This policy brief examines the impact of ACEs in the justice system including promising practices and recommended actions for change. The brief was developed by members of the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative—system leaders in Illinois who are working from an ACEs-informed lens to improve systems to prevent and mitigate trauma across generations. Rooted in social justice, the brief is a call to action to move upstream, build resiliency, and recognize how addressing inequity and trauma can improve systems while also building resiliency.

This summary policy briefs explores the impact of ACEs in the justice system including promising practices and recommended actions for change.

In this webinar from the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative, Dr. Carole Warshaw, of the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma, and Mental Health, and Gwendolyn Packard of the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center discuss the intersection between opioid usage and intergenerational trauma.

This review assesses the current landscape of state-level legislation to understand how childhood adversity is currently addressed in policies, focusing on state-level legislation across the country that incorporated ACEs, trauma, and trauma-informed care. We hope this scan will be the first step in monitoring not only areas for growth in policy, but to also discover new ideas for potential pieces of legislation and collaboration across sectors and state lines.

This webinar--presented by Kavitha Selvaraj, MD, MPH, MAEd, FAAP with Audrey Stillerman, MD, and Stan Sonu, MD--explores lessons learned from Universal Screening for Toxic Stress During Well-Child Visits, a multi-site ACE screening project.

Burnout in health care is a widespread problem with profound implications for patients, professionals, and health care systems. While some promising strategies have been identified to address burnout, much more work is necessary, especially on a system and policy level. Our brief provides an overview of burnout, including its prevalence, consequences, drivers, and costs. It then delves into strategies to mitigate the impact of burnout and suggests areas for further research and policy change.

On June 20, the Collaborative hosted this webinar led by Suzette Fromm Reed, PhD, discussing foundational research on the important buffering role that community resilience plays in mitigating the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on adult and youth health, school/work, and coping behaviors. Additionally, recent research on how to build community resilience was presented as well as implications for practice and policy.

This brief explores current research on the importance of the parent-child dyad in child development and child health, identifies key experts, and points to program priorities to support the health of the whole child.

How can the built environment help support a trauma-informed organization? In this webinar architect Paul Alt, AIA and psychologist Jim Munroe Ed.D. describe their work on the Department of Veteran Affairs Healing Environment Design Guideline--a project that used architecture and design to create environments that promote healing of the mind, body, and spirit.

Working at the intersection of trauma, health equity, and law, attorney Sarah Hess joins the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative to talk about ways advocates from all disciplines can use a trauma-informed approach to help their clients thrive.