GALVESTON ADVERSE CHILDHOOD & COMMUNITY EXPERIENCES (ACEs) COLLABORATIVE OVERVIEW
The vision of the Collaborative is to transform community systems and political action to support the healthy psychosocial development of children and adults in the Galveston County area through education, support, capacity building, and policy. To that end, the goals of the Collaborative are:
- To promote public awareness around preventing and addressing the effects of adverse childhood and community experiences (ACEs), especially at the grassroots level;
- To increase support of ACEs protective and resiliency factors;
- To build capacity for trauma-informed care among child and adult health and human service systems;
- To create policy solutions to prevent and address the impact of ACEs and the benefits of protective and resiliency factors for Galveston County residents.
DEFINING ACES AND TRAUMA-INFORMED COMMUNITIES
ACEs are physical, emotional, and psychosocial experiences that include abuse, neglect, familial incarceration, divorce, substance abuse, mental illness, interpersonal violence, and structural violence. Children who have experienced ACEs are at higher risk later in life for physical and mental health conditions. However, positive experiences in early life and in communities are proven to decrease the negative effects of adverse experiences. ACEs can be mitigated by changing social norms to support parents and positive parenting, providing quality childcare and education in early life, promoting healthy relationships, strengthening economic opportunities, and improving public spaces in communities.
WHO WE ARE
The ACEs Collaborative engages behavioral health providers, child- and adult- serving agencies, primary care clinicians, pediatricians, researchers, school district personnel, governing bodies, law enforcement, and other key sectors in collaborative efforts to improve the prevention, identification, and treatment of adverse childhood and community experiences and to support protective and resiliency factors among Galveston County residents. The Collaborative was first convened as a Cross-Sector Collaborative in 2015 to identify policy needs in health and non-health sectors. Through this effort, community leaders identified needs and concerns related to adverse childhood experiences and the desire to build a more trauma-informed community.
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY
The Collaborative facilitates a core group of partners who are identifying needs and opportunities in Galveston County to support children, their parents, and the larger community in addressing adverse childhood experiences and building a more trauma-informed community. Partnerships that have developed through the collaborative include ACEs screenings at a primary care clinic, mental health services offered at a primary care clinic, a Child Health Research Acceleration through Multisite Planning (CHAMP) project, as well as various granting and research partnerships.
For more information, please contact:
Shannon Guillot-Wright, University of Texas Medical Branch, spguillo@utmb.edu
Julie Purser, Family Service Center of Galveston County, jpurser@fscgal.org