Working to compile, share, and advance ACEs, trauma-informed, and resilience-building programs for children and youth across sectors and settings.

Resilience at work. What does it mean to be trauma-informed at work? How is it defined and assessed? How do we measure success? What policies, protocols, and training exist? How does becoming trauma-informed change us and our work? We share the nuts and bolts of becoming a trauma-informed organization and our struggles, questions, and successes, too.

Benchmarks’ Center for Quality Integration redesigns the local child welfare/behavioral health system, changing the way child welfare, Medicaid Managed Care Organizations, local providers, and the wider community understand the need for accessible, appropriate mental health services for children, youth and families who have experienced potentially traumatic events.

Here's a place where you can review books, educational dvds and documentaries that relate to ACE concepts or trauma-informed practices. "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world." ~ Nelson Mandela

We are working to increase awareness about ACEs in Western North Carolina in order to change systems to be trauma-informed and to build community resilience.

Join in conversations inspired by Donna Jackson Nakazawa's book, Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal. We'll chat about the latest research on how ACEs can affect our health, happiness, and relationships; vent a little; and brainstorm our best ideas for resiliency and healing.

A forum to inform and connect individuals and communities working to promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments and prevent and mitigate ACEs in North Carolina.

Identify and promote practices that build child caregiver capabilities and improve child outcomes including: the impact of childcare business decisions; building child caregiver skills and resilience; child caregiver turnover; child caregiver ACE histories and healthy boundaries in the workplace.

We share ideas, information and stories about mitigating the effects of adverse childhood experiences in the K-12 environment. 

We advocate for the bio/psycho/social well being of foster children. We recognize, acknowledge and validate the trauma endured by children placed in foster care. We embrace the capacity of healing and ultimate recovery for foster children with family, community and professional support.

Discussion and sharing of resources in working with clients involved in the criminal justice system and how screening for and treating ACEs will lead to successful re-entry of prisoners into the community and reduced recidivism for former offenders.

Discussion of Transition and Reentry issues of out of home (treatment, detention, sheltered, etc.) youth back to their families and communities. Frequently these youth have fallen behind in their schooling, have reduced motivation, and lack skills to navigate requirements to successfully re-enter school programs or even to move ahead with their dreams.

How do we honor both lived & learned expertise to break down barriers between parents & professionals? How do PACE-impacted families best access healing, hope & health? How might parent education, training, & support services if co-created with families & in community?

“We have the capacity, within ourselves, to create better health," writes Donna Jackson Nakazawa. We can improve our health no matter what our ACE score. Learn resilience practices that reduce stress hormones in our bodies & brains. Understand how pain, shame & trauma make self-healing harder. Explore research & resources. Share stories, struggles & successes. Practice resilience.

Resources, posts, discussions, chats about national efforts to build a trauma-informed, resilience-building nation.