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Dave Ellis put NJ on solid footing to advance PACEs science practices, policies

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedbook-review, book-reviews, books, dave-ellis, fiction, jane-stevens, new-jersey, writingcareysipp

Jane Stevens 5/17/223:36 PM

Two years ago, instead of retiring as planned, Dave Ellis decided to apply for the new position of “executive on loan” to create and lead the New Jersey Office of Resilience (OoR) in the Department of Children and Families (DCF). It is the first state-level office to integrate policies and practices based on the science of positive and adverse childhood experiences. His appointment electrified the national PACEs movement, not only because he was a pioneer in the movement, but because the state was willing to make some bold moves.

On Friday, DCF announced that Ellis is leaving May 31, at the end of his two-year contract. Although he may be leaving New Jersey, his commitment to integrating policies and practices based on PACEs science, especially in communities, hasn’t waned. He’s already received inquiries from other states and is adding to his busy consulting schedule.

In reaction to the announcement, a chorus of “oh nooooo’s” began echoing throughout New Jersey as well as other states. Yesterday, Ellis and I had a Zoom call to talk about his tenure and departure.

“I refuse to be upset,” says Ellis, a plain-speaking, truth-talking, advocate with an insatiable curiosity, “mainly because I knew from the very beginning that this was a two-year opportunity. It’s always been two years. I kept telling folks, it’s a two-year grant position.”

His intention for the two years was simple: “To come to New Jersey, to recognize the great work already happening, to move the state into a position of national recognition and to give the community the ability to actually implement things that it believes will work. I also wanted to give local communities a voice. With the $3-million micro-grant process that we’ve launched, the amazing ideas that communities have come up with, and the upcoming People’s Gathering in September, the state is poised to truly exhibit what it looks like to partner with communities most impacted by adversity.”

How NJ laid the groundwork

Three foundations and DCF created a sound foundation for Ellis arrival so that he could hit the ground running. In 2018, The Nicholson Foundation, the Burke Foundation and the Turrell Fund worked with DCF to begin the process of launching the Office of Resilience. Ellis was chosen to lead the office; he is not a state employee—his salary is paid by the foundations. His five team members are paid by the state.

In two short years, the Office of Resilience developed the NJ ACEs Statewide Action Plan; a statewide awareness campaign, Actions4ACEs, that targets educators and law enforcement; a healing-centered education pilot in 75 school districts; and has provided in-depth training for around 4,000 people through ACE Interface.

When they began their work in 2020, “DCF had little contact with the Native American community,” says Ellis. “Not until Dwana Young on my staff went out there and kept beating on doors. Now we’re connected to all three tribes and the New Jersey Commission on American Indian Affairs. That’s important because the Indigenous populations across the country are No. 1 in being disproportionally impacted by ACEs.”

Great accomplishments, and more work to do

“We’ve done so much, and yet there’s so much left to do,” says Ellis.

Ellis worked with DCF’s grant and contract units to use $3 million in federal funding to design a system of awarding microgrants. “We awarded $3 million to three nonprofits to distribute through a process that will allow small agencies and individuals to submit their ideas for consideration,” says Ellis. “A selection committee made up of Office of Resilience staff, DCF staff, the three awarded agencies and community members will select the ideas to be funded.”

The reporting process will be unlike most grants, notes Ellis. “I told them it’s quite simple,” he says. “I’m interested in what we are learning. Whether you fail or succeed, that’s the wrong question. It’s not about how many you served. If you’re succeeding, I’m more interested in what are you learning? If you’re failing, what are you learning? And how do we share all of that with community so that we all learn, and we can all move forward together?”

All people who participate in the grants— funders, organizations and individuals alike—have been or will be trained in PACEs science, so that it becomes part of the DNA of the work, he says. Unless people who administer the funds and carry out the projects do the difficult work of understanding their own childhood trauma, they can’t be as successful as they could be. Training will continue to expand: With the support of two small grants from foundations, a cohort of trainers is being coached to train all 6,700 DCF staff in PACEs science.

Long-term goals for a long-term effort

Ellis’ main concerns are ensuring sustainability of the work over the next couple of decades and making sure the work is centered in communities. “How do I put this office in a position so that 10 years from now, 20 years from now this is still relevant work? That’s why I wanted things grounded in community so that whatever we did, the community then had the ability to do it themselves.”

The state, foundations, communities need to invest in integrating PACEs science in communities and state agencies for the next 10 to 20 years, he says: “You have to invest for the long haul. We tend to invest for the short term rather than looking at the long game which, in this work, is required to actually prevent ACEs and increased PCEs (positive childhood experiences.” Only in this way can the state solve its most intractable problems.

“There’s a request into the governor for a $10-million allotment over three years of the federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to stabilize this office outside of DCF,” says Elllis. “Because if this effort stays only in one state agency as a statewide initiative, it becomes associated just with that agency. The design, from my perspective has always been, that the OoR in DCF would continue, but that there would be a statewide, much larger umbrella that would be outside of DCF.” The working name of the organization is the Healing NJ Together Technical Assistance Center. Suggestions for its location include being housed at a university, creating it as a standalone nonprofit, or as part of the state extension office. That will be determined after Ellis’ departure.

He would like to see more involvement from the legislature. “There is no state appropriation at this time,” he explains. And yet, this is a statewide initiative. It began as a governor’s initiative. A lot of the work going forward will require state support specifically to support the office.”

And, above all, communities need to continue to be at the center and foundation of the work. “You know who I mean by community,” he points out. “Those people who are most directly impacted need to be involved in all decisions about them. That’s not what the traditional model is, but I believe that unless until we engage with them, this change isn’t going to happen.

