Whole People is a five-part documentary series produced by Twin Cities PBS and CentraCare Health “spotlighting the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) through personal and community stories. It explores the long-term costs to personal well-being and our society. While much work needs to be done, there are many innovative developments to prevent and treat ACES. We all play a role in becoming a whole people,” per the website. In addition, this series comes with an excellent and extensive study guide to help with processing and group facilitation for those who watch this film in community settings. The study guide is co-written by Resmaa Menakem MSW, LICSW, S.E.P. of Justice Leadership Solutions, who is the author of My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies) and Pam Beckering, MS, LPCC, of CentraCare Health. It has questions, summary points, body-based practices and resources.
The Transform Trauma with ACEs Science Film Festival & Co-Sponsors This series is co-hosted by ACEs Connection, CTIPP (the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy & Practice), and The Relentless School Nurse. It is supported by generous filmmakers and producers who are making this limited-time access available for free for our members. All the films in this series focus on generational, historical, racial, and secondary trauma as well as individual, community, and systems healing and change. We will focus on how ACEs sciences can prevent and heal ACEs and inspire trauma-informed change supporting all of our families and communities.
ACEs Connection ACEs Connection is the human and digital catalyst that unites the people, organizations, systems and communities in the worldwide ACEs movement. We are its main information exchange and resource. And we are a support for hundreds of local, state and national ACEs initiatives to accelerate the use of ACEs science to solve our most intractable problems. We provide initiatives with a free community site on ACEs Connection, guidelines on how to launch and grow local ACEs initiatives, and powerful online tools that help initiatives measure their progress. For established initiatives, we offer access to more advanced tools, guidelines and services in the ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities. Our network has 45,000+ members who share best practices while inspiring each other to grow the ACEs movement. We also publish a separate news site, ACEsTooHigh.com, for the general public. The goals of our work are to prevent ACEs, heal trauma, and create resilience.
The Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy & Practice (CTIPP) CTIPP has launched a nationwide grassroots campaign to engage congressional offices and other federal leaders in supporting policies, programs, legislation, and appropriations that prevent and respond to trauma as well as build resilience. Visit CTIPP’s National Trauma Campaign webpage (http://www.ctipp.org/nationaltraumacampaign/) to learn more, to access trauma-informed advocacy toolkits and resources, to sign up for Campaign updates, and/or to join in this exciting movement yourself! (Questions? Reach out to info@traumacampaign.org)
Robin Cogan / The Relentless School Nurse Robin Cogan is a school nurse, blogger, and activist. Robin’s blog, The Relentless School Nurse, was created to amplify school nursing. She tells stories from her health office in Camden, New Jersey and highlights the work of colleagues across the country. Robin is dedicated to gun violence prevention and sharing the importance of trauma-responsive education in school communities. She also teaches the next generation of school nurses at Rutgers University and grounds her curriculum in “A Pair of ACEs” – both individual and community adversity.
Thank You to All Whole Make This Free Film Festival Possible for Our Members This film series would not be possible without the generosity of filmmakers Vic Compher & Rodney Whittenberg of Portraits of Professional Caregivers, Ana Joanes of Wrestling Ghosts, and the public programming of Whole People by PBS. We are grateful to all of them for making this film festival free and available to all of our members.
Published by Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN
Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN, is a Nationally Certified School Nurse (NCSN), currently in her 22nd year as a New Jersey school nurse in the Camden City School District. Robin is the Director for New Jersey to the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Board. She is proud to be a Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Fellow and past Program Mentor. Robin is the honored recipient of multiple awards for her work in school nursing and population health. These awards include, 2019 and 2020 National Association of School Nurses President’s Award, 2018 NCSN School Nurse of the Year, 2017 Johnson & Johnson School Nurse of the Year, and the New Jersey Department of Health 2017 Population Health Hero Award. Robin serves as faculty in the School Nurse Certificate Program at Rutgers University-Camden School of Nursing, where she teaches the next generation of school nurses. She was presented the 2018 Rutgers University – Camden Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award for Part-time Faculty. Robin writes a weekly blog called The Relentless School Nurse. She also writes a monthly column in My American Nurse, the official journal of the American Nurses Association. Robin’s work is included as a case study in The Future of Nursing Report 2020-2030. You can follow Robin on Twitter at @RobinCogan.
View all posts by Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN