At California’s first ACEs summit November 5-7, “Children Can Thrive,” over 200 health professionals, policy leaders and advocates gathered in San Francisco. They created a national model for a statewide dialogue on the biggest public health problem facing California today: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). They focused on programs in health, education, juvenile justice and child welfare at the local and state levels, and how national policies can support those efforts.
Also exciting, Google.org announced a $3 million grant November 3 to the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), the clinic started by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, organizer of the CA ACEs Summit. The grant is specifically aimed to get enough scientific documentation that childhood trauma causes adult onset diseases, to actually make toxic stress a diagnosis code billable for insurance: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Google-gives-3-million-to-Nadine-Burke-Harris-5865372.php
Dr. Harris’ clinic “focuses on what is known as adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress — issues like neglect, abuse, exposure to violence and household dysfunction that can damage a child’s developing brain and body. Burke Harris said that 1 in 10 of the children she sees has experienced not just one of those traumas, but four or more,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported November 3. “Even though Burke Harris’ work has been lauded by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton — who featured the doctor in a video for her Too Small to Fail philanthropic campaign last year — it has been a challenge raising enough money….
“/’This grant is built on science,’ said Google’s Justin Steele. “If they prove it works in Bayview, we’d love to see it scale up across the country.’ …Burke Harris said the grant will enable her team to develop a clinical protocol to address toxic stress. That will be key to making the issue into something that insurance companies can understand — and cover. Now, insurers don’t.”
The ACEs Connection Network team participated and reported on the breakout sessions, which weren’t videoed. On the first day, Elizabeth Prewitt covered health (CA ACEs Summit: Overall health depends on much more than healthcare, pediatricians and other public health specialists agree).
Joanna Weill covered juvenile justice (CA ACEs Summit: Juvenile Justice Panel), and the discussion that occurred during the panel that covered ACEs from a national perspective.
In that session, Sylvia Paull was inspired by Esta Soler, founder of Futures Without Violence, and, in the education panel, by the pioneers transforming cultures of public schools from punishment to compassion. Elizabeth Prewitt covered the state panel (CA ACEs Summit: Building the ACEs movement in 3 states).
by Jane Stevens, founder, ACEsConnection.com
ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children’s developing brains so profoundly that the effects show up decades later; they cause much of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence. Read more: http://www.acesconnection.com/blog/aces-101-faqs
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Kathy’s news blogs expand on her book “DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME: The Silent Epidemic of Attachment Disorder—How I accidentally regressed myself back to infancy and healed it all.” Watch for the continuing series each Friday, as she explores her journey of recovery by learning the hard way about Attachment Disorder in adults, adult Attachment Theory, and the Adult Attachment Interview.
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