Adverse Childhood Experiences, Trauma, and Trauma-Informed Care: Capacity Building Towards Resilience- Members Only Training

This full-day training will discuss the landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study, how ACEs and other trauma can impact health across the life course, and how individuals and communities can utilize resilience to combat these effects and thrive.

The course will open with a discussion on the landmark ACEs study, which highlights the link between childhood trauma and later health outcomes such as heart disease and cancer. It will also examine the role of community, structural, and historical traumas- such as racism, sexism, and poverty- in individuals’ physical, mental, and social health.

Participants will learn about the “biology of adversity”, including neuroscience and epigenetics, which tells us why ACEs and trauma can be so powerful. Using discussion and a series of activities, learners will be able to verbalize how trauma impacts the brain, and potentially life course, of an individual, and how many current racial, economic, and other social structures exacerbate or create trauma themselves.

Participants will then learn what they can do to promote resilience, recovery, and thriving communities within their work. They will also discuss what socially-just, trauma-informed capacity building looks like in domestic violence prevention and response, and best practices for a variety of sectors.