Please join top researchers and leaders in the movement to create Neuro Nurturing Ecosystems in support of maternal, infant, family and community health TODAY, March 14th, for an information-packed webinar co-sponsored, in part, by PACEs Connection and its fiscal sponsor, the National Prevention Science Coalition.REGISTER now to attend this free webinar, the second in a series that has received scores of five-star reviews.National leaders in early relational health, health equity, and more will share on the importance of Neuro-Nurturing infants to support positive pathways to health and wellbeing and preventing and healing trauma. We will also hear the latest on the Black Birthing Initiative led by Creating Healthier Communities (CHCImpact.org)This webinar shares valuable information on practical strategies for community coalitions to be part of a national (and international) movement that can influence the health and wellbeing of a population of healthier babies across the lifespan.Click to below to learn more about the expert presenters and webinar details.
Compelling research indicates that improvements in infant neurodevelopment and Early Relational Health (ERH) could reduce the need for massive amounts of future spending on healthcare, mental health services, and programs related to poverty or crime.
“Everyone wins when infants are nurtured in the environments and with connections that help them develop self-regulation, executive function, and the precursors to literacy and more advanced learning,”said Bill Barberg, longtime international public health consultant and lead coordinator of the series.“This webinar will share insights from top researchers and strategists about practical actions we can take to help individuals, neighborhoods, and communities adopt a wide range of Neuro-Nurturing practices and supports. “Now is the time to put the science we’ve learned into practice at the scale we need to improve the wellbeing of today’s infants and the future’s adults,” said Barberg.”Communities supporting pregnant women and new parents and caregivers in these natural, loving practices can help create entire populations of babies whose brains are nurtured for optimal health and development across the lifespan,” Barberg added.
Friday, March 14th, 2025 | 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Eastern TimeREGISTER*This briefing will be recorded and sent to all registrants.**While it is not necessary to view the first webinar in the series to get the value from this second webinar, we encourage you toview the recording from January 10th.
Register now for this free event on March 27Noon to 1pm EST!In the early months of the year, the Trump Administration introduced sweeping health policy changes with implications for nonprofits and community organizations. Shifts in federal funding, evolving agency priorities, and potential cuts to key health initiatives are raising big questions.CHC: Creating Healthier Communities invites all nonprofit and for-profit leaders to join a webinar March 27 from noon to 1 p.m. to learn more about
🔹 What these changes mean for funding and compliance 🔹 How nonprofits can adapt their messaging strategies 🔹 What challenges—and opportunities—lie ahead
Luke Hartig, a seasoned expert in policy and governance, will provide key insights. Jean Accius, president and CEO of Creating Healthier Communities (CHCImpact.org) will share updates on how CHC is navigating these shifts to continue improving community health.
This event is for nonprofit professionals at all levels—including those in development, communications, and leadership—who want to stay ahead of federal policy changes in this evolving landscape.
(L-R) Morgan Zehner of Creating Healthier Communities (CHC), Luke Hartig of Gravity Research, and Carey Sipp of CHC discuss funding sources and the importance of language in current government funding applications.
NOTE: During our Creating Healthier Communities (CHC) Board meeting in Alexandria, Virginia two weeks ago, I heard Hartig speak and answer questions about how to frame the work being done in communities and nonprofits during this time of heightened sensitivity to how the work is described. In my work at PACEs Connection and Creating Healthier Communities I see takeaways that may bode well for resilient communities with regard to how we frame our work. Specifically? While we know certain terms such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (for which we will continue to advocate at PACEs Connection) are words that can cause a negative response in this political climate, some words we use often to describe our work are in favor and will be seen as positive descriptors to potential funders and government agencies.
Words that may help communities gain traction include
– prevention
– health access
– holistic care
– rural supports and focus
Hartig will likely offer additional updates on the importance of word use in funding applications and more when we meet on Thursday. I hope you will register and join us!
Good news for the moment: your PACEs Connection social networking site is safe for another three months, through June, 2025, thanks to the generosity of a foundation that recently gifted PACEs Connection – via our fiscal sponsor, the National Prevention Science Coalition (NPSC) – with $10,000.
