When: Thursday May 29th, Friday May 30th, 2014
May 29th: 8:30am – 4:30pm
May 30th: 8:30am – 3:30pm
Where: Northern Hotel, Billings MT (Click for Directions)
* Special room rates at the Northern Hotel in Billings will be offered for those attending the summit. If you’re planning on reserving a room, call toll free 1-855 STAY-LUX and request the “Childwise” rate to receive special discount.
Course Description
This conference is designed to expand understanding and awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and their cumulative effects on health, justice, productivity and wellbeing, and to promote competencies for professionals and lay persons to develop and implement public health strategies to prevent and mitigate the effects of ACEs. Participants will be able to better understand the origins of major causes of disease, disability and early death in Montana and the United States. The progressive nature of childhood adversity and trauma will be explored and how trauma-informed, community-based helping systems improve population-level outcomes.
Course Objectives
1. Understand the ACE study and its implications for improving population health, safety, & productivity in Montana.
2. Identify and discuss attachment and the core role of relationships across the life span, including complex trauma and its implications for brain development, relationships and systems success.
3. Introduce and discuss a practical conceptual framework for understanding trauma behaviors that informs effective responses for trauma recovery and resilience.
4. Provide practical guidance and lessons learned from efforts to create universal trauma-informed systems.
5. Explore how findings from the ACE study invite new ways of thinking, structuring services, and empowering families and communities.
6. Introduce basic tenants of systems thinking and network theory and discuss implications for generating high leverage transformational strategy.
7. Generate and develop ideas to inform a set of mutually reinforcing actions for system and service innovation and mobilization of public will and action to prevent ACEs and moderate their cumulative effects in Montana.
8. Understand the basic elements of secondary stress.
9. Understand the development of theories of change and how to implement them.
Who should attend?
Corporate and Small Business Executives, HR Directors, Workforce Development Professionals, Educators, Mental Health Professionals, Healthcare Providers, Health Reform Administrators, Juvenile Justice Professionals and Officers of the Court, Chemical Dependency Professionals, Policy Makers, Parents, Foster Parents, Early Care and Education Professionals, Leaders of Philanthropy and the Non-profit sectors.
Continuing Education
Up to 12 CEU credits, OPI renewals, Nursing contact hours and POST credits are available for social workers, therapists, psychologists, educators, law enforcement officials and healthcare providers. (pending approval)
Course Outline
Difficulties associated with failure to master significant developmental stages and domains are often associated with insecure attachment and are compounded through childhood and adolescence. Attachment disruptions compromise normal childhood development and give rise to complex emotional and behavioral difficulties in many special needs youth. These special needs youth are often misunderstood, leading to poor assessments, misguided interventions and multiple academic and out-of-home placements that fail. Caregivers, educators and clinicians are frequently frustrated and repelled by the powerful repertoire of emotional and behavioral difficulties associated with some special needs youth. The complexity of emotional and behavioral difficulties is compounded over time and is increasingly resistant to intervention and change. Across time, these high-risk youth fail and are failed by academic and social systems that focus on symptoms and don’t understand their central issues.
This presentation will focus on attachment and developmental theory and will address:
- The developmental origins of emotional and behavioral difficulties in children.
- The interface between attachment and developmental processes which give rise to emotional and behavioral difficulties in personality formation.
- How skewed developmental processes compound and exacerbate emotional and behavioral difficulties across time.
- A way of seeing children that determines who we can be for them.
