Summary:
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have become common knowledge and “trauma informed” work is becoming common practice, however the focus is all too often on individual intervention. This presentation will overview ACEs and their impact, but more importantly the critical role of a resilient community. Groundbreaking research demonstrating the impact of community resilience on adult and youth mental health, adverse childhood events, youth poor coping behaviors and school performance will be presented. Practical guidelines for creating a resilient context will follow, including the presentation of the innovative, evidence-based K.I.S.S. (Knowledge, Insight, Strategies and Systems) approach with real world examples. Finally, individuals, again within their contexts, will be further considered, examining their own behavioral and reactive triggers and looking at ways to regulate and model self-regulation, co-regulation, and self-care as building blocks for a resilient community.

Keynote Presenter:
Suzette Fromm Reed, PhD is a community psychologist, Associate Professor at National Louis University (NLU) where she developed and now chairs the University’s first PhD Program which is in Community Psychology. She is an expert on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and consults and lectures on this topic to international audiences. She views herself as a community psychologist who is committed to bridging academic and practice divides with public health, sociology and psychology. Suzette’s primary area of expertise includes community-engaged research on ACEs and community resilience.