Tagged With "Building Strong Brains"
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The Michigan ACEs Initiative: Building Resilience, Healing Communities
The Michigan ACEs initiative hosted the largest convening of ACEs professionals in the state of Michigan. Dr. Robert Anda, Co-Principal Investigator of the original ACEs study, Co-Founder ACE Interface and also featured in RESILIENCE , opened the conference and introduced keynote speaker, Christina Bethell, PhD, MBA, MPH, Professor, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University and Director, Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative in Baltimore, MD, to an audience of...
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The myth, misconception and misdirection of motive in mass shootings
But if we want to prevent shootings, asking about motive will just get you a useless answer to the wrong question. If you use the lens of the science of adverse childhood experiences, the answer reveals itself, and usually pretty quickly.
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Trauma-informed Care: It Takes More Than a Clipboard and a Questionnaire
California is about to launch an ambitious campaign to train tens of thousands of Medi-Cal providers to screen children and adults up to age 65 for trauma, starting on January 1, 2020. It is well-established that the early identification of trauma and providing the appropriate treatment are critical tools for reducing long-term health care costs for both children and adults. Research has shown that individuals who experienced a high number of traumatic childhood events are likely to die...
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Trauma Informed Delaware launched at May 1 symposium in Dover
When the history of Trauma Informed Delaware is written, two dates will stand out—the day when Governor John C. Carney signed Executive Order 24 “Making Delaware a Trauma-Informed State” on October 17, 2018 and the day of the inaugural Trauma Awareness Month Kickoff in Dover on May 1. About 350 activists, stakeholders, and officials came together at Delaware State University to be inspired, to learn, and to celebrate. First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney , who has propelled the statewide...
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Trauma Movement Grows in Delaware
The third annual Delaware Trauma Matters conference, held on January 28 at Wilmington University, drew a diverse crowd of 200 from around the state and across many sectors, including healthcare, mental health, education, corrections, and child serving agencies among others. While some said this degree of diversity was unusual in the state, the leader of Delaware’s trauma initiative, Leslie Brower (pictured on the right with Aileen Fink serves as community manager along with Brower for...
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Traumatic Experiences Widespread Among U.S. Youth, New Data Show
[This is a media release from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.] New national data show that at least 38 percent of children in every state have had at least one Adverse Childhood Experience or ACE, such as the death or incarceration of a parent, witnessing or being a victim of violence, or living with someone who has been suicidal or had a drug or alcohol problem. In 16 states, at least 25 percent of children have had two or more ACEs. Findings come from data in the 2016 National Survey...
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Treating Childhood Trauma Becoming a Public Policy Priority [governing.com]
There’s a lot that’s indisputable about childhood trauma. Emotional or physical abuse early in life impacts health outcomes as children grow up. Community- and family-based approaches to dealing with trauma are better than institutional settings. And children of color are more likely to face traumatizing childhood experiences. Those events can include something as common as divorce, but also encompass circumstances such as having an incarcerated parent, living with someone with a substance...
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Tributes honor the life of Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore
This is a recent photo of an image projected on a building of a younger Rep. Cummings taken on a street in his native Baltimore. From an unknown source, projected images and messages appear on the side of a building near my house in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of Washington, DC. When the news alert came across my cell phone on Thursday morning that Elijah Cummings had died, I felt overwhelming sadness for the loss of a powerful, eloquent, and soulful human who understood trauma in his...
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Two ACEs-science related laws enacted in New York mark progress toward a trauma-informed state
Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi addresses trauma in floor speech on June 20, 2019 There is still a trace of amazement in child advocate Jenn O’Connor’s voice when she recalls the hallway encounter with New York Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, Chair of the Social Services Committee, who pulled her aside to talk about executive function. That conversation led to a broader discussion of ACEs science, trauma, and resilience with a focus on protective factors. Not long after, Hevesi and O’Connor penned an...
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Two studies shed light on state legislators’ views on ACEs science and trauma policy
New and returning lawmakers take the oath of office on day one of Washington state's 2017 legislative session. — Jeanie Lindsay/Northwest News Network As advocates prepare to see how ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) science, trauma, and resilience play out in the 2020 state legislative sessions — many beginning in January — they are undoubtedly asking: “What does a legislator want?" It may be a stretch to play on Freud’s question: “What does a women want?", but the query captures how...