“What I really want to see us figure out is how to move from a place where we’re doing harm and to think about how we prevent it,” he continues. “How do we not just heal from childhood adversities and their effects, but how do we prevent them from occurring? That is the ultimate goal. It’s the one thing that I won’t stop fighting for. We can’t focus on only healing because that means that we’re allowing all of these things to continue.”

As we talk, in the background Ellis’ wife is busy packing boxes. “Somebody asked me the other day: Are you okay?” Ellis muses. “I’m better than okay. I feel good that when I leave here, and there’s somebody younger who comes in, I will certainly work to help them transition and give them whatever I can. But I’m not going to tell them how to do this job. I want them to do it their way.”

Over a relative short time, he, his team, the state departments he’s worked with and the communities he’s inspired have made huge strides in New Jersey. At the end of this month, he and his wife will move to Arizona where they’re building a house. And after a two-week vacation in Portugal, he’ll return to figure out his next challenge.

Jane Stevens
Publisher, ACEsTooHigh.com
Founder, PACEs Connection

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Andrew J.S. WillisMember

A hero of the movement.

5/18/228:37 AM

Sanghoon YooMember

Thank you Jane for the report. Dave has done amazing work, leaving a legacy. Exchanged brief messages a couple of days ago. Met him at my conference in February here Arizona, and he is coming here… interestingly small world and the movement advances wherever he goes!

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Carey Sipp commented:
Thanks for posting, Laura! For posting this, and so many more blogs over the years. I’m thinking of the ones YOU’VE written (you are…

Carey Sipp commented:
Thanks, Jeoff. A lot of great relationships and ongoing work came from this incredible gathering. It laid the groundwork for deepening…

David Dooley commented:
Thank you for commenting, Mr. Holmes. I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Can you give me an example?

Tommy Holmes commented:
I loved how you highlighted the connection between ACEs and community resilience! It’s so important to empower people with this…

Patrick Anderson commented:
This one landed, Dr. Long. What I’d underline is that you’ve framed being pushed out as a pattern rather than a run of bad luck — and…

Robert Hawk commented:
That story is heartbreaking and really shows how history and present-day realities can intersect. Reading about Black history in China…

David Dooley commented:
Thank you for writing, Mr. Anderson. You wrote… “Your instinct that the utopia requires entirely new forms of parenting education that…

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Christine “Cissy” White, December 7, 1966—April 2, 2023

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedbook-review, books, cissy-white, fiction, jane-stevens, mental-health, paces-staff, writingcareysipp

Note – This is another post by Jane. It is about a fellow staffer whom we adored. We also lost Elizabeth Prewitt to cancer in 2025, and then Jane herself, also in 2025. This was following the death of Dan Press, founder of the Campaign on Trauma Informed Policy and Practice, a “sister organization”, in, I believe, 2022. Their obituaries are all posted on this careysipp.com site, as I wanted to save them, to remember these amazing people. With help from some of Jane’s friends and fellow PACEs staffers, I crafted Jane’s obituary, which I will try to link here once I fiture out more about wordpress. Also in the mix is the obituary of my dear friend and partner in Neuro Nuturing, Deborah McNelis, who also died of cancer in 2025. I did not post, unfortunately, the obituary of another dear friend of PACEs Connections, Robin Cogan, author of “The Relentless School Nurse.” I regret not posting about her untimely life and death in a fitting post on PACEs. Her death was stunning and grieved by literally thousands of nurses across the country. Too many wonderful people in this field die early and of cancer. I wonder about the connection. Knowing the stories of some of these people well, I could say their “numbers” told the tale. AND knowing some of these people so very well, I would say that were I to say this, that their ACEs spelled their death sentences, I know they would be PISSED. Because all of these people also believed in the power of positive childhood experiences (PCEs) and found and lifted up the positive as a part of their healing. It was remarkable and wonderful to witness; to be a part of their work to help prevent children from having their lives altered by toxic childhood stress. Again, not everyone I’ve mentioned here had a high ACE score. Their own writings reveal those facts and are their stories shared. Bottom line? I am grateful to have known each of the people mentioned, and Cissy, who was the first among the group to pass away, lived fully and was grieved mightily.

Jane Stevens 4/5/2312:08 PM

Our beloved friend and former PACEs Connection staff member, Cissy White, died peacefully in Weymouth, MA, on Sunday morning, surrounded by family and friends.

This the obituary the family wrote that appeared here.

So many people are holding this angel of grace, strength, beauty, intellect, humor, and compassion in their hearts right now, remembering Cissy’s deep kindness and generous, brave heart. She taught us all how to live.

Cissy leaves daughter Kai Schildmeier, mother Nancy Atwood and her husband Chip (Cissy’s stepfather), sister Karyn Doherty and her husband John, brother Joseph Atwood and his wife Mindy, stepbrother Dan Coxall, nieces Rachel and Catrin Doherty, nephews Zane and Kindred Atwood, beloved aunt and uncle Mary and Jimmy Moy, aunt Diane Shaughnessy, uncle Eddie Moy, cousins Jeffrey, Michael, Stephen, Danny, Jennifer, Jamie, Andrea, Chris, Corey, Teddy, Ryan, and Katie. She also leaves her co-parent, her former husband David Schildmeier, as well as many devoted friends, including caregivers Beth O’Malley, Heidi Aylward, Kathy MacDonald, and Lynn Tryba. Cissy’s biological father was the late Frank White of Boston.

Although she left us much too early, Cissy never viewed her diagnosis of ovarian cancer in 2019 as a tragedy. In her own words: “If I die soon, it will be too soon but it will also not be tragic because I got peace and a sense of closeness and acceptance of myself. I still feel triumphant and joyful about this life and I do not feel diminished.”

