ACEs Aware: Stress Relief and Reccomendations In Response to COVID-19💙

The California Coalition for Youth (CCY), in its efforts to keep our members up to date with the latest information, is sharing this news alert from ACEs Aware, A program of the Office of the California Surgeon General and the state Department of Heath Care Services. ACEs Aware recently released guidance and best practices on navigating the Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19. Please read through and utilize the following information as you and your organization sees fit.

We hope that you, your families, and your colleagues are staying safe during these challenging times. For any questions about how CCY is doing during the COVID-19 Pandemic, please email CCY's Executive Director, Jevon Wilkes, at Jevon@calyouth.org .

ACEs Aware: Stress Relief Playbooks and Recommendations Released in Response to COVID-19

As part of the state’s comprehensive approach to responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency, the Office of the California Surgeon General released two stress relief playbooks to help support mental and physical health, and the Department of Health Care Services released recommendations for Medi-Cal managed care health plans and fee-for-service providers to mitigate negative health outcomes.

COVID-19 is a stressor that impacts the health and well-being of individuals and communities and may worsen or exacerbate the prevalence of negative health impacts. Those who have a history of Adverse Childhood Experiences are especially vulnerable. The ACEs Aware initiative was created to support providers as they learn to screen for ACEs, identify toxic stress, and respond with trauma-informed care to improve health outcomes and build resilience.

The new resources that can be found on the state's COVID-19 website include:

The California Surgeon General's Playbook: Stress Relief During COVID-19 offers stress management information, specific "stress busting" strategies that can be used at home, and a self-care template for adults.

The California Surgeon General's Playbook: Stress Relief for Caregivers and Kids During COVID-19 offers information on stress management for kids, specific "stress busting" strategies, and a self-care template for kids.

An All Plan Letter for Medi-Cal managed care health plans on Mitigating Health Impacts of Secondary Stress Due to the COVID-19 Emergency.

Guidance for Medi-Cal fee-for-service providers on Mitigating Health Impacts of Secondary Stress Due to the COVID-19 Emergency.

Additionally, ACEs Aware hosted a webinar, Taking Care of Our Patients, Our Teams, and Ourselves: Trauma-Informed Practices to Address Stress Related to COVID-19 , which reached more than 3,000 people. Future webinars will continue to offer practical information to help providers as they respond to the stress caused by the COVID-19 emergency.

For more information, visit the ACEs aware website, which includes a page with stress management resources for providers and their patients. ACEs Aware will continue to offer health care providers resources and tools to support them, their teams, and their patients during this stressful time.

About ACEs Aware

The Office of the California Surgeon General and the state Department of Health Care Services are leading a first-in-the-nation statewide effort to screen children and adults for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in primary care, and to treat the impacts of toxic stress with trauma-informed care. The ACEs Aware initiative is built on the consensus of scientific evidence deomnstrating that early detection and evidence-based intervention improves outocmes. The bold goal of this initiative is to reduce ACEs and toxic stress by half in one generation, and to launch a national movement to ensure everyone is ACEs Aware. for more information, visit www.ACEsAware.org.