ACEs summit March 21

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Maine Resilience Building Network (MRBN) is pleased to offer a local ACEs Summit on Friday, March 21 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Charlotte White Center. This summit is sponsored locally by Helping Hands with Heart, the Maine Highlands voice for young children and their families. 

    The summit will focus on adverse childhood experiences or ACEs, and the importance of building relationships and ways in which we can promote resilience in parents, children and professionals.  Registration and a light hospitality will be offered between 8-8:30 a.m. while participants are signing up, getting settled and networking with others. This summit is free of charge for local residents or individuals who work in the Maine Highlands Region.
    This summit will be introduced by Michele McCormick, MD who will give an overview of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, its implication upon early childhood and adolescent development and its possible long-term ramifications over the lifespan. Dr. McCormick is a pediatrician from Franklin County.  The majority of the summit will be led by Chris Trout, president and founder of Strengths in Focus based in Portland. Trout will challenge participants to consider ways in which we all promote resilience within our daily lives, whether with friends, family, students or clients and, most especially, for yourself. This is an positive, interactive learning opportunity packed with lots of information and challenging, thought-provoking ideas and suggestions.
    Community conversations about adverse childhood experiences help participants to understand the impact of ACEs and to reflect upon how we as a community can be supportive in helping to reduce the shame and self-blame so commonly associated with ACEs. We utilize a strengths-based approach to helping build resilience in children, youth, families and communities as a whole.
    To register, please click on http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HighlandsACEsSummit or contact Sue Mackey Andrews, MRBN co-facilitator, at sdmandrews@aol.com or 564-8245 or 408-8040.
    You may also check out our MRBN website: http://www.maineaces.org/ for more information about the ACEs movement in Maine, to access additional resources from the toll kit and to locate others in Maine who are “doing” this work.
    Registration will close soon so please complete your electronic registration soon. Confirmations will be sent out soon and certificates for 3.5 hours of personal/professional development will be provided to all participants.