Grantee Publications

Published work by ACEs Aware grantees across California

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ACEs Aware grantees across the state are producing practice papers with promising practices and case studies from providers and communities implementing ACE screening and trauma-informed systems of care.

Working together, we can advance and promote these informed and inspired approaches and leverage them in service of the goal of unlocking the potential of Californians for generations to come. Explore practice papers below.

Do No Harm: Rebuilding Trust & Keeping Families Together

Grantee: Safe & Sound

The removal of children by the child welfare system is both a result and cause of ACEs. This paper outlines data which reveal inequities in the current child welfare system of California, reviews the evidence suggesting harms of over-surveillance and separation, and highlights policy actions and community-based solutions that have the potential to shift agency and resources to families who have been marginalized.

Supporting Small but Mighty Practices in Implementing ACE Screening & Trauma-Informed Care

Grantee: Primary Care Development Corporation

This paper offers a roadmap to help smaller healthcare practices (those that employ 7 or fewer providers) implement trauma-informed approaches. Smaller practices are well positioned to implement trauma-informed approaches, as they often serve tight-knit populations and can tap into the needs and insights of their community and families.

CQC Toolkit: Implement Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Screening in Primary Care

Grantee: California Quality Collaborative, a program of Purchaser Business Group on Health

This toolkit is a guide for primary care providers and care teams who intend to implement routine screening for ACEs into practice. It offers a framework for planning and implementing these screenings, provides context that is essential to effective implementation, describes change concepts and offers resources to support practice changes.

How Accountable Communities for Health Can Lead Multi-Sector Partnerships to Address the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences

Grantee: San Diego Healthcare Quality Collaborative

Accountable Communities for Health (ACHs) are community-based partnerships formed across multiple sectors that develop a shared vision and take action to improve the health and wellbeing of a community. This paper explores how ACHs can leverage their experience leading multi-sector partnerships to support the Network of Care Milestones for Communities set out in the ACEs Aware Trauma-Informed Network of Care Roadmap.

Community Information Exchange: Leveraging Collaborative Infrastructure to Assess and Address ACEs

Grantee: San Diego Healthcare Quality Collaborative

Communities across the nation are building community information exchanges (CIEs) to support cross-sector collaboration and coordination to address the needs of residents. This paper explores opportunities, challenges, and recommendations for utilizing CIEs to enhance a communities’ ability to improve ACE screening and response, as well as to support proactive, holistic, person-centered care.

Eisner Health’s Journey Through Implementing Trauma-Informed Care

Grantee: Origins Training & Consulting

Eisner Health, a federally qualified health center in Los Angeles County, has incorporated trauma-informed principles into both patient care and internal practices since February 2019, resulting in reduced escalations, supported staff wellness, and improved the patient experience across three clinics.

Strengths and Barriers in Implementing the ACE Screening Tool in Tribal, Urban Indian, and Rural Settings

Grantee: Center for Healthy Children and Communities, Inc.

This paper explores strengths and barriers to administering ACE screening in tribal, urban Indian, and rural clinics. 12 key informant interviews were conducted with tribal, urban Indian, and rural organizations in California. Key informants included clinic directors with decision-making power, providers, and community health workers interacting directly with American Indian/Alaska Native patients and rural community members.

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Related Life Events: Understanding their Prevalence, Impacts, and Best Practices in Intervening

Grantee: Western Youth Services

After providing an overview of Adversities, their prevalence, and impact on individuals and communities, this Practice Paper incorporates a case study exploring the increasing prevalence of ACEs after the onset of the pandemic, the relationship between Adversities and mental health diagnoses and functioning, and evidence-based practices linked to improvements in mental health functioning among children who have experienced many Adversities. The paper concludes with a discussion of common challenges and best practices for providers in screening, preventing, and intervening for Adversities based on information gathered from providers through ongoing provider engagement sessions.

Adverse Childhood Event Screening in Rural Northern California: Exploring Provider Perspectives and Experiences

Grantee: Public Health Institute

This paper focuses on the six-county region in rural Northern California served by the Public Health Institute’s (PHI) Population Health Innovation Lab’s (PHIL) Northern ACEs Collaborative (NAC) where exist some of the highest rates of ACEs per capita in the entire state. Through key-informant interviews, Medi-Cal providers shared barriers for implementing ACE screening and identified factors that helped support screening.

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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.
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