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Resources for Communities
Healing-Centered Resources for Communities
- ACE Interface Train the Master Trainer Program
The ACE Interface Train the Master Trainer Program is designed to support rapid dissemination of ACE and resilience science, and promote understanding and application of the science to improve health and wellbeing across the lifespan. In less than a year, the Master Trainer Program enables delivery of ACE information to diverse communities--with fidelity to science and concepts--to tens of thousands of people.
- ACEs Toolkit: Strengthening our Native Communities: How Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences Can Help, 2019
Native communities face many challenges. Too often the strengths of families are strained by these challenges, and finding effective ways to support our families can be difficult. This toolkit gives ACEs information and resources specific to native communities.
- Adverse Childhood Experiences and Suicide Prevention Rapid Response Training & Technical Assistance Tools
Through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Prevention Institute has partnered with the National League of Cities and UC San Francisco to offer training and tools to local government and their partners in supporting their communities.
- Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Toolkit - Emerging Minds, 2020
This toolkit contains information, advice and practical tools for individuals and professionals who work with, or care for, children who have had adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The resources in this toolkit are grouped according to differing professional and personal contexts in which ACEs issues may arise. The aim of these resources is to support individuals’ and professionals’ understandings of ACEs and their impacts, and to facilitate the building of children’s resilience to avoid these negative impacts.
- Adverse Community Experiences and Resilience: A Framework for Addressing and Preventing Community Trauma, 2016
This report, funded by Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit in Northern California and based on interviews with practitioners in communities with high rates of violence, offers a framework for understanding the relationship between community trauma and violence. Outlined are specific strategies to address and prevent community trauma and foster resilience using techniques from those living in affected areas.
- The Alberta Family Wellness Initiative Brain Story Certification
The Brain Story, which puts scientific concepts into a narrative that is salient to both expert and non-expert audiences, is a free course from leading experts that will teach you about the science and significance of early experiences and their impact on lifelong health. The Brain Story synthesizes decades of research and reflects a body of knowledge that experts agree is useful for policy makers and citizens to understand.
- 30 Hours of instruction time
- Video of over 30 leading experts in neurobiology and mental health
- Certification in Brain Story science
- Building A Trauma Informed System of Care toolkit
Building A Trauma Informed System of Care toolkit is based upon the work of the Northeast Tennessee ACEs Connection group and its many partners since 2015, including Betsy Haas. This document details efforts by the Northeast Tennessee ACEs Connection group to set up System of Care partners as it has raised regional awareness to the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and how to reduce the effects of childhood trauma by building more resilient communities. These lessons can be used to help accelerate the work going on in many cities by tireless ACEs champions!
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Technical Packages for Violence Prevention: Using Evidence-based Strategies in Your Violence Prevention Efforts, 2019
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed technical packages to help states and communities take advantage of the best available evidence to prevent violence. Technical packages are available in English and Spanish to address the following areas:
- Developing a Trauma- and Resilience-Focused Accountable Community for Health (ACH) Considerations for a Comprehensive Approach, 2016
This brief explores the potential of multi-sector initiatives to address trauma and increase resilience at a community scale. The ways in which trauma affects health, the potential of an ACH approach, and key considerations for the design and implementation of ACH-type initiatives focused on trauma and resilience are described.
- Faith-Based Communities Resources from Iowa ACEs 360
Faith communities and leaders equipped with an understanding of the impact of toxic stress can make profound progress not only in lessening poor health and social outcomes but also in preventing exposure to toxic stress by supporting individuals and families.This site has handouts, guides, and resources for people in the faith community.
- Framework to Reduce Criminalisation of Young People in Residential Care, 2020
This paper from the Department of Health and Human Services in State of Victoria, Melbourne makes a case for change for young people and especially Aboriginal young people in residential care. The paper discusses a framework and action plan to reduce criminalization of young people in residential care and a decision-making guide to respond to behaviors of concern.
- FUTURES Without Violence
For more than 30 years, FUTURES has been providing groundbreaking programs, policies, and campaigns that empower individuals and organizations working to end violence against women and children around the world. FUTURES without Violence trains professionals such as doctors, nurses, judges, and athletic coaches on improving responses to violence and abuse. The organization also works with advocates, policymakers, and others to build sustainable community leadership and educate people everywhere about the importance of respect and healthy relationships.
- Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Young People by the Trevor Project
An introductory educational resource that covers topics and best practices on how to support transgender and nonbinary young people.
- Healing Together
Healing Together equips everyday leaders with skills in mental health and healing to build resilient communities and disrupt cycles of trauma and harm. Our popular education approach equips communities with culturally responsive resources, backed by science and indigenous wisdom, and includes psychoeducation, somatic awareness and practice, mindfulness, cultural healing practices, expressive arts and play therapy, peer counseling, emotional first aid, group therapy and healing circle practice, social rehabilitation, and transformative justice theory and practice. Workshops and circles are available.
- HOPE – Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences Workshops and Trainings
HOPE represents a paradigm shift in how we see and talk about the positive experiences that support children’s growth and development into healthy, resilient adults. The four building blocks of HOPE are relationships, environment, engagement, and opportunities for social emotional development. The HOPE National Resource Center has introductory, intermediate, and advanced trainings that can be delivered virtually or in-person.