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United Way of Southeast Alaska hosts new AmeriCorps program [juneauempire.com]
United Way of Southeast Alaska announced this week that it will be hosting the AmeriCorps program. AmeriCorps has a long history of service in Juneau and the United Way of Southeast Alaska is excited to build upon this strong foundation. With nine host sites and 12 AmeriCorps membership positions available, United Way of Southeast Alaska aims to decrease or minimize the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) scores of local Juneau youth and adults by focusing on access to care, building...
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Update on Bumper Crop of State ACEs bills in 2017—46 bills in 20 states
The latest update of state legislation considered by state legislatures in 2017 reveals the growing interest by state policymakers across the country in addressing trauma across sectors. The attached “At-A-Glance” table shows 46 bills in twenty states reference Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) or trauma-informed policy and practice. Take a look at the attached “At-A-Glance” table and leave a comment if your state considered ACEs/trauma legislation that is not included here. A handful of...
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Washington State bill includes social-emotional learning guidance informed by ACEs science
Washington state legislator Tana Senn, has introduced the “Summer Step-Up Act” to improve social-emotional learning throughout the calendar year to reduce kids' summer learning loss.
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What are ACEs? State summit examines connection between childhood trauma and mental health (Tennessean.com)
(Photo caption: Tennessee First Lady Chrissy Haslam addresses the annual Building Strong Brains Tennessee ACEs Summit, held at the Country Music Hall of Fame on Tuesday, September 11, 2018. Photo courtesy of Governor Bill Haslam/ Flickr.com ) One minute of complete silence. Fred Rogers, the beloved television personality of "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," gave such a moment of contemplation to the graduating class of Dartmouth University during a commencement speech 16 years ago . A minute to...
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What We Can Learn About Resilience from Indigenous Leaders (calhealthreport.org)
Germaine Omish-Lucero’s ancestors were taken from their homes and forced to build California’s Mission San Luis Rey de Francia—a mission in what is now Oceanside—about 200 years ago. There, they were exposed to diseases such as measles, to which they had no immunity. Thousands died—and there is no escaping this tragic piece of California history. Yet Omish-Lucero, her children, and the children in her tribe stand. Despite inequities that continue to this day, the Rincon Band of Luiseno...
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Wisconsin 2018 State Profile
Hi, Everyone: Here’s the state profile for Wisconsin. To review the entire profile, open the PDF that is attached to this post. If you have corrections or additions, please leave them in the comments section of this post. We’ll be reviewing the comments regularly and doing fact-checks. The information you give us will also help us determine how to organize and expand the information in the state profiles. We will be turning this post into a living profile that, with your help and input,...
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Wisconsin Dept of Health Services - Trauma-Informed Care News & Notes, November 12, 2018
ACEs, Adversity's Impact 'My daughter didn't want a parent,' says a foster mom of kids exposed to meth, trauma Childhood abuse, complex trauma and epigenetics The highly sensitive person in an emotionally neglectful family Grandparents: Raising their children's children, they get the job done Children with JIA have higher rate of adverse childhood experiences Where does listening fit in the medical model of disease? Bad childhood experiences increase burnout among student nurses On...
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New Report Calls for Statewide Coordinated Response to Protect New Jersey's Children from Adverse Childhood Experiences [finance.yahoo.com]
By PR Newswire, Yahoo Finance, July 30, 2019 NEWARK, N.J., July 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report released today details the challenges New Jersey faces in addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and sets forth opportunities and actions for a coordinated statewide response to mitigate their lasting effects on children's health and well-being. ACEs are stressful or traumatic events, including abuse, neglect, domestic violence, household mental illness, household substance misuse,...
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New York State Trauma-Informed Virtual Rally
I was so proud to be a part of the New York Trauma-Informed Coalition’s virtual rally on April 30th, in honor of ACEs Awareness and National Trauma-Survivors Day. In an effort to cultivate networking amid a common goal and having just attended an impressive virtual rally for HALTsolitary, Teena Brooks guided our coalition to organize this successful event in only a little more than two weeks! Throughout six Zoom brainstorming meetings, we designed an invitation: ,formulated a list of desired...
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North Carolina 2018 State Profile
Hi, Everyone: Here’s the state profile for North Carolina. To review the entire profile, open the PDF that is attached to this post. If you have corrections or additions, please leave them in the comments section of this post. We’ll be reviewing the comments regularly and doing fact-checks. The information you give us will also help us determine how to organize and expand the information in the state profiles. We will be turning this post into a living profile that, with your help and input,...
