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I knew I didn’t have the best childhood possible, but I didn’t realize it was that bad until after my life crashed down around me at age 42. When I realized I had built my adult life on lies, I had to go back to ground zero and figure out why and get to the core so I could build the rest of my life on a foundation of truth.

Welcome to all the new members of our community. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have you join us here. I encourage you to post an update of your ACEs activities and plans. The more we know about what we are each doing, the more we can collaborate with and support each other. We can make a #TraumaInformedCanada and #TraumaInformedHumanity Thanks for your work in achieving these goals. Elizabeth

Creating #TraumaInformedCanada We're in this together - professionals, first voice, and community sector members alike. We're all humans first with our own backstories. Different knowledge combined only makes us stronger. Join our community to advance our mission of universal knowledge for recovery and prevention of #ACEs.

Mark your calendars for Feb. 11 at 9 pm AST. I was recently interviewed for a radio show called Mental Health - Let's Talk About It. The show is live streamed via http://www.cioe975.ca/wp/97-5-listen-live/ so everyone can access it wherever you are. I've been talking ACEs in Nova Scotia for over 4 years against much resistance. This was the first opportunity I have been invited to speak. I think what I said will be helpful to those who listen.

In looking at the impact of childhood trauma, you can’t get much clearer than this: In 2017, ACEs among Tennessee adults led to an estimated $5.2 billion in direct medical costs and lost productivity from employees missing work. That’s just one year, according to the new report, “ The Economic Cost of ACEs in Tennessee ," released on Feb. 1, 2019 by The Sycamore Institute in Nashville, Tenn. And to provide some perspective, $5.2 billion is one-seventh of the state’s annual budget . This $5.2...

The Public Health Agency of Canada broadcast a presentation in January 2019: The ACEs Wave: Cautions and Considerations. The presentation was given by two of Canada's leading experts on child maltreatment, Dr. Andrea Gonzales and Dr. Harriet MacMillan. They explore cautions and considerations regarding use of ACEs across clinical, policy and research contexts. Below are links to the audio recording and to the Power Point slides in English and French. "In recent years increasing attention has...

This is a link to a group Zoom interview/discussion moderated by Susan Olesek of the Enneagram Prison Project, based in Santa Clara, California and doing outreach to people who are incarcerated in several prisons in the US and soon to be expanding to other countries (~1 hr. long). The special guests include Dr. Gabor Mate, a physician and author with expertise on addiction. The other guests are people who have been incarcerated and who have lived with addiction. The revelations about who...

We have so many wonderful resources shared by members. However, a few of you have asked me for help in retrieving them. Here's several of the most commonly shared ACEs handouts, info graphics and one pagers, with links to download. PLEASE share yours! I'm working on maintaining this one blog post and will keep adding more. Please share whatever ones you know of, like, use, have created (with detail about if and how they can be used). Our own ACEs Connection flyers can be found in the...

Jose Fernando Aguado writes: In my clinical practice, I often see how dysfunctional families cause pain to their members, and it is my opinion that the cult perspective can help explain certain aspects of what these families go through. I start with a working definition of a dysfunctional family and note some broad areas of relationship between dysfunctional families and cults.

The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) has launched an initiative to support those who are Brain Story certified in moving their knowledge into action. Since launching the Brain Story Certification course in 2016 over 17,000 Canadians have enrolled, 1,500 from the US and 1,500 internationally, that's over 20,000 people enrolled! To this end, CCSA is organizing a 2-day event in Ottawa in March 2019: the “Brain Builders Lab”. This event will bring together Brain Story alumni...

Alberta Community Health Centre and Change in Mind initiative

I've recently had the opportunity to attend a couple health conferences in Halifax which I found to be very encouraging for the ACEs Awareness and Prevention Movement in Atlantic Canada and across the country.