This covers for one quarter our largest expense – the fee for the learning management system (LMS) on which the social network lives.
Some of you may have noticed that on on March 6, service for PACEs Connection was interrupted by a glitch with our domain name services (DNS) provider, GoDaddy. There was a mixup on login and due date information during the asset transfer from our previous fiscal sponsor, TSNE, to our current fiscal sponsor, NPSC.
Fortunately, our learning management system, Crowdstack, provided a workaround uniform resource locator (URL) or web address, which is https://www.pacesconnection.com
You may still reach the site via our regular web address of pacesconnection.com.
In the meantime, our business plan is complete and has been well received.
The site is safe again until July 1, 2025, when the next payment of $9,534 is due. Starting this week (March 24, 2025), we are circulating the plan and looking for donors and corporate sponsorship. If you have suggestions, connections, or recommendations, please let us know!
How you can help.
Each time there has been a funding deadline, with help from you, our members, we’ve been able to nurture PACEs Connection forward and protect its valuable assets. This includes raising about $15,000 last November for a Crowdstack payment, and another $2,500 to pay for the Resources Center and its separate platform, LibGuides.
If you’ve made a donation during this challenging time, we are grateful to you. If you’ve not yet decided to make a monthly gift, or to make a one-time gift, we welcome your support now.
You are the most valuable part of PACEs Connection. We’d love the benefit of your thoughts via our PACEs Connection Members’ Survey
We hope you’ll make a donation and share information. Finding out how to make PACEs Connection more valuable to you and for you will help us engage more of our members in investing in the work of catalyzing, convening, connecting, and keeping alive the happenings and history of you, our members, and our movement.
To that end, we want to know what you want. Please share with us what you believe would help keep this movement moving forward, what’s important to you, what you would like to see more of, what you’d like for us to add to, and what you’re willing to invest on a monthly basis to help keep the work of PACEs Connection going.
Please invest about five minutes now to complete this brief survey, which gives you an opportunity to share ideas about how we could generate income. Here’s the link again: PACEs Connection Members’ Survey.
By this time next year, we’re hoping to have achieved sustainability.
Your gifts of time and treasure will help ensure you can still rely on PACEs Connection for updates, ways to connect with others doing the work in more than 500 geographic and topical communities, and our vast Resource Center.
If you’ve not visited the resource center, please check it out. It’s filled with decades of research on positive and adverse childhood experiences, the impact of positive childhood experiences (PCEs) and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and ways of preventing and healing ACEs; ways of promoting and amplifying PCEs.
With tremendous gratitude, Carey Sipp and Dana Brown
(Activation warning. This is a first-person opinion piece sharing my thoughts on toxic abusive relationships [TAR] and a relatively new 12-step program,TAR Anon, which offers free, solution-oriented, acceptance-based, and psychologically-safe Zoom meetings from 6-7 PM ET on Mondays and Wednesdays, and from 12 Noon-1 PM ET on Fridays. This is a warning regarding potentially activating language, so you can choose whether or not you wish to continue reading. Further, I extend the activation warning to the program’sTAR Tales, where TAR Anon members share their stories.)
If there are adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in your past, chances are good that you’ve been in a relationship with what Dr. Jamie Huysman, creator of the rapidly-growing 12-step program TAR Anon (Toxic Abusive Relationships Anonymous), calls a toxic abuser.
Huysman, a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and psychologist, is the founder and executive director of STAR Network Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which incudes TAR Anon® and several other programs.
The STAR Network™ is rising in myriad ways.
Hearing Huysman speak regularly in TAR Anon meetings since being introduced to him about six weeks ago, it’s clear to me that he lives the organization’s mission to educate, energize, and empower people by giving them access to programs such as TAR Anon.
Meeting Huysman’s team, attending the two-year-old STAR Network’s “Scars to STARs” global online conference in May, and seeing the impressive list of the organization’s allies provides further evidence of the energy and gravitas backing the campaign to raise worldwide awareness of and treatment for the millions of people “whose emotional reality has been distorted by TAR”.