Cissy’s life was a triumph. Her only regrets were that she couldn’t be here longer for her daughter and that, as an activist, she didn’t always prioritize having fun. In recent years, Cissy made a practice of “joy stalking,” a phrase she coined to describe fiercely appreciating “the small and delicious delights” of everyday life. [Here is her post “Professional Joy Stalker”, and here is a link to all of Cissy’s posts on PACEsConnection.com.]

Before getting into Cissy’s many accomplishments, we want to take a moment to remember her one-of-a-kind laugh (her brother-in-law John describes it as a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Arnold Horschack); the warmth, safety, and acceptance she offered; the long conversations over glasses of iced coffee; the way she could be so open and verbally appreciative of others’ gifts and talents; the way she built connections among her many and assorted friends; the creative moments, gathering sea glass and making art; the way she spoiled her pets unapologetically; the way her daughter, Kai was always her number one priority.

Cissy was an outspoken and passionate advocate for trauma survivors, most recently working at ACEs Connection (now PACEs Connection), a social network that recognizes the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in shaping physical and emotional health. Her roles included Northeast Region Community Facilitator as well as Community Manager, Parenting with ACEs.

“It’s not trauma-informed if it’s not informed by trauma survivors” was her motto; she always said that healing tools should be affordable, accessible, and appealing to survivors and that patient-centered care should center patients’ voices, experiences, and collaboration, otherwise it was hypocritical and silencing. Cis would not stand for anyone being silenced. Her survivor-led advocacy work earned her the Touching Trauma at its Heart Award from the Attachment and Trauma Network, the VOICE for Traumatized Children.

Her work was written about in the Atlantic Monthly, the Boston Globe, and other outlets. She appeared in the December 2020 PBS News Hour series “Invisible Scars: America’s Childhood Trauma Crisis,” in an episode about how treating trauma early can help kids cope down the line.

She was a guest on podcasts such as Cancer Connections by the Clarity Foundation and Trauma Therapist Podcast with Guy McPherson. She was a sought-after speaker on issues related to PTSD and childhood trauma. Herself a childhood trauma survivor, Cissy knew first hand the power of writing to heal. She began sharing her journey on her blog healwritenow.com in 2013. In 2014, she collaborated with artist, writer, and professor Margaret Bellafiore to create Body Language: An Interactive Installation Exploring the Impact of Trauma, which was shown in Cambridge, MA. The installation gave visitors the chance to viscerally experience the changes that occur in the body as a result of surviving trauma.

Cissy realized a longtime dream in 2015 when she opened the Heal Write Now Center in Weymouth. That experience was a powerful way for her to step out into the world, saying she believed in the healing power of words, community, truth-telling, and safe and affordable spaces for people to create and share. Cissy’s journalism and essays were published in Ms. Magazine online, Elephant Journal, the Boston Globe, Spirituality Camp; Health, PTSD Journal, PsychCentral, To Write Love on Her Arms, ACEs Connection, PACEs Connection and ACEs Too High, among others.

After being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2019, Cissy became involved in patient advocacy work, volunteering for the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA) as part of the Survivors Teaching Students program. Her hope was that future medical professionals better understand the early symptoms of ovarian cancer in order to prevent misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, and a poorer prognosis, as there’s currently no way to screen for ovarian cancer.

After Cissy was herself misdiagnosed, she was dismayed to learn that ovarian cancer survival rates were no better than they were decades ago when she had been a caretaker for her beloved maternal grandmother, Edna “Nan” Shaughnessy, who died of ovarian cancer in 1990. Cissy’s first-person
account of what it was like to be involved in cancer drug trials, “The Clinical Trial Treatment Train,” was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on August 23, 2022. Throughout her rigorous and often disheartening treatment, Cis felt seen and supported by the team at MGH, and especially by her oncologist, Dr. Richard Penson, who knew her as a writer, not only as a cancer patient. It was their discussions that led to her essay in the NEJM.

Though Cis was proud of her published writing, equally important to her was the expressive creative writing she did right up until the last week of her life in her weekly writing circle. As she did her entire life, she leaned into the healing power of writing to hold her in joy and sorrow. She considered this practice, and the love of her family and friends, her medicine after treatments failed her.

From 2000 to 2003, Cissy worked in the Communications Camp; Events Planning department for Wide Horizons for Children, an adoption agency in Waltham, MA, that works with orphaned children worldwide. In 2003, she and her then-husband David Schildmeier traveled to China to adopt Kai, the love and light of Cissy’s life. In her own words: “My daughter brought the world to me. My daughter is a beam of sunlight brought to my soul.”

Cissy was an amazing parent who devoted her life to ensuring Kai had everything she needed to become the smart, caring, kind, and impressive young woman she is today, taking an active role as a parent advisor and
member of the board of trustees for the South Shore Charter Public School, and later through her years as a devoted and proud dance mom at the respective dance academies for which Kai was an avid dance team competitor. This culminated in Cissy’s great pride in Kai’s admission to Boston University, where she is a STEM student hoping to become a physician.

Cissy graduated from Bromfield High School in Harvard, MA, in 1985 and earned a BA from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, in 1991. Her focus at Hampshire was social psychology and creative and critical writing. Cis appreciated and supported the work of Beth O’Malley’s Adoption Lifebook’s for children and teens who were either adopted or live in foster care; when she discovered O’Malley and her work, she made a lifelong friend.

She found inspiration in the work of psychotherapist Serben Fisher; guided imagery pioneer Belleruth Krepon Naparstek; science journalist Donna Jackson Nakazawa; and writer Nancy Slonim Aronie. Cis always said
Nancy’s writing workshops were where she found her voice.

