With growing knowledge of the science of adversity comes an increased need to address childhood trauma. Promoting the development of positive health, such as resilience, engagement in life, and the safe, stable, and nurturing relationships is essential to child development and well-being. Given high rates of adversity, healing is prevention.

Addressing adverse childhood experiences and promoting social and emotional skills of the entire population is essential. In 2017, the our team proposed the National Prioritizing Possibilities for Child and Family Health Agenda to address these issues. The National Agenda aims to transform the health care system through trauma-informed policy and practice.

Establishing the National Agenda

Over a four-year period, the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI) (an initiative of Innovate Health) and Academy Health engaged more than 500 people across multiple sectors in a rigorous process to establish a national agenda to address ACEs. It began with the first-ever available national and state level data on ACEs, resilience, and family functioning from the 2011–12 National Survey of Children’s Health. To develop the agenda, a series of in-person meetings and listening forums were conducted along with several rounds of online crowdsourcing to identify goals and priorities across 10 stakeholder groups; educational sessions with stakeholders; and a range of research-in-action; coupled with community efforts.

From this process, the following emerged:

• A special issue of Academic Pediatrics devoted to ACEs
• Four overarching agenda priorities to address ACEs and promote child wellbeing in children’s health services;
• Four specific areas of research that will advance these agenda priorities; and
• Sixteen short-term actions and recommendations, each of which leverages existing research, policy, and practice systems and structures.

This report summarizes findings from a 2017-2018 conducted by the CAHMI (an initiative of Innovate Health) and Academy Health and supported by the Children’s Hospital Association, “Payment Transformation to Address Social and Emotional Determinants of Health for Children.” Over 18 months, the project engages stakeholders and experts in a process to take stock of current children’s health care payment models and identified requirements to advance both payment and care models that enable a focus on assessing and addressing children’s social and relational health risks and proactively promoting positive child and family health and resilience.  This work grew out of the Prioritizing Possibilities National Agenda to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences and Foster the Social and Emotional Roots of Well-being.

From this report, three broad Priority Recommendations emerged and are delineated in the report as follows:

1. Pay to Improve Child and Family Well-Being
2. Support Enhanced and Personalized Well-Child Care
3. Build Sustainable Capacity for Transformation

Read the report here!

Innovate Health strives to be a partner in positive health with various organizations, institutions, and individuals. It is through partnership that advancements can truly be made in child health. Read more about some of our key partnerships below.

HOPE and the New Science of Thriving Summit

In March 2016, the CAHMI, an initiative of Innovate Health, collaborated with the Children’s Hospital Association, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, Prevent Child Abuse America, and Health Resources in Action to coordinate and host a summit on “Hope and the New Science of Thriving,” with participants from many fields, including research, health care, health systems, policy, philanthropy, and more.

Read the summit proceedings here!

Center for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice

Innovate Health’s President, Dr Christina Bethell, serves on the board of the Center for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice. Read more about this work here!

In 2019, Congress held its first-ever hearing on childhood trauma titled “Identifying, Preventing, and Treating Childhood Trauma: Pervasive Public Health Issue that Needs Greater Federal Attention.” Dr. Christina Bethell delivered expert testimony at this hearing.

Click here to read about and watch the full hearing!

Watch Dr. Bethell’s opening statement

Watch Dr. Bethell’s Q and A with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

View these resources to learn about how Innovate Health prioritizes possibilities for children, youth, and families through our work!

Research Papers and Reports:

• Prioritizing Possibilities for Child and Family Health An Agenda to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences and Foster the Social and Emotional Roots of Well-being (2017)
• Academic Pediatrics Special Issue: Child Well-Being and Adverse Childhood Experiences in the US (2017)
• Issue Brief: A National and Across State Profile on Adverse Childhood Experiences among U.S. Children and Possibilities to Heal and Thrive (2017)
• Summary: A National Agenda to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences (2017)

Presentations, Webinars, and Media:

• Childhood Trauma: America’s Hidden Health Crisis (2014)
• Child Flourishing: Our Greatest Public Health Opportunity Needs a Policy Response (Academy Health Blog, 2017)
• Thriving in a Changing Environment (Stanford University ChildX Talk, 2016)
• A National Agenda to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences (PACEs Connection, 2017)
• When it Pours for Moms, Help Them RAIN! Your Being, Their Well-Being (Attachment Parenting International Blog, 2020)
• Positive Childhood Experiences May Buffer Against Health Effects of Adverse Ones (NPR segment, 2019)
• Positive Childhood Experiences May Have Greater Impact than the Bad (Contemporary Pediatrics, 2019)