Also heavily involved is mental health advocate, author, and former U.S. Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who delivered the keynote address at Scars to STARs Day. During his speech, Kennedy – who grew up with the trauma and tragedy of losing to two high-profile uncles to assassinations, family addictions including his mother’s alcoholism, and the intensity of a father who advocated for mental health parity while at the same time self-medicating his grief with alcohol – writes and speaks passionately about his own struggles with bipolar disorder and substance abuse.
This is NOT to say that all people with mental illness or substance abuse disorder are or become toxic abusers. Far from it. Though it has been my experience – and well documented in research and reporting – that when people are depressed, anxious, at the effect of a substance or addictive behaviors, or are experiencing the challenges of mental illness, harsh words, neglect, and addictive behaviors can be among the consequences faced by the troubled person with regard to their own self-talk, as well as proximate family members and friends.
What pushes irritability and lack of awareness of the impact of one’s negative behavior into a diagnosis such as narcissism, borderline personality disorder, or Cluster B personality, as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, 5th Edition (DSM-5) is a more consistent, pervasive, and intentional pattern of hurtful actions and personality traits that significantly impact relationships and the well-being of others.
TAR Anon is raising awareness of the prevalence of and solutions for these challenges.
Huysman shares in TAR Anon meetings that globally, approximately one-in-eight people have a personality disorder. Estimates in the U.S. are higher, with reports varying between being 10-15%. Regardless of the diagnosis assigned to the abuser, in the 12-Step TAR Anon meetings, the person in recovery from abuse is the most important person in the room.
As a person with an ACE score of nine, I can legitimately say there have been some toxic abusers in my life. I have been in therapy for Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) off and on for many years, and have the entire alphabet soup of different treatment methodologies in my recovery from early and ongoing relational trauma. My toolbox includes CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), IFS (Internal Family Systems Therapy), years of neurofeedback, two rounds of trans-cranial magnetic stimulation, countless hours of meditation, and a litany of different anonymous programs I will not share to protect my own anonymity, and the sanctity of the programs themselves.
With TAR Anon being a meeting ground for people from many different programs, or none, and toxic abusive relationships being evident in so many public places in our lives today, I am sharing information about this program and my involvement in it for the greater good.
Further, as TAR Anon is also a relapse prevention model that works well as a complement to all other 12-step programs, it can be used as a great primary or companion program.
Out of respect for the privacy of all people, and because dwelling on the past can be its own form of abuse, my toxic abusers will not be mentioned. It’s how I respond to myself and to them that is the most important aspect of this recovery.
Among the most important lessons learned from years of recovery and realizations that come with it, is that as an adult, I am not a victim and that my brain, and I, can change!
Looking back and realizing that even as a little kid I chose toxic friends, I see that the last 20 years have been way different and have given me great hope. Among the realizations that helped me change my thinking was learning that the brain has neuroplasticity — the ability to change throughout life.
This knowledge was and is incredibly freeing. I’ve seen the positive impact of changing my thought patterns, seeing clearly that I wasn’t stuck with the brain I was born with or had trained, as an infant and child by circumstance, to expect toxic inconsistency and unpredictability.
I learned to reparent myself and accept life-changing healing and support. Changing thought patterns is healing and life-changing, and many of the books, workbooks, and practices that have been so helpful to me over years of self-care are listed as resources in the thrice-weekly TAR Anon meetings, including The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, MD, and Complex PTSD, From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker.
I’ve also learned through years of therapy, recovery, neurofeedback, meditation, journaling, being in community with sane people who love me, purposeful work I love, exercise, singing in choirs, spirituality, reparenting myself, parenting my children, and spending time in nature, that these resiliency boosters and the right dose of an antidepressant have helped me rewire my brain.
I am now much better at discerning and avoiding toxic people and relationships. The best part of this shift is developing a growth mindset, which has actually helped me attract the kind of people and opportunities that bring me joy and healthy relationships.
