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For the eight-and-a-half years she spent in prison, Kristan Kerr looked forward to one thing every month: a visit from her daughter, Chloe. Visit by visit, she watched Chloe grow from a toddler to nearly a teenager. "I just watched her grow all the way up," Kerr says. "One visit, she couldn't read, and then the next visit she was reading something to me." Convicted for aggravated robbery in 2011 – she was the driver — Kerr says she wasn't making good choices back then, and it meant missing...

Flourishing and its predictors and links to health outcomes are well documented in adults, including among those facing adversities. Less is known about flourishing and its correlates among children, especially those who face circumstances such as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), chronic illness, or poverty. Studies show that flourishing is distinct from an absence of physical or mental illness and other adversities; that flourishing can and does exist amid these circumstances; and that...

Family And Children's Trust (FACT) Fund of Virginia just released their latest issue brief! SYSTEMS OF TRAUMA : Racial Trauma explores how racial trauma intersects and exacerbates trauma caused by family violence. In order to do so effectively, the brief will review issues of structurally embedded inequalities, individual actions that cause racial trauma, the effects of racial trauma on communities of color, and strategies for individuals, communities, professionals and organizations to...

Clinic and park partnerships for childhood resilience: A prospective study of park prescriptions. Razani N, Niknam K, Wells NM, Thompson D, Hills NK, Kennedy G, Gilgoff R, Rutherford GW. Health Place . 2019 May 3;57:179-185. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2019.04.008. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:31060017 Family Resilience And Connection Promote Flourishing Among US Children, Even Amid Adversity. Bethell CD, Gombojav N, Whitaker RC. Health Aff (Millwood) . 2019 May;38(5):729-737. doi:...

Doctors give a lot of very good advice. Over the years, my primary care doctors have suggested better eating habits, more exercise, improved sleep hygiene, not carrying such a heavy shoulder bag, even exercises to improve my posture. The problem is, I am not sure I have ever made any changes in my behavior as a direct result. That would not come as a surprise to Ken Resnicow, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. “Finger-wagging doesn’t work,” he said. “There’s...

May 14, 2019 and May 15, 2019 there is a Behavioral Health Conference hosted by the United Way in Broward County. Be sure to stop by the Children's Services Council/ ACES Broward table to sign up to be a part of the ACE's Broward Community. At the conference, CSC President/CEO Cindy Arenberg Seltzer will be giving a brief introduction about ACE's. https://www.drugfreebroward.org/events/behavior-health-conference/

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a huge threat to our students, diminishing their capacity to learn and succeed. In all thirty-three counties of New Mexico, an epidemic of trauma exists, spreading like a virus as it is passed down generation after generation. We know from the research that our students suffer when they endure ACEs in the form of abuse, neglect, hunger, and living with parents who misuse substances, are violent, and have untreated mental health challenges. We know in...

Armon Hurst, 2nd from left, first row, Teens on Target, courtesy of YouthAlive! Eighteen-year-old Armon Hurst serves as vice president of the student body at Castlemont High School in Oakland, Calif. He has a 4.0 grade point average, is an avid baseball player, and is slated to go to college next year. But until a few years ago, Hurst would find himself waking from nightmares in the middle of the night. It was difficult to concentrate at school, and he wasn’t eating well. Armon Hurst “There...

On April 23rd, 2019 from 12:00pm-1:30pm PST the National Pediatric Practice Community on ACEs (NPPC) , an initiative of the Center for Youth Wellness, will be hosting a webinar to support efforts to screen all children for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and additional adversities. This webinar will summarize the findings of a state advisory group assigned to review tools and protocols for screening children for trauma, and provide an introduction to two tools the advisory group...

Editor's note: The message below comes by way of Madison Hammett, MPH, MSW, a Policy Analyst with IL ACEs Response Collaborative Health & Medicine Policy Research Group, mhammett@hmprg.org “The Power of Play: Theraplay’s Approach to Trauma-Informed Intervention”. You can find the updated recording HERE (NOTE: GoToWebinar will ask for your registration info at the link). We will also be uploading the recording to our webinar archive on our website HERE in the coming days.

In this data snapshot, the Annie E. Casey Foundation examines how placements for young people in foster care have changed from 2007 to 2017. Using data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Casey finds that child welfare systems are doing a better job of placing kids in families. At the same time, racial disparities persist for kids of all ages and progress eludes teens in care. To push for further progress, the four-page snapshot tells how states can leverage the federal Family...

An exciting opportunity for the ACEs community to submit a manuscript on resilience for a special issue of the journal Behavioral Medicine.