How do we break the stigma around mental health and aging?
How can we best support caregivers?
What can resilient communities do to help people as they are diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s?
How can we help provide trauma-informed care to people who are facing these challenges, and their caregivers?
Join Dr. Sheila Robinson, Executive Woman Media as our moderator for the second in a CHC: Creating Healthier Communities – AARP series on Thursday, September 25 from 12 noon ET until 1 p.m.ET.
Dr. Robinson will be joined by panelists Rawle Andrews, Executive Director, American Psychiatric Association Foundation; Mary Lee Anderson, Executive Director, Senior Services of Alexandria, Virginia; and Mary Kay Battaglia, NAMI, Wisconsin, and Yanira Cruz, CEO of the National Hispanic Council on Aging.
“We’ll look closely at challenges faced by older adults, particularly those in marginalized communities, and how stigma can prevent individuals from seeking help,” said Carey Sipp, CHC director of nonprofit partnerships and co-director, volunteer, of PACEs Connection, who hosts and has led the CHC University thought leadership webinars since they began in March, 2025.
Registration is free. Please click here to register.
(Author’s note – Deborah McNelis and I were dear friends, partners in advancing the concept of Neuro-Nurturing, and webinar buddies, having created and or participated in about 40 webinars since we met in April, 2023. We only knew each other for two-and-a-half years, but spent many hours together on the phone, Zoom, and on webinars as hosts, panelists, speakers, raising awareness of the lifelong protective value of advancing healthy early brain development. I loved and respected Deb deeply; she is sorely missed. All involved with PACES Connection appreciated her generosity, enthusiasm for the mission, and support. We were on a parallel track to create a movement ensuring that all children – and inner children – thrive by lifting up pregnant and newly-delivered mothers, new fathers, foster parents, caregivers, and community members by helping them understand their vital role, as emotionally regulated adults, in Neuro Nurturing healthy brain development. While I am not yet sure how her work will be continued, I know it will continue. As long as I am involved in PACEs Connection, the concept of Neuro Nurturing will be advanced to help prevent child abuse and neglect; to help promote positive maternal, infant, child, and community experiences. Greaterlikelihood of health and wellbeing across the lifespan begins with the foundational and consistent safety, stability, and nurture so vitally important to healthy infant and child brain development.)
Friend and supporter of PACEs Connection, and author of The First 60 Days (which highlights the importance of “Neuro-Nurturing” infants in the first two months of life), Deborah McNelis passed away last Friday after a sudden and brief battle with cancer. She had recently turned 70.
After discovering PACEs Connection via Twitter and LinkedIn, Deborah’s “The First 60 Days” booklet, now a book, was reviewed on PACEs Connection. She began posting on the social networking site, sharing opportunities for fellow members to learn more about “what babies need most” (for adults to understand the importance of early brain development) in her monthly e-newsletter, and participated in multiple webinars in support of PACEs Connection programs.
Her 2023 PACEs Connection conference presentation, “What if Babies Ran the Workplace,” explored how the world might change if babies were the CEOs: people wouldn’t come to work when sick or when they needed to care for a loved one, and they’d demand universal health care, paid family leave, and access to high quality childcare. In that talk, she made a compelling case for affordable, brain-boosting childcare, urging that childcare workers be treated as professionals they are.
A central tool in her work was her signature series of ringed books (“packets”), each containing 40 age-appropriate, developmentally matched activities paired with the neuroscience rationale behind them. Canadian publisher Redleaf Press contracted her to adapt materials to support infant’s and children’s transitions—from one activity to the next—with brain-friendly strategies.
Deb often said: “Most people don’t realize the signals babies give about overstimulation or boredom. It is important to honor their rhythms and make transitions—feeding to napping, play to rest—smooth and respectful of their internal states.”
Deborah’s career as an early childhood brain development expert spanned nearly 50 years. She often recalled that at age 19 she had a moment of clarity that started her on this path.
“I was watching a concert with little children. They were obviously adored and nurtured and enjoyed making music together. And I realized in that moment I wanted all children to experience being loved, expressive, and appreciated for their own uniqueness, and it dawned on me that not all the adults in children’s lives know what children really need most from them – that unconditional love and acceptance,” Deb said.
Her journey began as a kindergarten teacher. When parents asked how they might support their infants and toddlers at home, she first jotted ideas on 3×5 cards. Over time, she refined them into the handy pocket-sized ringed booklets—each offering activities and the “why behind the action”—to help parents and caregivers engage knowledgeably and confidently.
“For example, sorting sticks and rocks by size, shape, and color may not seem important. But sorting helps children develop the skills to be able to write, or develop other hand-to-eye coordination based skills. Every activity has a purpose,” Deb said.