About the Speakers: (Thursday May 29th, 2014)
Speaker: Dr. Robert Anda,
Presentation title: “A General Overview of Adverse Childhood Experiences” (ACEs), “New thoughts About What the ACE Study Means”
Course Description:
An overview of the ACE Study which was initiated at Kaiser Permanente from 1995 to 1997 comprised of 17,000 members who were undergoing a standardized physical examination. Each study participate completed a confidential survey that contained questions about childhood maltreatment and family dysfunctions, as well as items detailing their current health status and behaviors. This information was combined with the results of their physical examination to form the baseline data for the study. Major findings from the study were childhood abuse, neglect and exposure to other traumatic stressors which we term adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are common. Almost two-thirds of the study participants reported at least on ACE, and more than one in five reported three or more ACEs. The short and long-term outcomes of these childhood exposures include a multitude of health and social problems. The ACE Study uses the ACE Score, which is a count of the total number of ACEs respondents reported. The ACE Score is used to access the total amount of stress during childhood and has determined as the number of ACEs increase, the risk for the following health problems increases in a strong and graded fashion: obesity; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); depression; fetal death; health-related quality of life; illicit drug use; ischemic heart disease (IHD); liver disease; risk for intimate partner violence; multiple sexual partners; sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); smoking; suicide attempts; unintended pregnancies; alcoholism and alcohol abuse.
Course Objectives
1. Introduce the ACE Study, how the ACE Score is used, examples of how it has been
applied elsewhere; new thoughts about what the ACE Study means
2. Identify major public health problems: addiction, mental health, violence. chronic disease, co-morbidity to the ACE Score.
3. Discuss the concept of self-healing communities by engaging ACE affected individuals in the healing and community well-being process.
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Robert Anda earned his M.D. from Chicago’s Rush Medical College in 1979, and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine. After earning an M.S. in Epidemiology from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in 1984, he served for 2 years as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). At the CDC, Dr. Anda has served as an Epidemiologist in the Nutrition Division, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Branch, the Cardiovascular Health Studies Branch, and on the Task Force on Genetics in Public Health. From 1992 to 1994, he was the Chief of Epidemiology and the Surveillance Section in Cardiovascular Health. Since 1993, Dr. Anda has been a Co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study. He has authored and coauthored numerous publications on the health and social implications of adverse childhood experiences.
Speaker: Elizabeth Kohlstaedt, Ph.D.
Chief Clinical Officer, Intermountain, Helena, MT
Presentation title: “Heads of the Hydra: Interventions for Children Facing Adversity”
Speaker: Kristin Best, LCSW
Clinical Supervisor, Intermountain Community Services, Helena, MT
Speaker: Kimberly Gardner, LCSW, LAC
Lead Clinical Supervisor, Intermountain Community Services, Helena, MT
Course Description:
We now understand the cumulative and pervasive effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences on the physical and mental well-being of our world. But what would you do about it? What kinds of interventions might be helpful in mitigating the impact of ACEs? This three-part talk will focus on ways of seeing and being with children and families who have been impacted by ACEs. Although these talks arise from a clinical platform, they are applicable to all who work with children and adolescents.
Elizabeth Kohlstaedt, Ph.D. will address relational issues inherent in the ACEs and discuss potential for harm in some of our shorter term solutions. She will also explore the notion of shame and how the framework of ACEs changes the dialogue from “what’s wrong with you?” to what happened to you? Finally, she will review interventions across the lifespan and systems of care that may have an impact on some of the underlying psychological responses to adversity.
Kristin Best, LCSW, will explore the intergenerational transmission of adversity in childhood. Particularly the relationship between how we were parented and how we parent. The framework for change is seeing all parents as wanting to do the right thing for their children, but not having the right “map.” So, how does understanding ACEs give them a better map? How can each of the participants, within their own field, use this lens to approach and guide young parents to lessen the intergenerational transmission of relational adversity?
Kimberly Gardner, LCSW, LAC will explore the compounding effects of substance use and mental health issues as they co-occur in adolescence – 3 heads of the hydra wrapped into one. How does adolescence form the perfect breeding ground for an ongoing downhill trajectory toward the health effects of adverse childhood events and how can it be the perfect place for intervention? How can we begin to deal with the co-occurring issues within all of our venues – child protection, juvenile justice, school systems, community health centers or physicians office?
Course Objectives:
1. Introduce the concept of complex trauma from ACEs and its implications for brain development, relationships, and systems success.
2. Introduce a practical conceptual framework for helping traumatized children.
3. Provide practical guidance and lessons learned from current efforts in Helena, MT to create universal trauma-informed systems.