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend a visitation for Cissy on Saturday April 15, 2023, from 11-1pm in the CC Shepherd Funeral Home located at 134 Pleasant St (Columbian Sq.) Weymouth. A service for Cissy will take place immediately after the visitation in the funeral home. Cissy asked that family and friends wear bright colors if they choose. Hot pink was her favorite, but all colors are encouraged. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance.

Please visit Cissy’s tribute page at https://give.ocrahope.org/cissy. Checks
may be mailed to Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, PO Box 32141, New York, NY 10087-2141.

Jane Stevens
Publisher, ACEsTooHigh.com
Founder, PACEs Connection

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Trauma-Informed Money Management: ACE Score of 7+; Gaining Clarity in My Third Act (careysipp.com)

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedbook-review, book-reviews, books, fiction, writingcareysipp

Carey Sipp 7/24/174:56 PM

I almost felt slapped in the face – a wakeup slap; not a punishment – when I read Cissy White’s groundbreaking post describing her joy in finding out her “ACE score.”

Her writing about her elation at learning about the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study and questionnaire was an unintentional throw-down on her part. As I read her post I was compelled to reframe my shame, fear, and overall sense of dread about my own high ACE score. (Cissy has given me permission to use her name and to mention her writing.)

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Robert OlcottMember

Carey,

I’m quite certain that “Fore-Shortened Sense of the Future” PTSD ‘symptom’, was a ‘contributing factor’ in some of my own adolescent ‘Independent Living’ challenges, such as moving into my own apartment during my Senior Year of High School, after ‘couch surfing’ with friends, for a couple months. …

I wonder what in the World Health Organization’s ACE Screening Tool might address this, as it’s quite a bit more extensive than the CDC/Kaiser 8/10 question ACE Screening tool. It’s called the ‘WHO ACE International Questionaire’, and is available in over 100 languages on the WHO main page: lower Right corner-last time I checked.

7/25/174:53 PM

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Christine Cissy WhiteIt’s not trauma-informed unless it’s informed by trauma survivors.

Carey:

You bring up such an important topic and you write so well. It’s a little strange to read my name in your piece but if I helped provoke thoughts, feelings or writing in any way – that makes me so happy.

You wrote:

“Do you think, possibly, that people with high scores who have money issues could be spending money quickly because we think, on some deep level, we might not live to see the next day?” I asked.

Isn’t it cool how we get that aha awareness when curious and open and we feel safe? And when we feel we can talk and think and share about our actual issues and experiences? I think there’s so much freedom and relief in that even if we have to face uncomfortable stuff.

I can’t wait to learn more from you about trauma-informed approaches to money and security and finances!. Lots of us have been, will be or are in the same boat or one like it floating on the same ocean

Thanks for sharing. I love this passage, too.

It was a soul-searing moment, as I let what I had asked sink in. The resulting pain and my awareness of it led to the realization that I needed to do more work on my trauma issues and start managing my finances in a “trauma-informed” way, as I realized, on a deep level, that have been a fear-based spender and under-earner most of my life. How to get to the solution? Sometimes we have to look backward to go forward.

You are a beautiful writer and have so much insight, honesty, and passion. I’m glad writing and this page helped us get to know each other better. Thank you for helping all of us all better understand this issue.

THANK YOU!

Cissy

7/25/175:19 AM

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Trauma-informed policing: Learn how three highly experienced community leaders strengthen ties between police and community

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedbecky-haas, black-lives-matter, books, faith, fiction, george-flod, law-enforcement, life, mental-health, renee-wilson-simmons, tennesse-association-of-chiefs-of-policecareysipp

Carey Sipp 7/24/203:29 PM

ACEs initiative participants in communities where there is tension between the community and law enforcement will want to join Becky Haas in a compelling conversation on law enforcement, ACEs science, COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement and protests. Haas is a nationally recognized adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) science initiative builder and trainer. She and colleagues Renee Wilson-Simmons, the head of the ACE Awareness Foundation of Memphis, Tennessee, and Maggi Duncan, executive director of the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will share a vision of trauma-informed law enforcement and answer your questions on Friday, July 31 at noon PDT; 3 p.m. EDT.

Wilson-Simmons and Haas will discuss, among other topics, how parents are the key to preventing many ACEs, and give an in-depth look at the ACE Awareness Foundation’s signature program, Universal Parenting Places (UPP), where parents can receive professional counseling, information, and emotional support for family-related issues or concerns, no matter how small.

Haas and Duncan will discuss how their mutual passion to reduce childhood trauma has led to their work on behalf of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to launch, statewide, the Handle with Care (HWC) law, an innovative partnership with law enforcement and education.

In 2016, when Haas was working for the Johnson City Tennessee Police Department, staff was approached by HWC developer, Andrea Darr, about launching the program. Since Haas was simultaneously beginning to train her community about ACEs she knew that HWC was what they needed in her area of Tennessee, ravaged with opioid addiction, to help prevent trauma for children there.

Haas had started sharing ACEs science with her community shortly after learning about it in 2015. Getting the word about HWC was another step in a long path toward helping the state of Tennessee, and now communities throughout the United States, become more trauma-informed.

“When children have seen parents fighting, or acting out in other ways on drugs or alcohol, to the point that law enforcement comes to their home, these children are in no shape, emotionally, physically, or mentally, to perform at school the next day. This law helps prevent already traumatized kids from having to take tests or go through other stressors at school. There is little learning done when a child is not rested, fed, regulated, and connected to his or her teachers. This law is about not re-traumatizing already traumatized children, by forcing them to perform when they are wrung out and dysregulated,” Haas said.

“By having law enforcement communicating by email to the child’s school, with only the child’s name and the words ‘handle with care’ on the email, school administrators, teachers, and counselors now know to give a child who needs it some safe and nurturing space and time to rest and recover,” Haas said.