Late in 2023, Deb was contracted through PACEs Connection and Healthy Blue (North Carolina) to deliver a project supporting foster parents of young children. Over the course of 27 webinars (in collaboration with Carey Sipp, now volunteer co-director of PACEs Connection), she introduced participants to Neuro-Nurturing principles. The feedback included 100% of participants reporting at least some degree of increased confidence in parenting, and 97.4% saying they would recommend the webinar to other parents.
Deborah McNelis was born in Minnesota on September 1, 1955.
A beloved mother, educator, author, and visionary founder of Brain Insights, Deb coined and popularized the term Neuro Nurturing—a philosophy of promoting early relational health and healthy brain development grounded equally in science and compassion.
As her daughter, Tracy Thompson, who collaborated with Deb from the very beginning, helping with research, writing, creating content and supporting her goals behind the scenes, said, “Through her writing, speaking, and workshops, she translated the miracle of early brain development into insights and doable practices. Her mission was always to make nurturing relationships and responsive care central to how we support every child and caregiver.”
Deb founded Brain Insights, LLC, in 2008. She launched the First 60 Days Movement about three years ago to emphasize the profound impact of the first two months of brain development after a study on the timing of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) was published in 2019 and then written about by Bruce Perry, MD, in his 2021 book co-authored by Oprah Winfrey, “What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing”.
Her Neuro Nurturing Interaction Packets, along with books and toolkits, reached families, educators, and communities across the U.S. and around the globe. According to braininsightsonline.com research, a total of more than 250,000 of these ringed booklets and packets – in English and Spanish – are in use worldwide.
Her first fiction book, The Reminder, released just months ago, “speaks to the core of who we are—interweaving themes of essence, memory, and love. Her creative voice enriched many lives,” Tracy wrote in Deborah’s obituary.
Beyond her professional achievements, Deborah was cherished for her warmth, steady faith in human potential, and her rare ability to make complex science accessible and full of hope. She served on the boards of organizations including The Powerful Project, The Global Presence, and the Wellness for Children Initiative.
Deborah is survived by her daughters, Tracy (Schmid) Thompson and her husband, Jason, and Trisha (Schmid) Helchinger and her husband, Franz; her cherished grandchildren Benjamin, Zachary, Levi, Ava, and Max; and a wide circle of family and friends—siblings, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and their families.
The family requests that those who wish to honor Deborah do so by making a gift in her name to early childhood development programs, PACEs Connection, or The Powerful Project.
As Tracy said,
“Her memory will live on in the countless children whose early lives were shaped by her vision—and in the many adults she inspired to nurture with purpose and love. Her legacy is a generation of children who know they are worthy of love, from the very beginning.”
What others who worked with her on the Neuro Nurturing webinars are saying about the passing of Deborah McNelis:
I join you in the shock, grief and sadness at Deb’s passing.I met Deb as a co-traveler on the long journey to anchor our systems in the truth that early life nurturance is how we can thrive even as life brings natural struggles.May we stay the course in her honor and light and continue to build an inescapable movement for transformation.
With gratitude for Deb and deep awareness of the mystery and profundity of this life we seek to nourish and protect!
– Christina Bethell, PhD, founder of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Deborah McNelis was an amazing force of goodness and positivity. We will try to carry on with her work, with humility and homage in Deb’s honor.
– “Denni” Diana Fishbein, PhD, founder, director, and president of the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives,Senior Scientist in the FPG Child Development Institute at University of North Carolina
Aging is a community issue that touches us all — as caregivers, advocates, professionals, and individuals navigating our own journeys. We invite you to join the next session in CHC University’s “Reimagining Aging: Community, Care, Connection” series, sponsored by AARP:
Rural Aging – Challenges and Strategies for Improving Health Outcomes in Rural Communities
📅 Thursday, October 23 🕛 12:00–1:00 PM ET 💻 Online Event – Register Now
This conversation will examine how shrinking access to care, provider shortages, and disappearing community supports are affecting the health and wellbeing of older adults in rural America — and explore innovative strategies to strengthen care for them and their caregivers.
Moderated by: Paurvi Bhatt, MPH Founder, ThirdEye Focus and the CareWorks Fund; former executive with Abbott, Levi Strauss, Medtronic, CARE USA, USAID, and the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers
Panelists: Bryan Buckley, DrPH, MPH, MBA Head of Public Health | Office of the CEO CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield; CHC Board Member
Memo Diriker, PhD President & CEO, The StratACUMEN Group; Board Chair, TidalHealth System
Velma Carter-Dryer, MSW, ACSW Board Member, Village to Village Network and the American Society on Aging
Together, these experts will share insights on how we can build systems that support aging with dignity, equity, and health — no matter where we live.