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Oklahoma 2018 State Profile
Hi, Everyone: Here’s the state profile for Oklahoma. To review the entire profile, open the PDF that is attached to this post. If you have corrections or additions, please leave them in the comments section of this post. We’ll be reviewing the comments regularly and doing fact-checks. The information you give us will also help us determine how to organize and expand the information in the state profiles. We will be turning this post into a living profile that, with your help and input, we’ll...
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Oklahoma First Lady Stitt to provide resilience workshop at Northwestern
Alva and Northwestern Oklahoma State University will host Oklahoma's First Lady Sarah Stitt on Feb. 13 at an event designed to educate community members about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). Stitt and her office have joined forces with the Potts Family Foundation, Northwestern and Northwest Family Services to present a film screening and panel discussion on this important topic. The documentary film "Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope" will be shown at 11 a.m. in...
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Oregon psychiatrist testifies before Senate Finance Committee on the impact of childhood adversity and toxic stress on adult health
Appearing before the powerful Senate Finance Committee in Washington, DC, recently, Dr. Maggie Bennington-Davis, psychiatrist and chief medical officer of Health Share Oregon, devoted a significant portion of her testimony to the role of adversity and toxic stress during childhood on adult health, both physical and emotional. She explained how Health Share Oregon—that state’s largest Medicaid coordinated care organization—examined the people with the costliest health bills and found them to...
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Personal stories from witnesses, U.S. representatives provided an emotional wallop to House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on childhood trauma
Room erupts in applause for the grandmother of witness William Kellibrew during July 11 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing. The power of personal stories from witnesses and committee members fueled the July 11 hearing on childhood trauma in the House Oversight and Reform Committee* throughout the nearly four hours of often emotional and searing testimony and member questions and statements (Click here for 3:47 hour video). The hearing was organized into a two panels—testimony from...
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Preventable trauma in childhood costs north America and Europe US$ 1.3 trillion a year [WHO]
By World Health Organization (photo by WHO/Malin Bring) The findings of a new study on the life-course health consequences and associated annual costs of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) show that preventable trauma in childhood costs north America and the European Region US$ 1.3 trillion a year. The article, published in the Lancet and co-authored by Dinesh Sethi and Jonathon Passmore, Programme Manager, Violence and Injury Prevention, WHO/Europe, looks at the legacy of ACEs and their...
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Program updates from the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative April 2019
Hello,
Welcome to our April newsletter! This month, we are busy making plans for Illinois' inaugural Trauma-Informed Awareness Day coming up on May 15. Find out more about Trauma-Informed Awareness Day and all the great events happening throughout Illinois in this month's newsletter...
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Recording: Trauma-Informed Policy Making presentation at Alaska State Capitol
Last Wednesday, March 13th, I had the opportunity to present a Legislative Lunch and Learn to legislators, legislative staff, administrative staff, and the public in the Alaska State Capitol Building. To a room of ~ 30 - 40 people munching on lunch provided by the Alaska Children's Trust , and broadcast live via Gavel to Gavel (now archived here ), I had the honor to premiere the policymaker version of our History and Hope curriculum. This curriculum, and the policy-maker version, was...
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Researchers Find PTSD Genetic Vulnerabilities Among U.S. Vets (scienceblog.com)
A genome-wide association study (GWAS) and bioinformatic analysis of more than 165,000 U.S. veterans confirms a genetic vulnerability to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), specifically noting abnormalities in stress hormone response and/or functioning of specific brain regions, report scientists in a paper published July 29, 2019 in Nature Neuroscience . In the new paper, a diverse team led by Murray B. Stein, MD, MPH, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine and Public...
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Rhode Island 2018 State Profile
Hi, Everyone: Here’s the state profile for Rhode Island. To review the entire profile, open the PDF that is attached to this post. If you have corrections or additions, please leave them in the comments section of this post. We’ll be reviewing the comments regularly and doing fact-checks. The information you give us will also help us determine how to organize and expand the information in the state profiles. We will be turning this post into a living profile that, with your help and input,...
