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Wisconsin elementary-school teachers are incorporating simple mental exercises in the classroom to promote well-being, thanks to a partnership between the Madison Metropolitan School District and the Center for Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison. The school's 5th graders recently made a music video for the song, "Don't flip yo' lid," by SF Bay Area hip hop artist, Just Me. The song's hook is, "mindfulness will change your life."

Cherokee Point Parent Leaders presented at the Restorative Practice / Restorative Justice Summit hosted by the Human Relations Commission and Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention in San Diego last Friday. Sharing their work over the past 5 years in two break-out sessions, they moved audiences with their compelling stories demonstrating how a trauma-informed community school can lead to transformative change for their children and families. Please see the attachment for more...

A new publication from the Prevention Institute, Adverse Community Experiences and Resilience presents a framework for addressing and preventing community trauma. The model shifts from a focus on individual trauma and healing (based on a medical model) to a broad community approach reflecting a public health perspective.

The Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices Summit drew more than 400 people to downtown San Diego last Friday for a day of learning about the science of childhood adversity and how San Diego’s organizations and institutions are implementing trauma-informed and restorative justice practices. Co-hosted by the Human Relations Commission and Commission on Gang Prevention & Intervention, the event brought together community residents, victims, service providers, youth, faith and civic...

Projected on the enormous screen at the front of the room was a blue-tinged image of a brain scan with a seemingly simple phrase next to it: Changing Minds. The striking image and accompanying messages are still being developed by national nonprofit Futures Without Violence (Futures) for a public outreach campaign about the complex issue of childhood trauma. Participants at the Changing Minds and Creating Trauma-Informed Communities convening, hosted by Futures in early February, got a...

What is Restorative Justice? "Restorative justice is a process to involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offense and to collectively identify and address harms, needs and obligations, in order to heal and put things as right as possible." What was the purpose of this summit? "The purpose of this summit is to raise awareness about Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices and the benefits to the community including victims, offenders, and society. The goal...

Hi All! Please find attached the 2016 booklet for the Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) project, including San Diego and the other 13 communities that have been selected to participate in this 2 year learning collaborative. This is a great summary of the work happening in all 14 communities across the country. Harmonium, Inc, the San Diego Trauma-Informed Guide Team, and ALL of us play a pivotal role in advancing the resilience building movement across our community.

She talks with parents about the relationship between childhood adversities they have experienced and how that may have an impact on parenting. “I frame things a bit more broadly than ACEs,” she said, “because I think it’s very important to reflect on a broader number of exposures than were covered in the original study, such as poverty or structural violence and racism.”

Image: Thank you to Los Angeles County Group member Olivia Piacenza for sharing the Collective Impact Forum link which guides the reader through the steps of Collective Impact succinctly. Another great tool available to you on your trauma informed, resilience building journey as we collaborate and ignite collective momentum. Please click on the link; http://collectiveimpactforum.org/what-collective-impact

Those of us who get the trauma-informed movement understand how to put the dots together when were interviewing a new client. Our ear hears the pertinent details: the ACES, the Big Ts, the little ts and all the complexities as they tell us their story. We sit, knowing the many tools we can offer to help this hurting person cope, heal and recover. We validate, affirm and offer hope for a better future. We know we can help. We have gold to give them. But, not all who have suffered what we...

ACEs Connection Welcome Tour What you get What you can do ACEs Connection How-Tos Directory How-To post a blog How-To add a picture How-To change your email settings And more ACEs Connection Network Overview ACEsConnection.com and ACEsTooHigh.com ACEs, trauma-informed, and resilience-building Collective impact community of practice And more ACEs 101 FAQ ACEs, toxic stress, and epigenetics research Resilience-building and trauma-informed approaches And more Please feel free to contact me with...

"We're beginning to see a shift in thinking." I saw this video for the first time today, and wanted to share with you all. Some of it was filmed right here in San Diego! This video was put together by the California Endowment and is a great tool for engaging others in the San Diego community, or within your own organization. San Diego is part of the "growing network" of people coming together to make an impact to address childhood adversity and trauma throughout our community. ...