(PACEs Connection leaders and supporters, l-r) Tom Bognanno of Alliance Practice; Dr. Jamie Huysman, founder of the STAR Network; Dr. Vincent J. Felitti, co-principal investigator of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACEs) 1998; Dana Brown, volunteer co-director of PACEs Connection, longtime San Diego, CA, community organizer and pioneer with Trauma-Resilient Educational Communities (TREC); and Craig Beswick, Vice President of School Development Division, Lifelong Learning Administration Corporation (LLAC), and pioneer with Trauma-Resilient Educational Communities (TREC). Brown holds a photograph of herself, Dr. Felitti, and fellow PACEs Connection volunteer co-director Carey Sipp, taken at the launch of TREC’s website in January 2024, as Sipp, who also a TREC advisory board member, was unable to attend this recent auspicious meeting of PACEs Connection leaders.
Time with Dr. Vincent Felitti to Reflect, Plan, and Prepare for Future Growth
Dr. Vincent Felitti, co-principal investigator of the 1998 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study, recently met with PACEs Connection leaders, funders, and advocates for dinner in San Diego. The gathering focused on reflecting on the global impact of the ACE Study, the future of PACEs Connection, and strategies for ensuring the long-term sustainability of PACEs Connection.
The dinner meeting was organized by Dana Brown, volunteer co-director of PACEs Connection, who has collaborated with Felitti over the last 15 years. Alongside Felitti, the group included Craig Beswick, who, along with Dana and their team, created the Trauma Resilient Education Communities (TREC) certification programs. Videos that are part of several TREC certifications – including those for Trauma-Resilient Professionals for educators and social workers and Trauma-Resilient Healthcare Professionals, feature Dr. Felitti explaining the importance of Transitioning from Trauma-Informed to Trauma-Resilient, ACEs science, the impact of trauma, and the importance of preventing trauma and integrating trauma-resilience.
Brown, Felitti, and Beswick all live in San Diego. East Coast leaders at the dinner meeting were Washington, DC-area resident Thomas Bognanno of Alliance Practice, a consulting firm that has supported PACEs Connection with strategic guidance over the past two years, and Dr. Jamie Huysman, of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, who is a PACEs Connection donor and leader of the STAR Network Foundation, Inc., which provides, worldwide, free, online support for survivors of toxic abusive relationships via itsTAR-Anon 12-Step program.
Absent was PACEs Connection co-director Carey Sipp, who partners with Brown as one of two volunteer co-directors of the organization. According to Brown, Sipp has been instrumental in bringing Bognanno and Huysman, among others key to restructuring, funding, and sustainability, to the organization following its being “sunset” on April 26, 2024. Sipp also led the effort to rehome PACEs Connection with its current fiscal sponsor, the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives (NPSC), in 2024, allowing the PACEs Connection to continue operating and raising funds.
“This group’s being able to connect with Dr. Felitti in San Diego helped solidify revitalization plans, likely to be announced after the first of the year. Tom Bognanno and his partners, Lee Manis and Robert Briggs, at Alliance Practice – all three are former CEOs of nonprofit organizations – are invaluable. It was exciting to see Tom Bognanno and Dr. Huysman together, and to introduce them to Dr. Felitti, who was one of the earliest supporters of (then) ACEs Connection, which became PACEs Connection in 2021,” said Brown.
“We wanted to hear Dr. Felitti’s thoughts on PACEs Connection’s impact on advancing ACEs science, and to share with him our hopes for the organization’s future,” said Brown.
Join heart and data-led changemakers and caregivers revolutionizing the way we age, deliver care, and provide compassionate, trauma-resilient care at home.
Technology Solutions for Older Americans & Caregivers session offers life-changing and life-enhancing technology solutions.
This is the final session of the CHC: Creating Healthier Communities “Reimagining Aging: Community, Care, Connection” series — Sponsored by AARP
Join us Thursday, December 11, 2025, Noon – 1 p.m. ET. Register now and share with colleagues, friends, and family.
We’ll connect solutions to challenges of isolation and caregiver shortages and burnout in a warm, life changing and life-enhancing story-filled hour with an incredible panel of who are also
👉🏽technology innovators 🫶🏽compassionate and creative leaders 👍🏽changemakers revolutionizing the way we age, deliver care, and stay “young at home”!
See you today at noon to open minds, hearts, and opportunities to avoid
– isolation – caregiver overwhelm – challenges in determining WHO needs WHAT level of care WHERE and WHEN?