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Monroe County, Indiana candidate for prosecutor acknowledges the need for the criminal justice system to recognize the effects of trauma on children
Margie Rice, a candidate for prosecutor in Monroe County, Indiana, recently published the following press release on her campaign website, https://www.margiericeforprosecutor.com : For immediate release Thursday, April 12, 2018 Rice calls for community summit on trauma effects County Prosecutor candidate Margie Rice is calling for a community conversation with family trauma experts, social service organization leaders, and justice systems officials to discuss the effects of family trauma on...
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Senate backs program that would prevent childhood trauma [vtdigger.org]
The state Senate has approved a bill aimed at addressing the long-term health and social effects of severe childhood trauma. The legislation, S.261 , which now goes to the House, is designed to bolster the state’s support for children and families who have experienced “toxic stress.” Exposure to severe stress has been shown to alter brain chemistry and affect behavior. A major provision of the bill is the addition of a new “director of prevention and health improvement” to the Agency of...
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Snapshot of ACEs Statutes and Resolutions through end of 2018
The attached table summarizes all of the statutes and passed resolutions that contain the words "Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)" and trauma-informed language through the end of 2018. There are nearly 60 statutes with the earliest law enacted in Washington State in 2011. The laws are categorized by subject matter such health care, education, training, and funding. If you are aware of something we missed, please leave a comment to this post.
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Snapshot of U.S. State Laws and Resolutions
Legislative sessions are opening in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the territories—most in January—and will be addressing a myriad of issues from budgets, job growth, health care, immigration, the opioid epidemic, police-community relations, education and others ( featured in the State Legislatures Magazine ). Many of these proposals will impact how well communities will prosper and thrive, fewer will impact childhood adversity directly, and an even smaller number will...
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Snapshot of U.S. State Laws and Resolutions
Since the opening in January of many sessions in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the territories, legislatures have addressed a myriad of issues from budgets, job growth, health care, immigration, the opioid epidemic, police-community relations, education and others ( featured in the State Legislatures Magazine ). Many of these proposals will impact how well communities will prosper and thrive, fewer will impact childhood adversity directly, and an even smaller number will...
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State ACE survey reports
The following are links to state reports on Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) ACEs module data. Also included at the end of the list are links to the CDC 5-state study and a 10-state plus the District of Columbia study on ACEs...
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STATE HEALTH CARE STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS CHILDREN’S TRAUMA, EXPOSURE TO VIOLENCE AND ACEs
I found this document by Futures Without Violence to be a useful resource. From the forward: The health care system plays an important role both in identifying children who may be exposed to extreme adversity and violence, currently and in the past, and in providing the evidence-based interventions that can help children heal from trauma and prevent health conditions and other poor outcomes associated with trauma and ACEs. The health care system is also central in supporting the greatest...
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State Policy Guide on Preventing and Healing Childhood Trauma
There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children. --Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa Every child needs access to the opportunities that prepare him or her to compete in the changing economies and realities of the 21st century. Unfortunately, for too many children, exposure to violence and traumatic events in the home, school, or community can affect them throughout their entire lives . We are thrilled to release this brand new...
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State profiles for 50 states and District of Columbia
Hi, Everyone: We’ve made a first pass at gathering highlights of ACEs initiatives in each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. Within the text, below, are links to the individual posted profiles for each state. If you see corrections or want to make additions, we’d love that. Just add them in the comments section of that individual post. Instructions are at the top of each individual post. We will be turning those posts into living profiles that, with your help and input, we’ll keep...
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States Produce a Bumper Crop of ACEs bills in 2017—nearly 40 bills in 18 states
A scan done in March by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) through StateNet of bills introduced in 2017 that specifically include adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the text produced a surprising volume of bills (close of 40) in a large number of states (18). A scan done a year ago produced less than a handful. NCSL is a bipartisan organization that serves both state legislators and their staffs. The shear volume of bills in so many states represents a promising...
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“Strategic Advocacy: Winning Policy Change without Crossing the Lobbying Line”: Webinar summary & links
(l to r) Kelly Hardy, Allen Mattison, Jeff Hild _____________________________________________________ The stakes in today's public policy debates are as high as they've ever been. So, how does a nonprofit organization separate legitimate and perceived barriers to find the sweet spot for maximum engagement and not cross the lobbying line? The three panelists on the “Strategic Advocacy: Winning Policy Change without Crossing the Lobbying Line ” webinar held March 14, 2019, covered the fine...
