Nevada County HOPE Training
Nevada County has focused heavily on caregiver engagement as a pillar of their Comprehensive Prevention Plan. For the past year and a half, Strategies TA has been supporting Nevada County with their monthly Parent Guardian Advisory Council (PGAC), a group of parents who provide feedback and share their experiences with accessing services offered by and within the county. Two groups of parents meet monthly; one is facilitated in English and one in Spanish. Both groups are highly active, with regular and repeated attendance, and appreciation expressed by the parents that their voices are being heard. Parents are compensated for their time, and have discussed topics including behavioral health, transportation, and 2-1-1.
At the final meeting of Nevada County’s Parent Guardian Advisory Council, Alyssa Burke provided the group with the HOPE training. Many of the parents expressed that they had heard of ACEs, and some shared their experiences with ACEs training and questionnaires. Those without direct experiences had seen PSAs regarding ACEs but did not have a great understanding of the impact of ACEs on individual health. Very few parents had heard of the HOPE framework, and none had received training on HOPE or PCEs prior to the PGAC training.
Parents were especially curious about the way Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) could improve health outcomes even for folks with high ACEs scores. One parent disclosed that she had a high ACEs score, but that she felt like her positive experiences and influences in childhood had made a longer lasting impact upon her. She felt relieved to learn that there were concrete examples of opportunities for PCEs that she could help to create for her children to improve their long-term health outcomes.
Article from Strategies TA.