The purpose of this Resource Guide is to provide strategies and information to help you learn more about how your health plan can be an active part of Trauma-Informed Networks of Care in your service areas.

In this ACEs Connection webinar, co-sponsored with the California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity three early adopters Drs. Deirdre Bernard-Pearl, R.J. Gillespie and Ariane Marie-Mitchell speak about: How they changed their clinics; what lessons they learned; what they wish they had done differently; what the results of the transition are and what they’re working on now.

News and information on ACEs and how to connect to networks of ACE resources.

Editorial about the important role that Family Physicians play in patients’ lives by addressing ACEs.

Background information and examples of motivational interviewing.

This 6-part series was designed with the primary care practice in mind – those who may or may not be familiar with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the process of asking families about exposure to ACEs or other traumatic events.

What providers can do in clinical practice to address ACEs and toxic stress to help and protect youth.

Video about the definition of ACEs and methods to prevent them.

Center for Health Care Strategies webinars and profiles on ACEs.

A national initiative aimed at understanding how trauma-informed approaches can be practically implemented across the health care sector.

Webinar on October 16, 2018 featuring Dr. Nadine Burke Harris and Dr. Edward Machtinger

A Technical Assistance Tool by Meryl Schulman and Alexandra Maul in 2019.

The Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Resource Center, developed by the Center for Health Care Strategies with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, offers a one-stop information hub for health care providers and other stakeholders interested in implementing trauma-informed care

Provider handout that includes helpful information on how to discuss ACEs with parents.

Provider handout on identifying parents ACEs and provide support to them and the entire family as a whole.

Webpage on Social Determinants of Health: Know What Affects Health, with related research, programming, tools, and resources.

Training on understanding, recognizing, and preventing ACEs including evidence-based strategies for reducing or eliminating the impact of ACEs – for anyone interested in ACEs and mental health providers.

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.

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.

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.

“How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime.”

A review the evidence linking trauma to health and provide practical guidance to clinicians, researchers, and policymakers about the core components of an effective response to recent and past trauma in the setting of primary care. Written by Edward L. Machtinger, MD, Yvette P. Cuca, PhD, Naina Khanna, BS, Carol Dawson Rose, RN, PhD, Leigh S. Kimberg, MD.

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Trauma and Health, by Megan R. Gerber, MD, MPH, and Emily B. Gerber, PhD. Gerber MR, editor. Trauma-Informed Healthcare Approaches: A Guide for Primary Care. New York, NY: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2019. Posted with permission.

Chapter 2: Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care, by Leigh Kimberg, MD and Margaret Wheeler, MD, Posted with permission. Gerber MR, editor. Trauma-Informed Healthcare Approaches: A Guide for Primary Care. New York, NY: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2019. Posted with permission.

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.

The report identifies and assesses current and emerging approaches and recommends ways to expand and optimize social care in the health care setting.

This brief presents research on adverse childhood experiences and highlights state strategies to prevent and reduce their occurrence and negative effects. Such policies include strategies to build resilience in children and families, help parents reduce stress, and increase screening and treatment for ACEs.

Report written by Shannon Mace, JD, MPH, and Reba Smith, MS and published in 2018.

National Pediatric Practice Community is an initiative of the Center for Youth Wellness. This network brings together pioneering pediatric practitioners interested in integrating ACEs screening and response into clinical care. This document contains webinar slides on ways to communicate about ACEs with patients and families.

Tips for ACEs-Related Coding, decision-making inputs worksheet for clinics seeking to start screening for ACEs, screening workflow, readiness assessment.

ACEs Aware-developed resource on using a tiered clinical response framework to determine the patient education, level of intervention, and additional supports that may be needed for patients at different levels of risk for toxic stress.

This paper presents findings from interviews with school stakeholders that help to identify promising practices for school-based integrated systems of care as well as barriers and facilitators to implementing and sustaining school-based integrated models.

An organizational change model to support organizations in creating contexts that nurture and sustain trauma-informed practices.

Motivational techniques and skills for health and mental health coaching/counseling, published in 2013. Also see detailed examples and rationales for motivational interviewing strategies and techniques (2008).

Webinar in 2015 by Karen Johnson, MSW, LCSW.

Reported published in 2014 to develop a working concept of trauma and a trauma-informed approach and to develop a shared understanding of these concepts that would be acceptable and appropriate across an array of service systems and stakeholder groups.

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.

Article about applying the principles of motivational interviewing to everyday patient interactions  to elicit “behavior change” that contributes to positive health outcomes and improved patient–physician communication.

This webinar explores how to more effectively address toxic stress in two-generation solutions and how other frameworks – like Strengthening Families – can play a role. Presenters included Ascend at the Aspen Institute and Ascend Network Partners Katie Albright (San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center); Jeannette Pai-Espinosa (The National Crittenton Foundation); and Jason Gortney (The Children’s Home Society of Washington State).

The mission of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network is to raise the standard of care and improve access to the services for traumatized children, their families, and communities throughout the United States.

This University of California, San Francisco Women’s HIV Program website provides resources on trauma-informed primary care.

A list of key Trauma-Informed Care resources.

Webpage on Social Determinants of Health, with related cross-sectoral policies, relevant data, and related resources.