Author Archives: Elizabeth Prewitt

Opioid legislation with significant trauma provisions clears the Congress, awaits the President’s signature

September 30, 2018 By in Child trauma, Legislation, Solutions Leave a comment
Opioid legislation with significant trauma provisions clears the Congress, awaits the President’s signature

 

On October 3, the U.S. Senate voted 98-1 (only Sen. Mike Lee, R-UT voted nay) to approve The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act  (H.R. 6 or previously titled the Opioid Crisis Response Act), a final step before the President’s signature.  The House approved the measure on September 28. The Senate approved an earlier version of this legislation on September 17 and, as reported on ACEs Connection, it includes significant provisions taken from or aligned with the goals of the Heitkamp-Durbin Trauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Act (S. 774), including the creation of an interagency task force to identify trauma-informed best practices and grants for trauma-informed practices in schools.

As reported earlier in ACEs Connection, the trauma provisions are the result of “extensive engagement” of the offices of Senators Heitkamp (D-ND) and Durbin (D-IL) staff with Shelley Capito (R-WV), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). The opioid legislation represents a rare bipartisan, multiple committee achievement.

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Oprah Winfrey addresses the long-term effects of trauma on CBS’s 60 Minutes

March 6, 2018 By in ACE Study, Adverse childhood experiences 8 Comments

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UPDATE:  Click here to view the segment (approximately 14 minutes) and the 60 Minutes Overtime interview with Oprah (about 5 minutes).
Oprah Winfrey addresses the long-term effects of childhood trauma this Sunday, March 11 on 60 Minutes (tune in on CBS at 7:00 p.m. ET). The word is spreading quickly about the potential impact of this 60 Minutes segment. One ACEs Connection member said “The cause now has an iconic “champion of champions.” This could be a significant game changer.” Another said we should all be prepared to respond afterwards with opeds and letters to the editors to local papers, meetings with legislators etc.

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Implementation of new Vermont law begins with the appointment of legislators to bicameral, bipartisan ACEs Working Group

August 13, 2017 By in Adverse childhood experiences, Child trauma, Legislation, Solutions 1 Comment

After the 2014 Vermont legislative session, Rep. George Till was picking himself up, dusting himself off and reflecting on what he called an “ALE…..or Adverse Legislative Experience” when his ambitious legislative vision fizzled into a tiny bubble of hope to create a trauma-informed state. That bubble was enough to inspire  ACEs-related legislation — No. 43, H. 508, signed by Republican Gov. Phil Scott on May 22 — and policymakers are scheduled to start implementing the law next month. While the law calls for incremental steps, the long-term impact could be substantial.

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Trauma and ACEs missing in response to opioid crisis, says national organization

August 3, 2017 By in ACE Study, Adverse childhood experiences, Solutions 5 Comments

 

A policy brief issued in July by the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) forcefully develops the case for trauma-informed approaches to address the opioid crisis—to prevent and treat addiction—based on strong evidence that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are at the root of the crisis. CTIPP is a national organization that advocates for trauma-informed prevention and treatment programs at the federal, state and local levels.

Successful strategies to attack the opioid epidemic must recognize the powerful correlation between ACEs and substance abuse demonstrated by the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study), according to CTIPP. While recognizing the complexity of addiction pathways and contributing factors such as job loss, CTIPP argues that understanding the role of ACEs and trauma in addiction is essential in developing effective strategies to prevent addiction and treat those already addicted.

The brief, “Trauma-Informed Approaches Need to be Part of a Comprehensive Strategy for Addressing the Opioid Epidemic“, describes the evidence showing a correlation between traumatic experiences, including the ACE Study and more recent studies that, for example, “demonstrate a clear dose response relationship between the number of trauma experiences and increased risk of prescription drug misuse in adults.”

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Perspectives on building healthy communities

June 13, 2017 By in Adverse childhood experiences, Community prevention programs, Solutions 3 Comments

National Policy Implications Panel

 (l to r) Dr. Garth Graham, president, Aetna Foundation; Wendy Ellis, project director, Building Community Resilience Collaborative, GWU; Stuart M. Butler, The Brookings Institution

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After decades of working at the national level on health and mental policy in Washington, DC, I find myself looking for ways to get involved locally—the closer to home the better, and the more tangible the work, the more gratifying. There has never been a better time to act locally, not just because of the polarized national scene, but because opportunities abound to really make a difference at the local level.

With this budding interest local involvement taking shape, I was eager see what lessons I could learn from a May 9th event titled “New directions for communities: How they can boost neighborhood health,” sponsored by the venerable organization The Brookings Institution, best known for leadership at the national and global levels.

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States produce a bumper crop of ACEs bills in 2017—nearly 40 bills in 18 states

April 25, 2017 By in Adverse childhood experiences, Legislation Leave a comment

NCSLA scan done in March by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), through StateNet, of bills introduced in 2017 that specifically include adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the text produced a surprising number of bills — close to 40 — in a 18 states. A scan done a year ago produced less than a handful. NCSL is a bipartisan organization that serves state legislators and their staffs.

The shear volume of bills in so many states represents a promising trend—a growing interest by state policymakers in ACEs science. Most of the bills are still pending in state legislatures. A Utah resolution to promote ACEs science in state policy was signed by the state’s governor and a Virginia resolution that mentions ACEs in trauma-informed community networks was passed by the legislature. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed a bill to include ACEs science in that state’s Medicaid Family Home Visiting program.

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Comprehensive legislation introduced in U.S. Senate and House to address trauma

April 2, 2017 By in ACE Study, Adverse childhood experiences, Legislation 1 Comment
Sen. Heitkamp, Sen. Durbin, Christinia Bethel & Joe Barnhart (Left to right)

Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) at the Dec. 1, 2016 congressional briefing on addressing childhood trauma

The “Trauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Act” (S. 774, H.R. 1757) was introduced on March 29 in the Senate by Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) with co-sponsors Dick Durbin (D-IL), Al Franken (D-MN), and Cory Booker (D-NJ), and, for the first time in the House of Representatives, by Chicago Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL7). A version of the bill was introduced in the Senate in the final days of the last Congress. The bill’s sponsors were not successful in their efforts to gain bipartisan support in advance of its introduction.

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