HWC was among many topics discussed when Haas and her partner in community building, Dr. Andrea Clements, a psychology professor at East Tennessee State University, hosted two governor’s wives, representatives from Tennessee and 20 other states at a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration forum (SAMHSA) forum in Johnson City in September 2018.

It was at that forum that several of Wilson-Simmons’ staff members from the ACE Awareness Foundation in Memphis shared about what they are doing with regard to the innovative UPP program, based on the work of international speaker Robin Karr-Morse, founder of “The Parenting Institute” based in Portland, Oregon.

Haas wanted to know more about this program with four sites in Memphis and one in Leland, Mississippi, and reached out to Wilson-Simmons.

During the webinar, Wilson-Simmons and Haas will discuss the work done by the ACE Awareness Foundation and the UPPs. She will also ask Wilson-Simmons to share the latest on the work the foundation is doing to develop a partnership with the City of Memphis to ensure that the city’s police officers and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are aware of ACEs and the important work of the UPPs, and are prepared to share information about the UPPs and make informal referrals to the UPPs.

Webinar participants will also be invited to ask Wilson-Simmons questions about the origin of the partnership, and her advice on how such a partnership might be replicated.

Haas and Duncan met at the 2018 Tennessee Governor’s Summit, where Haas was speaking. Fellow Summit attendees from the Office of Criminal Justice Programs introduced the two women and Duncan, knowing of Haas’ work in crime reduction and with the Johnson City PD, she knew she wanted her assistance when the time came. Duncan and the TACP have been providing training on the West Virginia HWC model for a few years but now were ready to look at launching HWC throughout Tennessee and asked Haas to help train law enforcement. This program of the Tennessee Association of Police Chiefs was set to begin this past spring, but was tabled, for now, by COVID-19.

Today Haas consults with leaders in law enforcement, juvenile justice, corrections, education, healthcare, and communities of faith. Her work to help create groundbreaking programs, including Building Strong Brains Tennessee and the Building a Trauma Informed System of Care toolkit, has led her to speaking and meeting officials throughout the country.

Haas and Duncan say that during the webinar they will talk about how HWC is a good starting point for community sectors such as education, police, and child services to begin working together to the benefit of all. They will also

Discuss the importance of police understanding trauma/ACEs science
Share tools to help reduce trauma on-scene for children
Give examples of trauma-informed policing and officer self-care
Paint a picture of some solutions for what has been happening in policing for the last couple of months, since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, including the worldwide protests against police brutality and for defunding police forces
Do a reality check on the challenges of taking trauma-informed policies into a police department
Share the benefits of what an informed partnership between officers of the peace could mean for officers and communities

Click here to register for the Trauma-Informed Policing webinar.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meetin…lI2bOoTcbYkz8_tuS_y2

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Tags: Becky Haas, Tennessee Association of Chiefs of polic, police chiefs, police, George Floyd, Protests, chiefs of police, Black Lives Matter, Building a Trauma Informed System of Car, law enforcement, ACEs Awareness Foundation, Strong Brains Tennessee

Baby courts: A proven approach to stop the multigenerational transmission of ACES in child welfare; new efforts to establish courts nationwide

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedbaby-courts, fiction, healing, infant-toddler-court, judge-lynn-tepper, mental-health, mimi-graham, parenting, traumacareysipp

Carey Sipp 7/31/203:20 PM

The organization Zero To Three estimates that in the U.S., a child is taken into the child welfare system every six seconds.

“Many of society’s most intractable problems can be traced back to childhood adversity. Being in the child welfare system increases the likelihood of more adversity and criminality. Baby court is a proven approach to healing the trauma of both child and parent, and breaking the cycle of maltreatment,” says Mimi Graham, Ed.D., director of the Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy.

Join us for “A Better Normal” on Friday, Aug. 7 at noon PDT/3 p.m. EDT, when Graham will be talking about Florida’s Early Childhood Courts with Lynn Tepper, retired Early Childhood Court judge from Florida’s Sixth Judicial Circuit. This timely conversation happens as the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to learn more about Infant-Toddler Courts in the proposed new Strengthening America’s Families Act (SAFA).

“Healing parent and early childhood trauma has many benefits across the lifespan,” Graham says. “The small investment early produces a huge savings, not only in child welfare but in reducing later mental and physical health issues, addictions, criminality, and other negative consequences associated with toxic childhood stress.”

Florida’s Early Childhood Court, fondly known as “baby court”, has three unique parts: a trauma educated judge who holds monthly hearings with families; a multidisciplinary team who meets monthly to encourage families in their case plan; and an infant mental health clinician who provides child-parent therapy to heal trauma and strengthen the relationship.

“This integration of therapy and supports increases the likelihood of reunification with parents, getting families out of the system faster, but more importantly, reducing recurrence of abuse. With this model, you’re healing the underlying issue, which, for a family with generations of ACEs, is one of the best things happening to stop the cycle,” says Graham.

A recent recipient of the Medal of Honor Award from the Florida Bar Foundation for children’s advocacy and for spearheading the creation of Florida’s Early Childhood Court, Graham says the early childhood work also reduces later criminality.

“Research shows that the biggest predictor of criminality is a history of child welfare, especially sexual abuse in that system. Addressing trauma early and increasing healthy relationships buffer the toxic effects of early adversity,” said Graham.

Joining Graham on the webinar will be Judge Lynn Tepper. Retired in 2018, Tepper had served on the bench for more than three decades, and has received wide recognition for her trauma informed courtroom and dedicated service to families.

Tepper says she appreciates the improvements that Early Childhood Court has brought to dependency courts, as many traditional dependency cases have children with multiple foster family placements, often with abrupt transitions, and with little or no consideration of the importance of attachment and trauma.

