Community Organizations: Your Journey to Becoming ACEs Aware Starts Here

ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and toxic stress are associated with increased risk of a wide range of health conditions in children and adults. Understanding and screening for ACEs enables providers like yourself to help patients take steps to improve health outcomes.

Watch Dr. Nadine Burke Harris (below) speak to the mechanism of the toxic stress response and its impact on health and ground yourself in the fundamentals. Read or review the following to give yourself a strong foundation:

Get trained: Becoming ACEs Aware in California

This free two-hour course—available to anyone to take online—covers ACEs, toxic stress, ACE screening, toxic stress risk assessment, and trauma-informed care. It provides community care providers strategies to help mitigate the toxic stress response.
 

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ACEs Aware Learning Center

Your go-to place for all ACEs Aware training, guidance on implementation, and continuing education. In addition to resources highlighted above and below, you’ll find training and expert guidance on ACE screening and trauma-informed care in reproductive health, pediatrics, and beyond. Most trainings provide continuing education credit.

Visit the ACEs Aware Learning Center >

 

Responding to ACEs & Toxic Stress

Learn how to support patients and empower them with tools to improve health and wellbeing.

Stress Busters: Clinical Strategies for Preventing and Mitigating Toxic Stress (online course)
Designed to help develop your clinical response to childhood adversity and toxic stress through a comprehensive exploration of seven evidence-based, stress management strategies, called stress busters. Learners will gain an understanding of the scientific basis behind these evidence-based strategies for regulating toxic stress and learn about practical interventions they can use with their patients and clients. Patient-facing information on Stress Busters is available as well.

 

ACEs Stories: How screening and intervention is improving lives

Learning with ACEs: An Educator’s Story (video)
Educators at an alternative high school in Sonoma County partnered with the County Office of Education to train staff on trauma-informed practices, ACEs, and toxic stress. Since they began implementing trauma-informed practices three years ago, the school has seen its graduation rate rise from 55% to 95%.

Healing with ACEs: A Pediatrician’s Story (video)
Hear from Dr. Eric Ball about why he screens for ACEs, and how he uses resiliency tools to best serve his patients and strengthen his team and practice.

“We have set a bold goal to cut ACEs and toxic stress in half in one generation. I believe that we can get there with shared vision, shared understanding, and cross-sector collaboration.”

Former California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris

END USER SUBLICENSE AGREEMENT

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: This End User Sublicense Agreement (the “Agreement” or “Sublicense”) is a legally binding agreement between you (an individual or an entity, hereinafter “You” or “Sublicensee”) and the Department of Health Care Services (“DHCS”) for the use of the Pediatric ACEs and Related Life-events Screener (“PEARLS”) for children and adults up to the age of 21.

BY WAY OF DOWNLOADING, COPYING, ACCESSING, OR OTHERWISE USING THE PEARLS TOOL, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE LEGALLY BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, THEN YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS TO THE PEARLS TOOL AND MAY NOT DOWNLOAD, COPY, ACCESS, OR OTHERWISE THE PEARLS TOOL.

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    1. The PEARLS Tool. The PEARLS tool is a unique tool that assess for both Adverse Childhood Experiences (“ACEs”) such as abuse, neglect, and household challenges, and related events, such as discrimination, food insecurity, and community violence, thought to be risk factors for toxic stress. The PEARLS tool was made in the course of research under the auspices of the Children’s Hospital Research Center at Oakland (“BCHO”) and the University of California, San Francisco. BCHO has licensed the PEARLS tool to DHCS and provided DHCS with the right to sublicense the PEARLS tool.
    2. Sublicensee Attestation. By agreeing to this Agreement, You attest that You are a provider of health care services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries, a Medi-Cal Managed Care Plan, a Medi-Cal beneficiary, a parent or guardian of a Medi-Cal beneficiary, or an Electronic Health Records (“EHR”) vendor.
    3. The Sublicense. Subject to the terms of this agreement, DHCS hereby grants to Sublicensee a non-exclusive, royalty-free, non-assignable, non-transferable sublicense (the “Sublicense”) to the PEARLS tool. Under the Sublicense, Sublicensee may use the PEARLS tool as directed, and may save, download, print, copy, reproduce, or distribute the PEARLS tool to facilitate such use.
    4. Use in a Remote Patient Portal. The PEARLS tool was developed as a screener of risk for toxic stress and has been tested for safe, reliable screening when used during in-person (i.e., synchronous) visits. The questions and responses of the PEARLS tool may be administered using the EHR as structured data fields to facilitate record and follow-up. Because the PEARLS tool was never studied under asynchronous screening formats, DHCS cannot provide recommendations regarding its use in a remote patient portal. This includes information around safety and adequate windows of response. Sublicensee acknowledges that DHCS is not responsible for providing any recommendations regarding the use of the PEARLS tool in a remote patient portal, and that DHCS is not responsible for overseeing implementation and use of the PEARLS tool in a remote patient setting. This includes information around safety and adequate windows of response.
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      1. IN NO EVENT WILL DHCS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM EXERCISE OF THIS SUBLICENSE OR THE USE OF THE PEARLS TOOL.
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      1. The relationship between DHCS and Sublicensee established by this Agreement is that of independent contractors. No joint venture or partnership is established by this Agreement. Neither party is the agent, broker, partner, employee, or legal representative of the other for any purpose.
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