Join us for an invitation-only breakfast that will explore the neuroscience behind the impact of early adversity and trauma. This event is limited to executive leadership, business owners, philanthropists, and entrepreneurs in Palm Beach County.

Our keynote speaker is Dr. Randy Blakely, Executive Director of the Brain Institute at Florida Atlantic University. With other leaders, the presentation will not only explore Adverse Childhood Experiences, but what we can do to address critical issues in our community...the opioid epidemic, school shootings, mental illness, and even physical illnesses that have their roots in early childhood.

We will also explore hands-on ways you can improve Palm Beach County using more than just your check book. Please come ready to participate and let your voice be heard! 

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are "The Leading Public Health Issue of our Time."

In the absence of healthy or buffering relationships, childhood trauma and adversity can have a devastating impact on the minds and bodies of children. Research confirms that children carry the effects of childhood experiences throughout their lives.

Over the last twenty years, research has transformed our understanding of how toxic stress resulting from childhood adversity is at the root of many chronic physical, mental health, and even economic problems families and communities face. It has a major impact on the economic and social health of businesses and communities, estimated at over $120 billion annually.

All of our systems have to change their approach to changing behavior - whether it’s criminal, unhealthy, or unwanted behavior - from a blame, shame and punishment approach, to one that is based in understanding, nurturing and healing….in other words, ACEs science. Jane Stevens, ACEs Connection. As a society, we simply can't afford to wait for children to fall apart before we do something. From the ACEs science, effective strategies have emerged - we need to invest in them. 

What are ACEs?

The ACE Study found that the higher someone’s ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) score – the more types of childhood adversity a person experienced – the higher their risk of chronic disease, mental illness, violence, being a victim of violence, and other consequences that impact health. The study found that most people (64%) have at least one ACE; 12% of the population has an ACE score of 4. Having an ACE score of 4 nearly doubles the risk of heart disease and cancer. It increases the likelihood of becoming an alcoholic by 700 percent and the risk of attempted suicide by 1200 percent.

The ACE Study is one of five parts of ACEs science, which also includes how toxic stress from ACEs damage children’s developing brains; how toxic stress from ACEs severely damages health; how it can change our genes and be passed from one generation to another in historical trauma; and resilience research, which shows the brain is plastic and the body wants to heal. 

Click Here to read more from an article that discusses the ACEs science and how it relates to school shootings.

Learn more about our Fighting ACEs Initiative in Palm Beach County. A special thank you to Quantum Foundation, who has been funding this work for over two years.

A special thank you to our sponsors! We hope you consider having your business support this effort through sponsorship opportunites. Sponsor highlight...

The South Florida Science Center and Aquarium provides curious minds of all ages with an entertaining and educational journey through the latest discoveries in science and technology. The Science Center’s newest project, in partnership with the FAU Brain Institute, is a one-of-a-kind permanent exhibit, A Journey Through the Human Brain. Opening January 2019, this exhibition will explore how the brain informs our senses and creates our thoughts. Through collaboration with the Center for Child Counseling, the exhibity will explore how factors such as ACEs affect brain development. The exhibit is also being developed in cooperation with Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience and Scripps Florida, presented by the Stiles-Nicholson Foundation, Quantum Foundation, and Palm Healthcare Foundation.