ACEs Aware

Now housed within the University of California ACEs Aware Family Resilience Network (UCAAN), ACEs Aware is an initiative originally led by the Office of the California Surgeon General and the Department of Health Care Services to give Medi-Cal providers training, clinical protocols, and payment for screening children and adults for ACEs. California’s first Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, set a bold goal: to cut Adverse Childhood Experiences in half in one generation. Read below to learn more about our current and past work with ACEs Aware.

Why ACEs

Trauma-informed care recognizes and responds to the signs, symptoms, and potential consequences of trauma to better support the health needs of patients who have experienced ACEs and toxic stress. Addressing stressors and increasing the total dose of buffering and protective factors such as safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments, are associated with decreased metabolic, immunologic, neuroendocrine, and inflammatory dysregulation. This can also lead to improved physical and psychological health

PRACTICE

In September 2022, the Safety Net Clinic Coalition (SNCC), a coalition of the Health Improvement Partnership (HIP), became one of twenty-five teams awarded during the third round of ACEs Aware grant funding, called Preventing and Responding to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)-Associated Health Conditions and Toxic Stress in Clinics through Community Engagement (PRACTICE). The goal of this grant is to increase the workforce and services needed for primary care clinics to expand and sustain screening and response to ACEs and toxic stress in local communities

ACEs Community of Practice

MISSION Strengthen the trauma-informed network of care in Santa Cruz County to increase screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and support those who screen positive and are experiencing toxic stress.

Genesis & Purpose
California’s first Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, set a bold goal to cut ACEs in half in one generation in order to improve the health and well-being of individuals and families. In Santa Cruz County, a diverse group of health care providers, community-based organizations, and social service agencies are engaged in California’s statewide effort to screen for ACEs and to treat the impact of toxic stress. Beginning in February 2023, the Health Improvement Partnership (HIP) will convene the ACEs Community of Practice to align and strengthen the work of our county’s diverse stakeholders by sharing lessons learned, best practices, successes, and barriers.

HIP is pleased to partner with the following clinics and community based organizations as part of our PRACTICE team:

Santa Cruz Community Health
Salud Para La Gente
Doctors on Duty
Santa Cruz County HSA Clinics
Central California Alliance for Health
Serving Communities Health Information Organization
United Way of Santa Cruz
Cradle to Career

Past ACEs Projects

ACEs Integration Cohort

In June 2020, Santa Cruz County became one of one-hundred grantees for the California ACEs Aware Initiative. The Health Improvement Partnership recruited the following three clinics to be a part of our ACEs Integration Cohort:

Santa Cruz Community Health (SCCH)
Salud Para La Gente (Salud)
Doctors on Duty

Each clinic had the opportunity to work with Trudy Bearden, Quality Improvement Coach, and Vicki Amon-Higa, change leadership coach through peer-to-peer learning sessions and assessments to implement workflows and scale ACEs screening practices. All clinics were successful in implementation.