Blog

Whether or not to screen for ACEs in primary care is an important debate—and I hear and respect the passion from both sides of the argument. I fall in the “pro-ACE assessments” camp, but with some important caveats. I think that assessments for ACEs are dramatically different from screening for autism or developmental delays. In my opinion, assessments for ACEs in primary care should be primarily about building relationships.

By Change Lab Solutions, June 23, 2020 Access to safe, stable, and affordable housing is crucial for community health, and COVID-19 is amplifying its importance. Access to housing helps individuals practice social distancing and maintain adequate hygiene to prevent infection. Housing quality is equally important. Given that families are encouraged to stay home as much as possible during the pandemic, it is critical that individuals have housing that is free of lead, mold, and other harmful...

Grabbe searched for models that would help her homeless and addicted patients. “There are good body-based models for psychotherapy, which may be the most effective approach for trauma,” she says, “but hardly any of my patients were receiving any kind of therapy. There are thousands of people in our communities who have high ACE scores who will never get the years of psychotherapy they deserve. CRM is a self-mental wellness care tool and is exquisitely trauma-sensitive—so it can help enormously.”

By Dominique Parris, Victor St. John, Jessica Dym Bartlett, Child Trends, June 23, 2020 Most Black children in the United States encounter racism in their daily lives. Ongoing individual and collective psychological or physical injuries due to exposure and re-exposure to race-based adversity, discrimination, and stress, referred to as racial trauma , is harmful to children’s development and well-being. Events that may cause racial trauma include threats of harm and injury, hate speech,...

From Futures Without Violence, June 23, 2020 We invite you to take part in The Survivors’ Agenda , a crowdsourced initiative for building safer futures free from sexual violence. This digital platform launches on Wednesday, June 24 and we need your voice! We also invite you to our National Call on Thursday, June 25 from 7-8pm ET as we hold a conversation on the intersection of oppression and sexual violence in this current moment, and how survivors and allies can and will lead change.

By Raven Ishak, Hello Giggles, June 22, 2020 The word “trauma” can evoke different experiences for different people—a past sexual assault , the death of a loved one , an abusive parent . When it comes to experiencing trauma , no two people’s experiences are ever the same. And over the past few months, due to the devastating effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we—as a society—have undergone (and are still undergoing) a wide-ranging trauma that can feel impossible to carry. Since...

By Shiow-Wen Yang, Mary A. Kernic, Beth A. Mueller, et al., JAMA Pediatrics, June 22, 2020 Key Points Question Are young children whose parents have severe mental illness, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder, at greater risk of injury compared with children of parents without severe mental illness? Findings In this cohort study of the 1 999 322 singleton births in Taiwan from 2004 to 2014, children of parents with severe mental illness had higher rates of...

By Daniel Tan and Paulette Cha, Public Policy Institute of California, June 22, 2020 Many in California and across the nation are protesting the use of force against African Americans by law enforcement. Black Californians are also dying at disproportionately high rates due to complications arising from COVID-19. As immediate and alarming as these current inequities are, racial disparities in policing and health are among the many long-standing disparities across multiple dimensions that...

ACEs Connection is proud to announce we have reached 200 Speakers & Trainers participants in the ACEs Connection Speakers & Trainers Bureau! What is the ACEs Connection Speakers & Trainers Bureau? The ACEs Connection Speakers & Trainers Bureau is a service that provides subscribers of ACEsConnection a Database of ACEs speakers and trainers for hire. The development of the Speakers & Trainers Bureau was in response to a great need expressed by our communities. ACEs...

By Thomas F. Boat and Kelly J. Kelleher, JAMA Pediatrics, June 22, 2020 Two contradictory trends have emerged over the past quarter century. New brain and behavior science fueled an explosion of evidence on the effectiveness of promotion and prevention for child mental, emotional, and behavioral health. Meanwhile, young people in the US increasingly are identified as experiencing depression, anxiety, and other behavioral disorders. Increases of youth self-harm, 1 use of emergency departments...

By The Clackamas Reveiw, Oregon City News, June 16, 2020 Long-term work to mitigate the health, social-emotional and academic impacts of childhood trauma in Gladstone got a $575,000 grant. Another $40,000 from the Heatherington Foundation for Innovation and Education in Health Care will address two immediate needs for the Gladstone School District: nutrition support and technology. "This is the largest grant our district has ever received, and it could not have come at a better time," said...

By Luke Denne, NBC News, June 21, 2020 Robert Taylor has lived on the banks of the Mississippi River in Reserve, Louisiana, his entire life. Both of his parents worked in the local sugar refinery when plantations made up this stretch of the river between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. But where sugar cane once grew, chemicals now spew from smoke stacks. When the petrochemical industry moved in, the predominantly Black community’s health began to suffer. “We didn't know why. We were just...