(Note: This brief obituary was lovingly crafted with the support of Cherie Porter, Jane Ellen Stevens’ closest long-term friend; Dana Brown, one of the first employees of what became PACEs Connection; and Lori Dorfman, DrPH, MPH, director of the Berkey Media Studies Group, Jane’s friend with whom she taught and worked.)
Jane Ellen Stevens, beloved friend, award winning science journalist, and founder and publisher of ACEsTooHigh.com and PACEsConnection.com, died gratefully at her home in Northern California on Sunday, November 30th, in the company of her four cats and friend of 45 years, Cherie Porter.
Jane lived an active engaged life for seven years after her initial diagnosis of glioblastoma in 2018, followed by surgery, chemo, and radiation. In February of this year a second tumor foretold the inevitable, ultimately leading Jane to choose a “self-administered assisted death”, an end of life option in California.
Friends and colleagues were informed within the hour through the following message from Cherie:
The vivacious, wholly unique, and luminous star we have known as Jane, was extinguished at 12:00 p.m. on this day. She felt your love deeply, reflected love back, and was completely at peace.
Jane was born August 23, 1948 in New Jersey. Her career as a science journalist spanned nearly five decades and touched millions of lives world-wide through articles and stories in newspapers, magazines, videos and podcasts. Among others, she wrote for the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Examiner, the magazines Science, Nature, National Geographic, Technology Review, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. She pioneered video journalism for New York Times TV and founded a health/science/technology feature service with more than 20 client news organizations worldwide.
As a multimedia journalist, Jane reported for Discovery Channel. At UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, she helped found the multimedia reporting track, did groundbreaking work reporting on the prevalence and impact of domestic violence, and taught master classes for journalists on the importance of including in stories how exposure to trauma affects the epidemiology of violence.
Struck by the significance of findings in the 1998 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study published by Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control, Jane started writing about the study in 2005, with a post in the Sacramento Bee, “Targeting obesity at its roots: Childhood trauma may be at the core of the epidemic of overweight adults”. (As Jane was not a staff journalist at the Sacramento Bee, that post is not available in the publication’s online library.)
In 2009, Jane founded ACEsTooHigh.com, a news site for journalists and the general public. On this site she ultimately reposted the 2005 story which featured Dr. Vincent Felitti, co-principal author of the 1998 ACE Study, under the headline, “The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study — the largest, most important public health study you never heard of — began in an obesity clinic.” This article was among many of Jane’s ACEs Connection and then PACEs Connection posts that “went viral”, was picked up by news services, and generated hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of page views, helping increase awareness of ACEs Science. It also launched a two-decade, mutually respectful friendship between Jane and Dr. Felitti, the beginning of what would become the ACEs Science movement.
In 2012 Jane launched ACEs Connection.com, a social network comprising ACEsTooHigh.com and the ACEs Connection community of practice. ACEs Connection grew it from 200 members to some 60,000 members before Jane stepped down as its CEO in 2023.
Today, the site has more than 62,000 members worldwide, some 400 geographic sub-communities, and more than 40 topic-focused communities. There are 17 international communities represented on the site, with new members joining daily. Jane had launched ACEs Connection in part with an invitation email sent to 200 addresses from Dr. Felitti’s contact list.
Early on, Jane wrote of the work to make information about ACEs science more widely known:
The intent was to inform people, organizations, and communities about a new understanding of human behavior that had been emerging since the 1980s. It was clear that this new knowledge had the potential to solve our most intractable problems. The network was designed to connect the pioneers who were integrating trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on ACEs science across sectors. This included pediatricians, educators, business owners, judges, community activists, people participating in associations, people working in juvenile justice, social workers, people in the faith-based community, emergency medical technicians.
Remarkably, even after her diagnosis of glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer, in February of 2018, Jane continued to live life to the fullest. She remained committed to caring for her friendships and her cats, experiencing the gifts of nature, exercising body and mind, and writing.
In October 2018, eight months after recovering from brain surgery, chemo and radiation, Jane hosted the second international ACES Conference, co-hosted by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, then of the Center for Youth Wellness, engaging and connecting hundreds of individuals from around the world. This was the second such international conference, the first being in 2016.
We invite you to share your thoughts and remembrances of Jane; how she herself influenced you, or how her efforts to raise awareness of the effects of toxic stress and the protective attributes of positive experiences benefitted your life or the life of those you love.
We plan to post a more detailed obituary in the near future.
Please share your memories by completing the Google form available at this link,Google Form for use in honoring Jane Ellen Stevens, being careful to note it if you want your comments to be posted anonymously.
We have received inquiries from people wanting to remember Jane and organizations she endorsed with a gift in her honor. One journalism nonprofit she worked with and supported is the Institute for Nonprofit News. You can also remember Jane with a tax-deductible gift to support the revitalization of PACEs Connectionhere.