“In Early Childhood Court, that abrupt transition doesn’t happen,” says Graham. “The judge knows the value of a child having a healthy attachment with the parent, and the trauma caused by separations, so we strive for the first placement to be the only placement,” says Graham.

Tepper adds, “Now, together with a trauma-informed team, we see babies and parents through a trauma lens, and the multi-generational cycle of trauma that brought children into my courtroom, people who are now parents or defendants or even grandparents, has a chance to stop. Early Childhood Courts help individuals live with more hope than fear. These courts make it possible to end the cycle of parent and early childhood trauma with this generation.”

During the webinar, Graham and Tepper and will discuss more about:

The growth of the Early Childhood Courts movement in Florida
The science behind the baby courts
Outcomes of children who go through baby courts as compared to regular courts
New legislation to expand baby courts across the nation (Strengthening America’s Families Act).

To register for the webinar, please click here.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meetin…I5Vhu6W0EPqzNHhFJGRY

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IMG_0041: Judge Lynne Tepper and Dr. Mimi Graham, friends and colleagues in the work to prevent adverse childhood experiences by advancing the acceptance and spread of "baby courts."

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Tags: Safe Baby Courts, heal trauma, prevent trauma, trauma cycle, Baby Courts, Judge Lynn Tepper, Mimi Graham, Infant Toddler Court

The Emotional Toll of Racism (insidehighered.com)

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedemotional-toll, fiction, greta-anderson, history, life, politics, racism, writingcareysipp

Carey Sipp 10/26/2012:49 PM

By Greta Anderson, Inside Higher Education, October 23, 2020

Black students continuously experience, fight against and bear emotional scars from racism, which can lead to increased anxiety and poor mental health outcomes. Some colleges are just starting to address these issues.

Colbie Lofton’s first week of classes at Appalachian State University is sealed in her mind.

Lofton, who is Black, asked her macroeconomics professor a question during class and heard someone sitting behind her say, “I guess n****rs don’t understand.”

Lofton, “completely shocked” to hear a racial slur used so casually, said nothing, and neither did her professor, who Lofton said paused and appeared to have heard the comment. When the class ended, Lofton left, reeling from hurt, and went to a nearby bathroom to cry. She then returned to her dorm and confided in her roommate, but she said she didn’t report the comment to the university because she was not aware of the process to do so.

That 2018 incident was a marker for other racial incidents that would follow at the predominantly white campus in North Carolina and leave Lofton without any illusions about the deep prejudices that some students on campus have against Black people. She has felt “out of place” ever since and hyperaware of her surroundings, which has taken a toll on her mental health.

“That is a story that continues to sit with me,” said Lofton, who is now a junior.

She is not alone. Black students at many predominantly white colleges have long complained of the racial hostility, subtle and blatant, that they regularly encounter on their campuses. Whether victims of constant microaggressions or outright verbal or physical assaults, many have stories of being called a racial slur directly or seeing it scrawled on a campus wall, viewing racist posts by classmates on social media, or sitting through a presentation by a classmate professing a white supremacist conspiracy. The incidents were the focal points of protest movements and demands for change for several years, but the calls for action seemed to reach a crescendo this year as Black students at colleges across the country repeatedly called for college administrators to condemn and address racism on their campuses.

(To read more, please click here.)

Carey Smith Sipp

carey.pacescommunites@gmail.com

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ACEs Changemaker matching grant campaign and year-end updates: We’re at the half-way mark!

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedaces-connection, books, donors, fiction, fundraising, health, jane-stevens, reading, writingcareysipp

Carey Sipp 12/15/205:12 PM

“We are grateful for your support,” said members of the ACEs Connection staff on a recent “all staff Zoom call”. L-R (top row) Laurie Udesky, Carey Sipp, Gail Kennedy, Lara Kain (second row) Cissy White, Rafael Maravilla, Donielle Prince, Jenna Quinn (third row) Ingrid Cockhren, (off camera) Alison Cebulla, Jane Stevens. Out that day, and grateful all the same, were Karen Clemmer, Dana Brown, Elizabeth Prewitt, Marianne Avari, and Samantha Sangenito

‘Tis the giving season, and as of mid-December ACEs Connection is at the halfway mark — $25,000 — toward our goal of raising $50,000 in donations to match the contribution of a generous funder.
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“We are thrilled that our community has responded so generously to our requests for donations,” said Jane Stevens, founder and publisher of ACEs Connection. “Your gift is important because If we raise $50,000 in member donations, a generous anonymous donor will match the amount, dollar for dollar, so your gift will be doubled.”

More than 110 members of ACEs Connection have used the online giving option to make their donation. Gifts have ranged in size from $1000 to $5. As Stevens says, “No gift is too small. Our matching gift donor is looking at this as another way to build community, in addition to our ability to raise the $50,000, so I want members to know that a gift in any amount is appreciated.”

While ACEs Connection staff will be taking a break during the holiday season — our Daily Digest and Weekly Roundup will go on hiatus until Jan. 4, 2021 — our online donation option remains active.

“We want to model what a trauma-informed organization looks like by truly taking some well-deserved time off during the holiday season,” said Stevens,

“This year proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is at the nexus of the loss of life during the pandemic, the racism driving civil unrest, and the wrenching fear, poverty and despair experienced by millions due to the economic downturn,” said Stevens.

“We have been out front during this time. Our staff has been posting reports on the ACEs, resilience, the pandemic, racism, and poverty from every corner of our nation and the world. We’ve been gathering the stories from your communities; researching and reporting the data that show how being a person of color and living in poverty — both environmental ACEs — has disproportionately affected Black, Latinx and Indigenous people,” Stevens added.