Had TAR Anon existed years ago, I might have learned much of this sooner, not had to do so much research, and could have saved many thousands of dollars in therapy.
It is also said that TAR Anon is the only 12-step program whose primary purpose is to help people recover from attachment disorders and CPTSD.
Other important messages I believe one can take from the TAR Anon meetings:
For most toxic abusers, it’s not their fault. They may have been born into homes where inconsistency, lack of nurturing, unpredictable care, domestic violence, mental illness, substance abuse, physical, verbal, or sexual abuse, neglect, or the death or loss of a parent – resulted in their own anxious, preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant, or fearful-avoidant (disorganized) attachment styles.
This toxic environment led them to adapt to survive. Adaptations could include, but are not limited to manipulation, dishonesty, abuse, cruelty, and/or addictions to substances or behaviors. They may have seen their parents and caregivers model changing roles as persecutors, rescuers, and victims. The childhood adaptations that helped them survive made it harder for them to attach in a healthy way. That attachment style followed them into adulthood, where it wreaked havoc on the abuser themselves as well as the people with whom they had relationships.
And guess what? The same could be said for most victims of toxic abusers.
Sadly, to feel safe, many of us who grew up in chaos subconsciously recreate the familiar, even if what we are recreating is toxic.
Many of us reared in toxic environments fell into the abuser-rescuer-victim cycle until we got some help recognizing the pattern. If help was not available, we might have become or married alcoholics, become gamblers, spenders, workaholics, hoarders, or the type of over-achiever who lands in the hospital from exhaustion, illness, or an epic burnout. I’ve been there.
In over 31 years of 12-step work, I learned early on to take an inventory of my resentments and fears, seeking for my part in any situation where I had a conflict, and looking for the pattern of my behavior so I could help disrupt it. I have also learned the value of accepting input from others to disrupt destructive behavior patterns.
Gratefully, I also learned this in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) decades ago. In it, I was able to look at a situation and separate my thoughts, feelings, body sensations, and actions IN WRITING, so I didn’t collapse a story and miss the way I allowed my thoughts to create my emotions, the way I felt, and the way I reacted instead of responded. It’s true that if we knew how powerful our thoughts are, we would be very careful about what we choose to think about, or allow into our precious minds.
TAR Anon can help accelerate learning about complex or childhood post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) in an anonymous and psychologically-safe online environment, with caring and TAR Anon-trained meeting facilitators. TAR Anon leaders and attendees are people who are there to listen and support each other.
TAR Anon meetings teach us that we repeat behavioral patterns from early, insecure attachments because it is what we know – and on some level, it feels safe. Even sleeping on broken glass can feel familiar and safe if that is what you knew as an infant and child. In meetings, though, we see how we need to form new behaviors to leave destructive behaviors behind. Learning and forming new behaviors may come through “aha” moments – feeling emotions, learning to love ourselves, and recognizing and avoiding toxic people. These are steps on the path to greater well-being.
Among the saddest facts I’ve learned from studying ACEs science, the science of positive childhood experiences (PCEs), and early relational health, is that children living in emotionally toxic environments (what I call toxic intensity) will often learn adaptive behaviors to survive. Some of the behaviors that can become “hardwired” in infants and children include:
disassociating or disappearing themselves to avoid attracting the attention of an abuser;
becoming a caretaker and/or protector of a perpetrator or perpetrators;
people-pleasing to avoid conflict or punishment;
overachieving and perfectionism designed to evoke positive attention and praise;
eating for comfort and gaining weight and/or developing anorexia or bulimia to have a sense of control and/or to avoid attracting – consciously or subconsciously – sexual advances; or
becoming controlling and manipulative to create a sense of safety or being in control.
With early childhood trauma (ages zero to three), and no experience of consistent nurture, the developing brain can be so harmed by the toxic stress hormones of cortisol and adrenaline that its function and structure are affected. Some infants and toddlers are actually wired to be fearful, distrustful, isolating, and chaos-seeking instead of being trusting, curious, and connection-seeking. This is why I advocate for, write, and speak so much about the need for early relational health as the basis of health and well-being across the lifespan, and share this seminal video of Bruce Perry, MD, with “What Happened to You: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing” co-author Oprah Winfrey.