Co-Directors of PACEs Connection Dana Brown and Carey Sipp are organizing a live on Zoom, Celebration of the Life and Work of Jane Stevens, to occur in mid-January 2026. Watch for this announcement in the next several days.
Photos of Jane through the years are below. More will be shared in a later, more expanded obituary and on a “memory wall” to be built with the support of those who share photos and memories of Jane using the Google Form for use in honoring Jane Ellen Stevens.
The “Legacy.com” obituary running in The San Francisco Chronicle through December 21, 2025, can be found here, if you would like to comment on it.
For those who would like to read several of Jane’s most memorable posts on PACEs Connection and other news outlets, a curated selection is shared below. If there are others you’d like to see added to the list, please share them in the comments below and we’ll review and add them as time permits.
Thank you, leaders and members of resiliency task forces, PACEs communities, and people just discovering the connection between childhood trauma and positive experiences and life outcomes, for helping raise awareness of the vital and undeniable connection between positive and adverse childhood experiences and lifelong health consequences of both.
Thank you to all who keep sharing ACEs science, who keep sharing the science of positive and adverse childhood experiences (PACEs). Who keep reminding people that what is predicable is preventable. And that child flourishing, too, is possible.
We know those positive experiences of belonging, feeling safe, being in a safe, stable, nurturing environment, feeling as if someone in your family has your back, having friends, experiencing community traditions, having two people other than one’s parents — that these are among the positive childhood experiences that help counter the adversity. And can help prevent adult mental illness.
Thank you to all the PACEs Connection members and community leaders who keep speaking truth to power about the science. The 1998 Adverse Childhood Experiences Study and the 2019 study on the impact of positive childhood experiences on adult mental health. And for those also promoting the 2018 study Bruce Perry, MD, PhD, MPA, did on the TIMING of ACEs, and how important consistent nurture is, especially the first two months of life, to infant brain development and laying a foundation for optimal brain development. Truly, early relational health is foundational to lifelong health and wellbeing.
Times are terrifying, sad, outrageous, exasperating, and more, to say the least. And yet I know so many leaders of resilient communities who are keeping their meetings going. Adding members to their task forces, taking on new projects to go way the heck upstream to prevent and hopefully heal trauma; to bring positive experiences to their communities by supporting pregnant and newly delivered women, families, schools, people across the lifespan.
This is a personal thank you. We see you. We love seeing you post in your communities and share about your meetings, plans, programs.
Thank you. Your sharing these lights inspires others. And may well be the single act of kindness that prevents or helps begin healing, or helps set someone toward nurturing a child or family. Or community.
Thank you. It has been a hard, hard couple of years, for myriad reasons including the loss of dear friends, mentors, leaders.
Thank you for keeping the work going. Thank you. Thank you to fellow volunteer co-director of PACEs Connection Dana Brown, and our fiscal sponsor and partners at National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives, Diana Fishbein, PhD, and Jess Bair. Thank you to Alliance Practice Partners who continue to advise and help guide the work, and beloved donors, who we will name in full soon and who include Dr. Jamie Huysman of STAR Network Foundation; Harriet Stein, MD; The Parallel Foundation; Jeoffry Gordon, MD; The Langeloth Foundation and many more, who, again, will be named soon in a formal thank you.
Jane Stevens’ life, and the celebration of her life, were similar in that both were filled with stunning revelations and deep connections.
Cast as a love letter to the intrepid science journalist who founded PACEs Connection in 2012, the Valentine’s Day event’s highlights included a recounting of some of Jane’s most incredible adventures:
A trip in a research submersible to the deepest point in the ocean, the Mariana Trench (more people have walked on the moon than have visited the depths of the Mariana Trench)
Helping arrange the Olympic Circles skydivers for the 1988 Seoul games
Dancing as a Raiderette cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders
Riding in a Grumman F-14 Tomcat; carrier-capable supersonic jet and not throwing up until she was in the ladies’ room (much to the chagrin of the pilot and ground crew)
Joining three seven-week research trips on icebreakers into the Antarctic’s winter sea-ice zone leading to a print story in National Geographic Magazine and segments for National Geographic Explorer (TV) and the Discovery Channel
A recounting of some of Jane’s travels and research posts, and talents as a journalist, including:
Her four years in Kenya
Living among orangutans in Borneo
Travels through Malaysia and Africa, many with her best friend of four decades, Cherie Porter
Her renovations to houses she owned and rental units she left much improved
Her inherent ability to craft stories about science in ways that made the topics relatable
Her superpowers as an editor in taking stories by writers at PACEs Connection and making them infinitely better in record time.