Speaker Biographies:
Elizabeth Kohlstaedt, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and has been the Clinical Director of Intermountain since 1990. Dr. Kohlstaedt received a B.A. in German from Purdue University, an M.S. in linguistics from Indiana University, an M.A. in physiological psychology from Arizona State University and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of Montana. She has served as adjunct faculty at Syracuse University, and has trained medical, psychology, social work and counseling interns from around Montana and around the country. Dr. Kohlstaedt has appeared on Prime Time Live, National Public Radio and in the Los Angeles Times to discuss attachment disorders and has provided seminars for a variety of professionals, including judges, physicians, nurses, foster parents, case workers, clinicians and direct care staff on issues of attachment, child development and trauma.
Kristin Best, LCSW, is a native of Virginia and has lived in Helena for 20 years. Kristin has worked off and on at Intermountain for 20 years as a counselor, case manager and therapist, and is currently one of the clinical supervisors for school based services. She graduated from Radford University in 1989 with a BS in psychology and from University of Montana in 2007 with her Masters in Social work. Kristin has been licensed in MT as LCSW since 2010. She is also a Circle of Security Registered Parent Education Facilitator and continues to practice outpatient therapy with children and families. Kristin has an 18 year old daughter. Her hobbies include painting, road and mountain biking and yoga.
Kimberly Gardner, LCSW, LAC has been in advocacy and services for children and families for the last 25 years. She has extensive experience in program administration and development, the legislative process, and residential and community-based mental health services. She and her husband have provided respite foster care for several years. She is the former Chair of the Ethics Committee and former secretary of the Montana Chapter of National Association of Social Workers. She also provides clinical supervision for therapists, MSW interns and in-training practitioners and provides clinical oversight of the Intensive Co-Occurring Services and the School Based Mental Health Services programs for Intermountain. She is also on the MT State licensing board for Licensed Clinical Social Workers and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors.
Licenses relevant to the position:
LCSW – Licensed Clinical Social Worker LAC – Licensed Addictions Counselor
About the Speakers: (Friday May 30th, 2014)
Speaker: Laura Porter
Director of ACE Partnerships for Washington State Department of Social & Health Services
Presentation title: “ACE-informed Leadership – The Magnitude of the Solution”
Course Description:
The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study findings are the largest public health discovery of our time – some argue the largest public health discovery of all times. The speaker will discuss the depth and breadth of opportunity in the application of the ACE Study in Policy, Practice and Community. Participants will learn about the progressive nature of adversity, and about ACEs- attributable major cost centers in the public and private sector. Examples of policy, practice and community improvements will be provided, using both ACE science and three systems for promoting resilience. Participants will improve those ideas through peer consultation.
Course Objectives
1. Discuss and illustrate the progressive nature of adversity and trauma
2. Identify three systems for improving resilience in the population; provide examples of strengthening these systems through policy, programming, peer helping, and community capacity development.
3. Explore how findings from the ACE Study and related developmental neuroscience and resilience research invite new ways of thinking, structuring services, and empowering families and communities.
4. Generate and develop ideas to inform a set of mutually reinforcing actions for systems and service innovation combined with mobilization of public will to prevent ACEs and moderate their cumulative effects in Montana.
Speaker Biography:
Laura Porter is Co-Founder of ACE Interface, LLC. With Dr. Robert Anda, Ms. Porter develops and disseminates educational products and empowerment strategies focused for transformative improvements in health and well-being. Ms. Porter concurrently serves as the Director of ACE Partnerships for the Comprehensive Health Education Foundation. With the Foundation, she oversees analysis of ACE data and works with local and state leaders to embed developmental neuroscience and resilience findings into policy, practice and community norms.
Laura is an award winning public servant who is best known for her work directing systemic improvements to the child and family serving system in Washington. Working with executives and managers from seven state agencies, 53 community-based collaborative organizations and leaders from ten Tribes, Laura and her colleagues developed a unique model for improving the capacity of communities to deliver stunning results for a small investment. Communities using the model have documented reductions in the rates of seven major social problems and Adverse Childhood Experience scores among young adults. Laura is mother to three children and grandmother to three precious grandchildren.