In March, ACEs Connection responded to the popular question of “When will things get back to normal?” by saying “We need a better normal.” “The normal we had wasn’t working for most people in the U.S. So, we created ‘A Better Normal’ webinar series to shine a light on the problems being surfaced by the pandemic and the death of George Floyd so that we could share solutions, expertise from our vast community of members, and hope,” said Stevens.

“We hosted more than 65 webinars over the last nine months, in addition to several more on starting and growing ACEs initiatives, the Community Resiliency Model. Of those, 27 ‘Better Normals’ focused on re-imagining education in our ‘Education Upended’ series,” said Stevens.

In addition, the ACEs Connection “community of communities” has grown during the pandemic, now totaling 348 geographic communities and some 40 interest-based communities.

“In short, it has been a demanding year. We’ve grown our membership base to almost 49,000 members, and added to our followers on YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook and Instagram.

We’ve worked hard on reporting about policy and advocacy, science and community successes. It’s time for us to practice what we preach and take a rest, and we encourage members to take time to rest and recover from the challenges this year brought, too, if possible.” said Stevens.

ACEs Connection will share its last Weekly Update for the year Wednesday, December 16, and its last Daily Digest on Friday, December 18.

“The website will be up and monitored. It is likely that members will continue to post, and that despite time off, some staff will be compelled to post updates as well,” said Stevens. Further, “The matching grant campaign will be extended to January 31, 2021, so we will start the new year with new videos and stories on why our supporters support us.”

For those of you who would like to mail a check, here is that information:

Please make the check out to TSNE (For Third Sector New England, our fiscal partner) and on the “for line” please note “for ACEs Connection.” The address to send the check is

Christine Carreiro
ATTN: ACEs Connection
TSNE MissionWorks
89 South Street
Suite 700
Boston, MA, 02111

If you would like to post a two-to-three minute video about “Why I support ACEs Connection,” you are invited to do so. If you’d like to make a video, please use Zoom to record it, and email it to Carey Sipp at csipp@acesconnection.com, for review and posting after January 4, 2021. Please put “Why I Support” video in the subject line of the email.

Speaking on behalf of the ACEs Connection staff, Stevens said: “We wish all of you health, peace and happiness as 2020 draws to a close. We know that 2021 will be a better year.”

____________________

To make a donation, please click here.

See “Why I support ACEs Connection” videos including those by:

Christopher Freeze
Kelly Purcell
Rebecca Lewis-Pankratz
Adriana Van Altvorst

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Mississippi judiciary trains on the power of hope, inspiring Youth Courts judges and staff

August 9, 2026Uncategorizedbooks, fiction, mental-health, politics, writingcareysipp

Carey Sipp 4/15/218:11 AM

Dr. Chan Hellman, leading researcher in the power of hope to improve lives of impoverished children and families who have experienced abuse and neglect, Justice Dawn Beam, and Christopher Freeze, co-chair of Mississippi ACEs Connection, on day three of presentations by Hellman to judges and staff members of Mississippi’s Youth Courts.

“Hope is a better predictor of college success than the ACT or the SAT score” was one of the startling comments made by Chan Hellman, Ph.D., in the first of three trainings on the Power of Hope shared with members of the Youth Courts in Mississippi this week.

Hellman is a leading researcher in the power of hope to improve the lives of impoverished children and families who have experienced abuse and neglect. And the court-focused training programs where he presented are themselves a hope realized by Justice Dawn Beam, co-chair of the state’s Commission on Children’s Justice.

The 1,200 employees taking the one-day training work with abused and neglected children in the Youth Courts. Sessions were scheduled for Pearl, Oxford, and Gulfport.

“There is this real thirst for how we can make systemic change in our state,” Justice Beam said as she introduced Hellman at the first session.

Participants included judges and court staff, Department of Child Protection Services leaders and social workers; Department of Education school attendance officers; and representatives from the Department of Human Services, the Department of Mental Health, and various child advocacy centers and service providers. Youth Court teams from each jurisdiction will participate as groups in the interactive training.

Resident Jurist John N. Hudson of Natchez, who is among the staff helping to lead the training, said that hope needs to be infused from the top down in all Youth Court settings. “We want everything that touches this court to be hope-centered – on the juvenile delinquency side, on the child protection side – so that when we bring those social workers into the courtroom, when we bring those juvenile counselors in the courtroom, their message is: We are about hope here.”

Hellman, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a professor of social work at the University of Oklahoma and director of The Hope Research Center. His research is focused on hope as a psychological strength, helping children and adults overcome trauma and adversity. He is the co-author of the book “Hope Rising: How the Science of Hope Can Change Your Life.”

His approach includes teaching people to do three things:

set desirable goals
identify viable pathways to goals, finding solutions to the problems that stand in the way
maintain the willpower to pursue those goals.

“Hope is the belief that the future will be better, and you have the power to make it so,” Hellman said. Here are other highlights of his remarks:

Imagination is the instrument of hope.
Hope begets hope.
Increased hope is an indicator of well-being.
The opposite of hope is apathy.
We can teach and nurture hope.

The collective hope of a group is a predictor of a group’s ability to achieve goals.
The biggest thing we can do for children is to let them know they matter.

The program agenda and training material are available here.

The Commission on Children’s Justice established Programs of HOPE to continue to address child neglect prevention. The idea is to create pathways of hope for children and families.

“We are committed to help them improve their lives,” Justice Beam said. “We believe this is possible one person, one family, one community at a time.”

The presentations are part of the Court Improvement Program. The programs are sponsored by the Commission on Children’s Justice and Casey Family Programs in cooperation with the Mississippi Judicial College.