Though it is infinitely better to prevent toxic abuse by supporting pregnant women and new mothers and caregivers, their infants, and children to receive “neuro-nurturing” there is hope that people who have struggled with negative effects from a toxic childhood can find help and can change thought patterns. Factors are so variable though — severity of trauma, the environment, access to support and a sense of safety, exposure to positive childhood experiences, and on and on — one cannot make generalities about who can make such changes and to what degree. I only know what has worked for me and helped to lift me from multi-generational depression, abuse, and addiction, “one day at a time” dependent on my self and spiritual care.
The Hope of Recovery
I do believe there is hope for people who grew up in abuse as well as abusers who find their way into a 12-Step program, become willing to work a program, and who grow in the safety and acceptance of the program’s participants, because I have experienced and witnessed this over many years.
People can realize positive shifts in personality from programs including, but not limited to:
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) can help people who abuse substances see how their substance abuse affects their lives, families, and careers, and learn how to live “happy, joyous, and free” lives without the substance;
Adult Children of Alcoholics can help people who have grown up in relationships with addicted persons learn to reparent themselves by recognizing and practicing healthy behaviors (ACOA’s Yellow Workbook is terrific; working it with a friend from the program can be a game-changer.);
Al-Anon and Co-Dependents Anonymous (CoDA) can provide guidance and support for those in relationships with people who are addicted to substances or behaviors; or
Other anonymous groups addressing sex/love/romance addiction, over-spending, over-eating, and gambling can help abusers understand how these maladaptive behaviors may have started generations ago.
(Note: Addiction is often linked to likely epigenetic and genetic factors. In the interest of space and time, I am not addressing that topic here.)
As stated previously, I’ve been a member of multiple 12-Step programs; one for more than 30 years. Through the years the comfort, safety, security, friendships, and reparenting these programs have offered have helped me to rewire my brain. They have inspired and fueled me toward the designation I am most proud of in my life, that of Cycle Breaker.
I also believe the childbirth education (the Bradley Method) and early relational health support from the La Leche League I had, along with parenting classes, decades of therapy, journaling, 12-step meetings, and being blessed to have two precious children whom I swore would not grow up in the same toxic intensity as my brother and me, put me on the path to follow the steps I wrote about in my book, The TurnAround Mom: How an Abuse and Addiction Survivor Stopped the Toxic Cycle for Her Family – and How You Can, Too!
At the behest of one of the editors of this blog post, I am sharing a bit about my book. Its chapter titles offer a glimpse at some reparenting advice that worked for me, and incorporate so much of what I’ve learned over the years and attempted to crystalize and share in the book. I believe they also fit with what is being shared in TAR Anon. (Note: I don’t receive any income from the book and encourage you, if you wish to purchase it, to buy it used.)
Live a Life of Extreme Self-Care
Build a Strong Support Structure
Create a Sane and Strong Family Life
Establish and Keep Strong Boundaries
Make Better Decisions
Spend Your Precious Resources Wisely – Energy, Time, Money
Attract Healthy Relationships
Avoid Toxic Intensity
Practice Peace: Rushing is Abusive
Honor Your Family’s Future
All of this is to say: We don’t have to pass toxic behaviors on to our children. People can change. And I believe TAR Anon is a tool that can help anyone who has experienced ACEs begin a healing journey.
I believe that TAR Anon and the many programs the STAR Network is advancing can accelerate the change we want to see. And I believe this work will resonate with many here on PACEs Connection.
While I wish TAR Anon had been around earlier, I’m glad it’s here now and am thrilled to share it and reiterate that it meets online three times a week:
Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:00 – 7:00 PM Eastern Time and
Fridays from 12:00 Noon – 1:00 PM Eastern Time
While meetings are free, just as in any other 12-step meeting STAR Network Foundation accepts and gently encourages donations. The foundation is a 501 (c) (3) organization, so gifts are tax-deductible.