Speaker: James Caringi, Ph.D.
Associate Professor & Director of the Master of Social Work Program, University of Montana, Coordinator of Qualitative Research at the National Native Children’s Trauma Center (NNCTC) of the Institute for Educational Research and Services (IERS).
Presentation title: “ACEs and Systems Change: Mapping the course to create change personally, professionally, and organizationally”.
Course Description:
ACEs invite big action on the part of individuals and organizations. In order to create positive change it is necessary to first understand the theory of the problem. Then, we can begin to create a theory of change to address ACEs in our communities. This presentation will address the need to take a systems approach to dealing with ACEs with particular attention to Montana specific considerations. In addition, care for the caregiver, specifically, secondary traumatic stress as related to ACES will be addressed. This presentation will set the stage for the work later in the day.
Course Objectives
1. Begin to understand the big picture regarding ACEs in our communities.
2. Learn about the development of theories of change and how to implement them.
3. Learn the basics elements of secondary traumatic stress
4. Begin to envision a personal self-care plan specific to dealing with ACEs personally, professionally, and organizationally.
Speaker Biography:
James (Jim) Caringi, Ph.D., is the MSW Program Director and an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work, College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences. In addition, he is the Coordinator of Qualitative Research at the National Native Children’s Trauma Center (NNCTC) / Institute for Educational Research and Service (IERS) at the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education and Human Sciences. Jim received his B.A. from The State University of New York at Albany. He earned his M.S.W. from Boston University and his Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the State University of New York at Albany. His interests are in the areas of the primary and secondary traumatic stress (STS), child welfare, work with groups and teams, as well action research, particularly with indigenous populations as partners. Jim is principal investigator of a five-year U.S. Children’s Bureau grant to develop social work student traineeships and a participatory action research framework to improve child welfare organizations. He is also co-principal investigator in the Field Initiated Research and Evaluation Project. This four-year U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Programs (OJJDP) funded community-based participatory research (CBPR) grant is a collaborative effort with Native partners to address and better understand childhood traumatic stress and youth violence. Jim is also co-principal investigator of a five-year, 3.2 million dollar U.S. Administration for Children and Families (ACF) grant to create trauma informed child welfare systems in Indian Country. He brings over 19 years of practice experience in both clinical and macro settings and has worked from the inner city housing projects of Boston to the rural villages of Alaska where he lived and raised a family for over 7 years. Jim is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and currently maintains a caseload, seeing clients that have experienced trauma pro bono at the University of Montana Clinical Psychology Center. Jim’s wife is a public school teacher and artist and they have 2 daughters.
The ACE Study Summit Agenda
Thursday, May, 29th
7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Registration
8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a. m. Welcome & Dr. Robert Anda – Keynote Address
(“General Overview of ACEs”)
10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Break
10:45 a.m. – 11:15 p.m. Laura Porter
(“Policy & Practice Implications/Applications”)
11:15 p.m. – 12:15 Elizabeth Kohlstaedt, Ph.D.
(“Heads of the Hydra: It’s all about relationships”)
12:15 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Small Group Discussion
12:30p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Lunch (on your own)
1:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Kristin Best
(“Building security in the community”)
2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. – Small Group Discussion
3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Break
3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Kimberly Gardner
(“And what about those teenagers…”)
4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. – Small Group Discussion
4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Introduction to Day 2 – World Café – Laura Porter
Closing Remarks Todd Garrison
Friday, May 30th
8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Welcome & Dr. Robert Anda – Keynote address
(“ACEs and the Big Picture”)
9:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Jim Caringi
2
(“ACEs and Systems Change: Mapping the course to create change personally, professionally, and organizationally”)
10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Video Presentation
10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Break
10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. – “Magnitude of the Solution” – Laura Porter World Café Workshop – Laura Porter, Jim Caringi
12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. – Lunch on your own
1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. – World Café Workshop Discussion
Special Speaker – Closing Remarks
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