care and community care.

A 13-member volunteer board of directors—including the two co-chairs of each steering committee—holds financial responsibility for Alive and Well. They include representatives from academia, health care, human services and the faith-based community.

Alive and Well also joined the national Building Community Resilience Collaborative—a means of having an impact on federal legislation, such as a recent appropriations bill that included guidance to address health disparities and the trauma of racism.

For Ave Stokes, director of Kansas City programming for Alive and Well, listening and flexibility are key to engaging a racially and economically diverse range of residents. That may mean changing the place or time of events—locating them in different neighborhoods, holding them in the afternoon or evening to accommodate people with varied work schedules. “Let people in communities tell you what works for them,” he says.

Stokes cites the success of the “impact series,” discussions in Kansas City public libraries focusing on the links between trauma and child abuse, domestic violence or black maternal health; the sessions are meant to inform and empower listeners to take action. Between 80 and 250 people have attended each one.

Leaders on both sides of the state note the added value of cross-sector efforts: when schools in Johnson County brought together representatives from public health, education, law enforcement and mental health to focus on the needs of high-risk students, or when the Kansas City police department added five social workers to its staff, or when Alive and Well hosted a 2019 convening of 200 people to hammer out a common vision and language for building trauma-informed communities across the region.

One ongoing challenge, says Brinkmann, is keeping up with the demand for training and assistance that goes beyond a baseline understanding of ACEs and trauma. Alive and Well provides that support—in fact, such paid consulting work helps fund the network’s community-based efforts—but the work is time-intensive and can be out of reach for the cash-strapped organizations that may need it most.

“There are some communities in rural Missouri that are saying, ‘We need Alive and Well here,’ but we don’t have the bandwidth to provide support at that level,” she says. “I think for the work to have the impact we all want it to have, we’re going to have to get into policy change work. Teaching people about ACEs is just scratching the surface.”

Morgan agrees. “We need to spend time in an organization to help them put in the structure, to really help them understand and provide intervention at a different level. We need to move from awareness to responsiveness.”

She, Brinkmann and Stokes would like to see more involvement from the corporate and business sector, from justice and probation systems, and from primary care health practitioners. Still, they are heartened by Alive and Well’s achievements: 251 trainings, reaching more than 5,000 participants, in 2019; the publication of the Missouri Model for Trauma-Informed Schools; surveys indicating that 99% of attendees in St. Louis community empowerment workshops said the trainings would change their behavior.

“For me, it’s extremely rewarding to be in community with our ambassadors—people who care so deeply about making their communities better,” says Brinkmann. “It’s in those moments that I find hope that we can get there, collectively.”

Anndee Hochman is a journalist and author whose work appears regularly in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Broad Street Review and in other print and online venues. She teaches poetry and creative non-fiction in schools, senior centers, detention facilities and at writers' conferences.

This article originally appeared on Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) on April 28, 2020. MARC provides tools and inspiration—by networks, for networks—using the science of ACEs to build a just, healthy and resilient world. Visit MARC.HealthFederation.org for more.