While attendees are required to register to join the virtual meetings, they do not have to share their real name or appear on video. Meetings are anonymous, and anonymity is practiced as an integral part of this program of recovery.
One final bonus to these meetings, and one that has been incredibly helpful to me.
Each meeting closes with breath work to help calm the central nervous system and help it go from the reactive, flight-fight-freeze-fawn state to a state of rest and digest, wherein we can access our thinking brain and not be run by our emotions. Instead, after just four rounds of breathing in for four seconds, holding the breath for seven seconds, and then blowing the breath out hard through the mouth for eight seconds — about 80 seconds in all — the nervous system and body shift to the “parasympathetic” or more relaxed state. The extended exhale helps slow the heart rate, lower blood pressure, and quiet the mind.
I know it has been a help to me. Since I started attending the meetings and practicing the 4-7-8 breath work, chronic painful stomach issues that have plagued me most of my life have lessened greatly.
Additional resources below include TAR Anon’s 12 steps, promises, and several of the videos found on the STAR Network Foundation’s Instagram page. New animations are added frequently.
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:
Special presentation and Q & A with Dr. Rebecca Bryan, Executive Director of the New Jersey Office of Resilience — Tuesday, May 12, 1:00 p.m. ET
For years, many of us in the PACEs science community have believed that positive childhood experiences — PCEs — are not just the other side of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The science tells us they are protective. They are preventive. And now, in a significant milestone for the science, PCEs are being measured as a part of the nation’s premier public health survey system.
“Essential, measurable, actionable”
PCEs, as an optional questions module, have been added to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), the world’s largest, ongoing, state-based telephone survey system. Conducted since 1984 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), BRFSS data is gathered in partnership with state health departments, and tracks health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services.
Measuring PCEs was first adopted by Wisconsin in 2015, and have since been included in at least five other states’ surveys in recent years. In addition to Wisconsin, states using all seven PCE items are Kansas, Montana, South Carolina, and New Jersey. Tennessee and California have added at least one PCE item.
“…gathering population-level data on the experiences that protect and heal — not just the ones that harm.’
“What’s important and exciting about PCEs being measured in the BRFSS is that, for the first time, we are gathering population-level data on the experiences that protect and heal — not just the ones that harm,” said Rebecca Bryan, DNP, NP, Executive Director of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families Office of Resilience. “It is a milestone for the science — and a signal that policymakers and public health leaders are beginning to see PCEs for what the research has long shown them to be: essential, measurable, and actionable.”
On Tuesday, May 12, at 1:00 p.m. ET, Bryan will join PACEs Connection’s monthly Community Manager and Cooperative of Communities meeting to share what this means — and what it can mean for communities across the country.
About Rebecca Bryan, DNP, NP
As the Executive Director of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families Office of Resilience, Dr. Bryan’s role puts her at the forefront of translating PACEs science into policy and practice at the state level. A former primary care nurse practitioner with decades of experience, she is certified in Adult Learning and Lakeside Global Institute’s Trauma Competency, well-published in healthcare journals, a former adjunct professor, and a veteran of both the New Jersey and Philadelphia ACEs Task Forces.
Her compelling personal journey to “the root of why.”
“I do this work because it gets to what I like to call ‘the root of why,'” said Dr. Bryan. “As a former primary care NP, I had trusting, safe relationships spanning 16 years with adult patients — and yet could not get to root causes of issues like tobacco addiction, severe anxiety, and morbid obesity. I was never taught to screen for ACEs,” she said.
Her work with youth in Camden, New Jersey deepened that conviction. “I worked with kids who could write — and deliver at a SLAM (Synthesis, Literacy, Arts, Media poetry event)— deeply wise poetry, yet would get suspended and would have difficulty retaining new knowledge. ACEs science explained all of it,” she said.
Knowing ACEs was not enough: “Identities rooted in trauma.”