- Hope Starts Here - Detroit's Community Framework for Brighter Futures, 2017
This document describes a year-long community engagement process focused on giving every child in Detroit a strong start, develop a community framework, and inspire action to implement the framework.
- Iowa ACEs 360 Trainings
Iowa ACEs 360 offers opportunities to dive deeper into learning about the ACEs research and applying it to specific sectors, such as education and healthcare.
- Origins Training & Consulting
Origins offers training and consulting for organizations and communities to integrate resilience and trauma-informed practices based on the science of adverse childhood experiences. Origins provides training to executives, management and supervisors, direct service professionals and para-professionals, caregivers, and community members across sectors.
- Path to a Just Society
You're invited to add your logo to this infographic developed by the Race and Equity workgroup of PACEs Connection to help foster a common language and identify common points along the path to a just society. Use the infographic to gauge where you are, where you want to be, and what’s needed to get to the next level of integrating practices and policies based on the science of positive and adverse childhood experiences (PACEs). You can use the tool as a starting point for conversations and actions to accelerate the PACEs science movement in your community as you work to prevent and heal trauma and help individuals, families, organizations, systems and communities—our world—toward reaching a just society, where all people flourish.
- Preventing and Mitigating the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) by Building Community Capacity and Resilience: The ACEs Public–Private Initiative Cross-Site Evaluation Findings, 2016
These materials present final findings of the ACES Public Private Initiative (APPI) evaluation. This evaluation examined efforts of 5 Washington state communities to reduce toxic stress due to ACEs, build resilience among youth, and improve child and adult well-being.
- Research and Resources from Iowa ACEs 360
This website has resources you can use to learn more about ACEs and response strategies, including training resources, assessments, messaging, and information that may be useful for developing presentations.
- Roadmap to Resilience
Roadmap to Resilience guides the listener through specific, trauma-informed approaches to supporting children and their families. Created by a task force of international child trauma experts, the collection of free resources provides practical, accessible, and timely digital content (16-episode audio series and 40+ short videos) for all who care for kids. These tools can be used by mental health providers, medical or nursing professionals, parents, lawyers, social workers, and caring community members to advocate for and support children. The resources are free and available for download, use, and dissemination.
- RYSE Center Listening Campaign, 2016
This paper describes RYSE's efforts to emphasize youth voice, experience, and meaning-making, as well as to enhance youth engagement and community participation.
- Self-Healing Communities: A Transformational Process Model for Improving Intergenerational Health, 2016
The Self-Healing Community Model, a comprehensive model of building community capacity in Washington State, helped make dramatic reductions in rates of health issues and social problems. The model developed strong networks that promoted much greater collaboration across sectors, empowered local leadership and nurtured sector leaders to think about whole systems, used data to decide how and where to focus efforts and to learn from what was working, and made visible changes that helped to instill a real sense of hope in communities that had given up on the prospect of a better world for their children.
- Sesame Street in Community
This website has many resources for kids and parents in three areas: Difficult Times & Tough Talks; Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds; ABC’s & 123’s (school readiness), and click on a topic for tons of resources that help kids (and parents!) with what matters most in young lives: health and wellness, social-emotional skills, and school readiness. All are critical to children’s healthy development…and together they build the foundation for a happy, healthy life. The tools provided by the initiative present universal coping strategies that help children feel safe and become more resilient in a range of situations.
- Socially Connected Communities: Solutions for Social Isolation, 2021
Using lessons learned from the healthy communities movement, the Social Isolation Learning Network co-created this report to help reframe the national conversation toward one that recognizes the root causes of, and systemic solutions to, social isolation. This report seeks to inspire and equip all readers—especially grantmaking organizations and local government leaders—to intentionally redesign community-level systems to support meaningful social connections. Complementary Action Guides that local government and community leaders and grantmaking organizations can use as tailored supplements to the first version of this report are also available. Future versions may expand beyond these two groups.
- Strategies 2.0 Resources, 2020
Resource page of Strategies 2.0 with links to webinars and recordings for Child Abuse Prevention Councils, Lessons In Disaster Recovery, Strategies 2.0 Building Community Resilience Toolkit, Strategies 2.0 Knowledge to Action Briefs, and more.
- VetoViolence: Resources for Violence Prevention from the CDC
The VetoViolence website from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tools and trainings on violence prevention programs and practice, such as how to address risks shared by different forms of violence or how to effectively build partnerships. Each tool and training will equip you with a unique set of skills that can bolster your work to stop violence before it starts. The site also has links to prevention information on the following topics: child abuse and neglect, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, suicide, youth violence, social norms, and violence prevention fundamentals. The Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences trainings will help you understand, recognize, and prevent ACEs. You’ll learn about risk and protective factors, outcomes associated with ACEs, and evidence-based strategies you can use to reduce or eliminate the impact of ACEs and stop them from occurring in the first place.
- Vital Village Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) Playbook
The NOW Playbook is a resource guide designed to provide tools for local leaders, community coalitions and networks, educators, practitioners, and policymakers working to promote the wellbeing of children and families, advance equity, and align systems of care and education in early childhood.
- Working Toward Well Being: Community Approaches to Toxic Stress, 2016
This webinar from the Center for the Study of Social Policy discusses a framework of community approaches to toxic stress and how cities and counties can use the framework to improve the well-being of their youngest residents.