One wall of photos sharing Jane Stevens’ adventures in a fighter jet, on a broncing bull, and on various trips to Antartica, Africa, and more.
Cherie Porter, Jane’s friend of close to four decades, sharing stories of their years of friendship, travel, and adventure.
As Cherie wrote of Jane in a beautiful booklet she created in Jane’s honor and shared at the celebration:
Sometime in her distant past, Jane discovered her north star when her natural skill as a storyteller linked up with her lifelong fascination with science.
She long appreciated the allure of science and that it could achieve wonderful things, but she knew that it was not infallible because it’s made by humans and, therefore, subject to all the shortcomings, biases, risks, and caveats inherent to all human endeavors.
She remained fascinated, but never lost sight of her role as a journalist. She was in service to readers, not scientists.
We remain the grateful beneficiaries.
Jane’s writing always reflected her curiosity, respect, understanding of the centrality of evidence, and an awareness of the flaws and limitations of knowledge.
Her readers felt that. They also connected with her stories because she wrote from her direct experience.
The scope of Jane’s stories required unusual research and led to extraordinary experiences.
About 50 of Jane’s friends joined Cherie to celebrate Jane’s remarkable life, career, achievements, relationships, and legacy.
L-R Carey Sipp, Alison Cebulla, Dana Brown, and Gail Kennedy, former PACEs Connection staffers. Carey and Dana are currently volunteer co-directors of PACEs Connection, working on the revitalization of the social network started by Jane Stevens as ACEs Connection in 2012.
Dana Brown and Carey Sipp, volunteer co-directors of PACEs Connection shared plans for the continuation of Jane’s work to create ACEs Connection. Jane started ACEs Connection in 2012 to raise awareness of the 1998 Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, which she wrote about in scores of articles in the 26 years after she learned about it, soon after it was published by Kaiser Permanente and The Centers for Disease Control.
Jane changed the name of the social network from ACEs Connection to PACEs Connection in 2021, to reflect the importance and findings of the Positive Childhood Experiences (PCE) Research study published in the Journal of American Medicine, Pediatrics, in 2019.
The study revealed the powerful protective and preventive impact of positive childhood experiences. Promoting this science tied into the purpose of the ACEs science movement to prevent and heal childhood trauma, and to promote resilience and positive childhood and community experiences (PCEs).
Jane’s love of creating and sharing positive experiences, of writing, science, and friendships was evident in the celebration of her life and the stories shared.
“It’s an honor that Carey and I can continue Jane’s legacy of sharing this science she respected and wrote about so much. There were donors to PACEs Connection at the event, donors and supporters. It was especially wonderful for us to be able to share with them that we are close to announcing a revitalization of PACEs Connection,” said Dana.
Photos below are of Lori Chelius, Dana Brown, Lori Dorfman, and Carey Sipp outside at Jane Stevens’ celebration of life near Sacramento, CA.
Carey Sipp, Dr. Jeoff Gordon, and Dr. Andres Sciolla share a moment at the celbration of life for Jane.
Additional resources, including some of Jane’s most read posts:
Felitti and Co-Principal Investigator Robert F. Anda, MD, to Be Celebrated at May 22 Virtual Global Summit Marking Nearly 30 Years of Adverse Childhood Experiences Science
Nearly three decades after publishing one of the most consequential public health studies in American history, Vincent J. Felitti, MD, FACP, has been recognized with the 2026 STAR NeuroLeadership Award, presented by the STAR Network Foundation — and will be honored at the same virtual gathering as his co-principal investigator, Robert F. Anda, MD, MS, who will receive the same award at the third annual Scars to STARs Day Summit: The ACEs Next 30 Years Global Leadership Gathering, taking place on May 22, 2026, during Mental Health Awareness Month.
Scars to STARs Day Summit — STARS for Survivors of Toxic and Abusive Relationships — is among the most significant annual gatherings in the global trauma recovery and prevention movement. Hosted by the STAR Network Foundation, the 2026 summit brings together scientists, clinicians, survivors, policymakers, practitioners, educators, and community leaders from across the United States and around the world — all participating virtually — to explore how science, lived experience, and systems innovation can break cycles of trauma and protect the next generation. Dr. Felitti will be featured in an opening film honoring the legacy of the ACEs Study and the science that has helped the world better understand the impact of childhood adversity.
The event is a free, online summit. Early registration is encouraged and is available at thislink.
Dr. Felitti received the award in San Diego, California on February 9, 2026. Dr. Anda, former Senior Scientist at the CDC, will receive the STAR NeuroLeadership Award — [to be confirmed: at the May 22 summit or separately] — presented virtually by The Honorable Patrick J. Kennedy, Founder of The Kennedy Forum and recipient of the 2025 STAR NeuroLeadership Award.