“Focusing solely on ACEs can lead to an identity rooted in trauma,” Dr. Bryan said. “PCEs co-exist with ACEs, have a mitigating impact on risks conferred by ACEs, and the body of research since 2019 is clearly demonstrating PCE impact on adult health and well-being. PCEs show us what to do — and create space to ask questions like, ‘What are the barriers to children experiencing safe and stable nurturing relationships?,'” she said.
Her image of that interplay is striking: “I have this image of childhood adversity landing in a nest of PCEs — which are a proxy for relational health — and the PCEs having the power to prevent adversity from embedding as trauma,” she said.
(Graphic – mezzosolutions.com)
Dr. Bryan will share data from the HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) research initiative at Tufts Medical Center, one of the leading bodies of work advancing our understanding of how positive experiences shape health and well-being across the lifespan.
About the Meeting
The PACEs Connection Community Manager and Cooperative of Communities monthly meeting brings together community managers for updates on PACEs Connection, PACEs communities, PACEs science, and the broader movement to prevent and heal childhood trauma worldwide. Meetings are one hour and held monthly.
Community managers and others who would like to attend are invited to email Dana Brown with their email address to be added to the list of invitees at dana.pacescommunities@gmail.com. Please put “PACEs Monthly Meeting” in the subject line.
WHAT: PACEs Connection Community Manager & County-wide Cooperative of Communities Facilitators Monthly Meeting featuring Dr. Rebecca Bryan TOPIC: Positive Childhood Experiences — What the Science Shows, What the Data Tells Us, and Why It Matters Now WHEN: Tuesday, May 12, 2026 | 1:00 p.m. ET WHERE: Virtual — by invitation RSVP: Email Dana Brown at dana.pacescommunities@gmail.com or carey.pacescommunities@gmail with your email address to receive the meeting link.
(Originally posted on PACEs Connection May 25, 2026)
At a certain time each day, all world leaders are introduced to one of their newest constituents.
A young mother or perhaps a grandmother or father hands a sleeping newborn to each leader, who then sits quietly, holding the baby and feeling the weight of this new life in his or her arms. Perhaps there are no words spoken other than the name of the child, and where, in their mutual home nation, the baby is from.
There is only one photographer present. It is a quiet, solemn, awe-filled time — for about 20 minutes — for each of these leaders each day.
At the end of the 20 minutes of each leader holding the baby, studying his or her new face, feeling the warm breath of this new life, watching the tiny chest go up and down as they share space, time, and air — what a time this would be — each leader would carefully place their respective baby back into the waiting arms of his or her eager caregiver.
This could be a global oxytocin reset.
(Oxytocin is called the love hormone. People create it when they feel love. It is in all mammals and strengthens connection and bonding.)
This daily ritual could be global moments of regulation and consistent care — for the infants and the leaders, and ultimately, I believe, the planet, our fragile island home.
It would be care for each leader to have his or her central nervous system reset by stopping in the midst of whatever global crisis to breathe with, rock, or sway, and hold a part of the future for which he or she is responsible —in their hands.
I’ve dreamed of this idea for years. Just haven’t ever put it out here for people to react or respond to.
This Memorial Day, with so much global crisis and angst over wars, fuel, climate change, inequity, famine, disease, and on and on, it seemed like the right time to share this idea in print.
Perhaps it is because my family is expecting a little one.
This is the first grandchild for me. And I am praying for a safe and joyous arrival for his precious mother and father, and him. And am thus reflective and wishing the world were more welcoming.
And I am thinking of whether or not, if I were young again and of childbearing age, whether I would trust today’s global leaders to hold my newborn for 20 minutes? Much less hold their fate for a lifetime.
Perhaps if all leaders agreed to do this, and I were randomly chosen to share my child for 20 minutes on Day 321 of the “Global Reset Movement”, I could do it.
And I do believe posting photos of world leaders each day, faithfully honoring this global commitment, could someday replace the photos of war, of flag-draped coffins being met at airports, of another row of graves.
Carey Sipp 3/14/2510:30 AM