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Summit: Oklahoma’s youngest, most vulnerable children suffer more trauma than those in any other state in the nation [tulsaworld.com]
State leaders in education, criminal justice and health came together Tuesday to begin to confront an alarming, new statistic: Oklahoma’s youngest, most vulnerable children suffer more trauma than those in any other state in the nation. A summit titled, “It Starts Here: Trauma-Informed Instruction,” brought thousands of educators from across the state to hear from national experts on childhood trauma and what brain science reveals about what teachers can do to help students both learn more...
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Tennessee 2018 State Profile
Hi, Everyone: Here’s the state profile for Tennessee. To review the entire profile, open the PDF that is attached to this post. If you have corrections or additions, please leave them in the comments section of this post. We’ll be reviewing the comments regularly and doing fact-checks. The information you give us will also help us determine how to organize and expand the information in the state profiles. We will be turning this post into a living profile that, with your help and input,...
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Connecticut 2018 State Profile
Hi, Everyone: Here’s the state profile for Connecticut. To review the entire profile, open the PDF that is attached to this post. If you have corrections or additions, please leave them in the comments section of this post. We’ll be reviewing the comments regularly and doing fact-checks. The information you give us will also help us determine how to organize and expand the information in the state profiles. We will be turning this post into a living profile that, with your help and input,...
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Cycle of Risk: The Intersection of Poverty, Violence, and Trauma (issuelab.org)
We make the case that the conditions that foster violence and the conditions that perpetuate poverty are interconnected and reinforce each other; we further show the traumatic effects of violence -- and how trauma drives both poverty and violence. We then examine how violence has been used to enforce systems of racial oppression and how communities of color are disparately impacted by violence today. The conditions that perpetuate poverty and the conditions that foster violence often...
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Doctors group warns of health risks for migrant children separated from parents (thehill.com)
Medical experts are cautioning that there are long-term health risks for migrant children who are separated from their parents, including "irreplaceable harm" to those children's lifelong development. “[It can] cause irreparable harm to lifelong development by disrupting a child’s brain architecture,” American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) President Colleen Kraft told BuzzFeed News this week. “Immigration has become so politicized. We would really like people to sit back instead and think of...
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Durbin, Capito, colleagues introduce bipartisan, bicameral legislation to address childhood trauma [Office of Senator Durbin of IL]
The following is a press release issued by the office of U.S. Senator Durbin (D-IL) on Monday, June 10, announcing the introduction of bipartisan bicameral legislation that builds on last year’s opioid legislation SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act and recommendations from a recent GAO report. A link to the bill and other information will be provided as soon as possible. In the meantime, an earlier draft of the bill and a section by section are attached to this post. For Immediate...
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Education, inspiration, and action—Maryland lawmakers take deeper dive into ACEs science and how it informs policy
While members of the Maryland General Assembly did not dominate the Dec. 13th “MGA ACEs Roundtable” in numbers, they commanded the room and enlivened a focus on how ACEs science can inform current and future policies considered by elected officials.
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Eleven state profiles feature ACEs-science data, initiatives
One of the resources shared with participants in the Sept. 13-14 convening of First Spouses in Milwaukee to address trauma was a series of state information sheets that featured data on ACEs prevalence and ACEs/trauma-informed/resilience-building initiatives. These one-pagers provided a succinct summary of state highlights on trauma that in some instances were well known to the First Spouses but for others, provided new information. In partnership with state trauma leaders, ACEs Connection...
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Gov. Wolf: Office of Advocacy and Reform Announces Plan to Build a Trauma-Informed Pennsylvania [phila.gov]
The Office of Advocacy and Reform (OAR), established by Governor Tom Wolf’s 2019 executive order to protect Pennsylvania’s vulnerable populations, today announced the launch of a volunteer think tank comprised of 25 experts representing a diversity of fields and backgrounds who will develop a plan to make Pennsylvania a trauma-informed state. “The people of Pennsylvania are compassionate, thoughtful and resilient. We take care of each other, and that drive to protect our families and our...
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Governor Carney Signs Executive Order Making Delaware a Trauma-Informed State [Delaware.gov]
Governor Carney on Wednesday signed Executive Order #24 making Delaware a trauma-informed state. This Order provides direction for the Family Services Cabinet Council to help mitigate the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and build resilience in children, adults and communities. ACEs can include physical, emotional, or sexual abuse; physical or emotional neglect; household dysfunction, including substance abuse, untreated mental illness, or incarceration of a household member;...