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Tags: Administrative Office of Courts, Judiciary, Christopher Freeze, Mississippi ACEs Connection, Abused Children, Hope Rising, Mississippi PACEs Connection

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‘Girls on the Brink’ — next choice for upcoming PACEs Connection book study – available in “indie bookstores” for a discount!

August 8, 2026Uncategorizedbook-review, book-reviews, books, fiction, readingcareysipp

Carey Sipp 9/13/221:46 PM

“Girls on the Brink: Helping Our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression, and Social Media”, published today, is available at a pre-launch discount of up to $1.96 (from the $28 cover price to $26.04) via independent bookstores.

The book is the seventh by Donna Jackson Nakazawa, acclaimed author, science journalist, international speaker and longtime friend of PACEs Connection.

Jackson will join PACEs Connection for our second “Connecting Communities One Book at a Time” book study webinar to discuss the book, why she wrote, it, and why it is so vitally important. The webinar is on October 12, 3-4:30 p.m. ET. Register for the webinar here, now!

To preorder the book and support local independent bookstores, use this link. The book is also available on Amazon Kindle for just $13.

PACEs Connection’s “Connecting Communities One Book at a Time initiative” brings communities together around books that help us have critical conversations about positive and adverse childhood experiences, racism, inequity, and how communities can prevent and heal trauma and create resiliency.

Praise for “Girls on the Brink”

“This is a brave and important book; the challenging stories—both personal and scientific—will make you think, and, hopefully, act.”

—Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, New York Times bestselling co-author of “What Happened to You?”

“Some books translate science into understandable language; some offer advice in the form of actionable steps; and some weave stories that grab you by the heart. This one—miraculously—does all three.”—Cara Natterson, MD, bestselling author of “The Care and Keeping of You 2” and “Decoding Boys”.

“A perceptive, informative examination of the problems young American girls face and how to change them . . . All of the author’s advice is sound, and her insights into how to start the process of change make this an important book for parents of girls.”—Kirkus Reviews

“The smart analysis and wealth of neuroscientific and psychological research adds nuance to public discourse around girls’ mental health. . . . Timely and incisive, this issues an acute warning that the kids are not alright.”—Publishers Weekly

From the book cover:

Anyone caring for girls today knows that our daughters, students, and girls next door are more anxious and more prone to depression and self-harming than ever before. The question that no one has yet been able to credibly answer is “Why?”

Now we have answers. As award-winning writer Donna Jackson Nakazawa deftly explains in Girls on the Brink, new findings reveal that the crisis facing today’s girls is a biologically rooted phenomenon: The earlier onset of puberty mixes badly with the unchecked bloom of social media and cultural misogyny. When this toxic clash occurs during the critical neurodevelopmental window of adolescence, it can alter the female stress-immune response in ways that derail healthy emotional development.

About the author:

Donna Jackson Nakazawa is an award-winning science journalist and author of seven books. Her work explores the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and human emotion; her mission is to explore the science of the mind-body connection and harness it for healing.

Nakazawa’s other books include “The Angel and the Assassin: The Tiny Brain Cell That Changed the Course of Medicine” named one of the best books of 2020 by Wired magazine; “Childhood Disrupted”, a finalist for the Books for a Better Life Award; and “The Last Best Cure”.

Her writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers including Wired, The Boston Globe, Stat, The Washington Post and Health Affairs. She has appeared on The Today Show and National Public Radio, and is a regular speaker at universities, including the Harvard Division of Science Library Series, Rutgers University, the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, the Peace & Justice Institute, Learning and the Brain, and Johns Hopkins University.

For her writing on health and science, she received the AESKU lifetime achievement award and the National Health Information Award.

Nakazawa is also the creator and founder of the narrative writing-to-heal program, “Your Healing Narrative”, which uses a process called Neural Re-Narrating™ to help participants recognize and override their brain’s old thought patterns and internalized stories to create a new, more powerful, inner healing narrative that calms the body, brain, and nervous system.

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Register now! Oct. 12, 2022—Connecting Communities One Book at a Time webinar with Donna Jackson Nakazawa on “Girls on the Brink: Helping our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression and Social Media”

August 8, 2026Uncategorizedbook-review, book-reviews, books, fiction, readingcareysipp

Carey Sipp 10/4/229:45 AM

October 12, 2022, from 3-4:30 p.m. ET Register now!

Meet longtime friend of PACEs Connection and award-winning author, science journalist, and international speaker Donna Jackson Nakazawa as she shares insights and findings from her newest book, “Girls on the Brink: Helping our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression and Social Media”. Her seven books explore the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and human emotion, and are in 12 languages.

Register now to join our conversation with Nakazawa and be sure to invite your friends so we can all learn how to support our daughters, sisters, nieces, students, and friends in this stressful and toxic time for girls. You can also learn how to lead your own book study.

PACEs Connection’s Connecting Communities One Book at a Time initiative brings communities together around books that help us have critical conversations about positive and adverse childhood experiences, racism, inequity, and how communities can prevent and heal trauma and create resiliency.

Praise for “Girls on the Brink”

“This is a brave and important book; the challenging stories—both personal and scientific—will make you think, and, hopefully, act.”

—Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, New York Times bestselling co-author of “What Happened to You?”

From the book cover:

About the author:

Nakazawa’s other books include “The Angel and the Assassin: The Tiny Brain Cell That Changed the Course of Medicine”, named one of the best books of 2020 by Wired magazine; “Childhood Disrupted”, a finalist for the Books for a Better Life Award; and “The Last Best Cure”.

For her writing on health and science, she received the AESKU lifetime achievement award and the National Health Information Award.

For more information about the Connecting Communities One Book at a Time initiative, please contact Carey Sipp, PACEs Connection’s director of strategic partnerships at csipp@pacesconnection.com

Registration for this Zoom webinar is through eventbrite.