A Study That Changed Everything — For Those Who Know About It
The 1998 ACEs Study — published jointly by Kaiser Permanente and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — revealed a striking and dose-dependent relationship between adverse childhood experiences, including abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction, and lifelong physical and mental health outcomes. The higher a person’s ACE score, the greater their risk of heart disease, cancer, addiction, mental illness, domestic violence, poverty, and premature death.
The study has since generated thousands of follow-on studies worldwide and fundamentally reshaped how scientists, clinicians, and an emerging community of practitioners understand the root causes of society’s most seemingly intractable challenges. And yet, despite being published by two of the nation’s most trusted health institutions, it remains largely unknown outside the fields of public health, medicine, and social services. The science that could help explain — and prevent — generation after generation of child abuse, neglect, addiction, poverty, mental illness, and violence has not yet reached the critical mass of leaders needed to act on it.
The landmark 2019 study onPositive Childhood Experiences added a powerful and hopeful dimension to the science — finding that positive childhood and community experiences have a meaningful buffering effect against the impact of ACEs, and that seven specific positive childhood experiences are associated with a protective effect against adult mental illness. It was in recognition of this growing body of science that the network formerly known as ACEs Connection renamed itself PACEs Connection — with the “P” standing for positive — reflecting a commitment not only to understanding and healing adversity, but to actively cultivating the experiences that build resilience and prevent harm.
“The ACEs study is one of the most important pieces of public health research ever published,” said Carey Sipp, Editor-at-Large and Director of Upstream Strategies at PACEs Connection, the global network that has served for more than a decade as the connective tissue of the ACEs science movement to prevent and heal trauma, foster individual, family, and community resilience. “Dr. Felitti and Dr. Anda gave the world a roadmap. The work of all of us is to make sure a significant number of people use it — and that it is used to overhaul the very systems that perpetuate trauma.”
“PACEs Connection has been honored to serve as a gathering place, a library, and a connector for this movement,” said Dana Brown, Interim Executive Director of PACEs Connection. “Honoring Dr. Felitti and Dr. Anda at this summit is a recognition not just of their science, but of the millions of survivors whose lives that science has helped explain — and whose healing it continues to inform.”
“The STAR Network Foundation is proud to honor the scientists whose work gave the world a new lens through which to understand human suffering — and human resilience,” said Jamie Huysman, PsyD, LCSW, Founder and Executive Director of the STAR Network Foundation. “Bringing together this coalition of organizations to advance the next 30 years of ACEs science is exactly the kind of collective action this moment demands.”
About the STAR NeuroLeadership Award
The STAR SuperNova NeuroLeadership award is given for “neuroLeadership in trauma-informed care and recovery’. Previous recipient: Patrick J. Kennedy (2025).
Scars to STARs – A Landmark Gathering for the Next 30 Years
The May 22 virtual summit will feature a distinguished faculty of leaders working at the intersections of trauma science, recovery, prevention, and systems change, including:
Jamie Huysman, PsyD, LCSW, Founder and Executive Director, STAR Network Foundation
Diana H. Fishbein, PhD, Founder and Co-Director, National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives
George Rapier III, MD, Chairman and CEO, WellMed Medical Management
Jesse Kohler, former Executive Director, Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice and Founder, The Change Campaign
Michael J. Menard, author of Greater Than Gravity: How Childhood Trauma Is Pulling Down Humanity and Founder, United Against Childhood Trauma
Glenn R. Schiraldi, PhD, Founder, Resilience Training International [confirm full title]
Thomas G. Bognanno, Principal, Alliance Practice LLC
At the close of the summit, leaders of PACEs Connection will announce its revitalization as a global community platform, supported by a coalition of partner organizations committed to advancing the next 30 years of ACEs science.
PACEs Connection — PACEs stands for positive and adverse childhood experiences — is a 63,000+ member global network advancing the science of positive and adverse childhood experiences to prevent and heal trauma, build resilience, and support flourishing communities worldwide.
The STAR Network Foundation is a global organization dedicated to advancing trauma recovery, prevention, and survivor leadership. The annual Scars to STARs Day Summit is its flagship convening, bringing together survivors and leaders from across the world to accelerate trauma-informed systems change.
Emerging Research on Positive Adult Experiences Offers New Hope for Survivors of Trauma and Adversity
In the PACEs Connection community, we write and talk a lot about what infants and children need to thrive. Safe relationships. Consistent connection. A sense of belonging. The science of Positive Childhood Experiences — PCEs — has shown us that these early building blocks shape brain development, buffer the impact of adversity, and even help prevent adult mental illness.
But what about adults? What happens when those early positive experiences were missing — or when life’s adversities never stopped, and/or arrived later, in the form of toxic relationships — romantic, workplace, or otherwise — loss, trauma, or other sources of continuous toxic stress?
Positive Adult Experiences — PAEs — function remarkably similarly to Positive Childhood Experiences — PCEs
Emerging research published by the National Institutes of Health and Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry offers a powerful and hopeful answer: positive experiences don’t stop mattering after childhood. Positive Adult Experiences — PAEs — function remarkably similarly to PCEs, reducing depression and anxiety, promoting resilience, and helping to buffer the impact of early adversity — even when adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) were high and positive childhood experiences were few.
“Healing — and preventing more adversity — are not just for children,” said Jamie Huysman, PsyD, LCSW, Founder and Executive Director of the STAR Network Foundation. “Adults who have experienced trauma — whether in childhood or later in life — can experience genuine turning points when they find safe, consistent, accepting community. The brain remains responsive to positive experiences across the entire lifespan. That is not just hopeful. That is science.”
Key positive adult experiences identified in the research include social connection and feeling genuinely understood and valued; mentorship and personal growth; community belonging and purposeful work; and active emotional healing — the kind of deep, courageous work that actively recovering survivors of toxic and abusive relationships know all too well.
“Positive childhood and adult experiences can become their own protective factors. That shift in the trajectory of a life — toward connection, belonging, and hope — has a way of attracting more of the positive. It can help break generational cycles of abuse, neglect, addiction, and the sometimes learned behaviors of helplessness and hopelessness. Healing in one generation plants seeds of healthy relationships and outcomes for the next,” offers Carey Sipp, author of “The TurnAround Mom”, a book on reparenting oneself and breaking generational cycles of addiction, neglect, and abuse.
“Through decades of my own recovery and in years of volunteer work with fellow survivors, I’ve seen firsthand the healing that comes from adults learning to trust and be accepted by each other, to commiserate, share experience, strength, and hope, and to learn to laugh together,” said Sipp, Interim Editor-at-Large and Director of Upstream Strategies at PACEs Connection.
Studies show that adults with more PCEs experience measurably less depression and anxiety. While these experiences tend to have a stronger impact on younger adults, their benefits extend across the lifespan. And unlike the early years — when children depend entirely on the adults around them to provide positive experiences — adults can actively seek them out, build them, and offer them to one another.
Setting Sail for Mental Health Awareness Month
The STAR Network Foundation is putting that science into practice in a decidedly memorable way this May — with the All STAR Cruise, departing Miami on Friday, May 1, 2026, and bringing together Survivors of Toxic and Abusive Relationships (STARs), healers, advocates, and community members for four days of connection, conversation, and renewal at sea — returning early Monday, May 4.
A special gathering at the Atlantis resort in Nassau on Saturday, May 2, will feature STAR Network International Ambassador Richard Grannon leading raw, thought-provoking discussions on trauma recovery, building resilience, and reclaiming your life — conversations designed not just to inform, but to transform.
“Every moment of genuine connection aboard that ship is the science in action,” said Huysman. “When a survivor feels truly seen, truly heard, truly safe — that is a positive adult experience. That is healing. And those moments add up.”
“For the PACEs Connection community, whose work centers on understanding both the adverse and the positive experiences that shape human lives across the lifespan, the All STAR Community Cruise represents something larger than a weekend getaway. It is a living demonstration that healing is possible — and that no survivor has to walk that path alone,” said Huysman.
The STAR Network Foundation is a worldwide 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the support, treatment, and prevention of attachment disorders and narcissistic abuse. Through its free peer-to-peer, anonymous meetings each weekday, annual Scars to STARs Day Summit (coming up May 22; free registration is here), and community initiatives, STAR Network makes safe, consistent, accepting connection available worldwide to Survivors of Toxic and Abusive Relationships and complex PTSD post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
About PACEs Connection
PACEs Connection — PACEs stands for Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences — is a 62,425 member global network advancing the science of positive and adverse childhood experiences to prevent and heal trauma, build resilience, and support flourishing communities worldwide. For more information contact Dana Brown, Interim Executive Director, at dana.pacescommunities@gmail.com; or Carey Sipp, Interim Editor-at-Large and Director of Upstream Strategies and Relationships, at carey.pacescommunities@gmail.com
Carey Sipp 9/22/251:29 PM
Join Dr. Sheila Robinson, Executive Woman Media as our moderator for the second in a CHC: Creating Healthier Communities – AARP series on Thursday, September 25 from 12 noon ET until 1 p.m.ET.
Carey Sipp 