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Nov-Dec

2024

News for Action  
A bi-monthly newsletter to spread the seeds and connect the dots. 

Fairwell, 2024!

As we close this year's cycle, we reflect upon the challenges encountered and the progress made by our communities, and the London ACEs Hub as a collective.

We tend to say, when addressing ACEs and trauma, that what happened to us is extremely important. Yet, what we do with this awareness is equally crucial. 

Throughout the year, we have aimed to share news to inspire and prompt reflection and constructive change, supporting the process of embracing our personal and collective awareness, and looking after one another. 

This final issue also reflects this commitment!

You will find below the recordings of our 2024 webinars, with our inspiring speakers sharing their learnings, lived experience, and insights on ways forward.

You will also find reports, articles, and initiatives to enlighten our understanding of the challenges we face and, most importantly, promote wellbeing and prevent harm by building healthier relationships. 

2024 closes with worrying prospects, but also with multiple examples of strength, and how we can face and overcome adversity and pain on a personal level and together. One day at a time, step by step.

May the transition into 2025 be a time of reflection and recharge.

It is, and it won't be easy, yet the journey of healing is worth the effort - for each and everyone one of us!



Join our movement!

We love welcoming new members to our independent network of survivors, multidisciplinary professionals, and community advocates. Join us to add your voice in 2025 and help make London an ACE-aware metropolis!



Share your thoughts and news!

If you have items and suggestions for the new year, do get in touch. It's always nice hearing from our inspiring and resourceful community. Drop us a line at [email protected]. 

Time for News for Action!

Events
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London ACEs Hub

Webinars 2024: Revisiting and Recharging

Let's recap our transformational events this year! Turning challenging topics into insightful reflections and action.

This was our last webinar of 2024! The event explored the untold stories of children who were sent to boarding schools when they were young and subjected to emotionally and physically abusive environments. You will gain unique insights into how these adverse childhood experiences may have shaped the personal lives of these individuals and the broader social implications, exploring the profound impact of trauma that persists beneath the surface. The event was facilitated by Mpume Mpofu, with special guests Simon Partridge and Morag Edwards. 28 November 2024

It can be challenging to speak about child sexual abuse, let alone ask for help with the medical, psychological, and social harms. This webinar, in partnership with The Flying Child, focused on how relationships with professionals have the potential either to replicate or trigger past trauma or, much better, to provide empathic, compassionate, and safe relationships. The event was facilitated by Judith Rees, with special guests Sophie Olson and Dr. Jonathon Tomlinson. 18 September 2024

We opened our 2024 webinar series with Dr. Arnon Bentovim and Jenny Gray OBE, two innovators in the fields of therapy, social work, and policy transformation. In the event, facilitated by Jocelyne Quenell and Joanna Oliver, Arnon and Jenny explored the complexities of Children's Services and the value of Transdiagnostic Modular approaches, sharing resources for practitioners to respond to ACEs and toxic stress, and the multiple needs of children, young people, and their families. 23 May 2024

Beyond the Hub

A special day to promote mental health awareness and celebrate those improving wellbeing across London. It highlights the importance of connection, especially for those facing disadvantages. For the 2025 event, you can download the GMHD Supporter’s Pack, explore activities on the Thrive LDN website, and access free training to support community mental health.

Date: 31 January 2025

Location: Various

Cost: Free

What might it mean to be trauma informed if we take a collective rather an individual view?​ This and other key questions will be the focus of this inaugural TICA Conference, bringing together deep expertise, lived experience, and innovative approaches to trauma-informed practice, inspiring positive change within communities.

Date: 6 February 2025

Location: Oxford Town Hall, Oxford, UK

Cost: £150 or 5% - 10% off group savings

Reports

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Read Mime’s research, commissioned by London Councils, on inclusion of young people with SEND in London’s schools. The report defines inclusion, outlines the picture across London, highlights the benefits of inclusion, and makes recommendations for stakeholders across the capital. 4 Nov 2024.

This report investigates the identification and prevention of modern slavery and exploitation risks for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in England. By the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre, 21 Nov 2024.

The long-term negative impact of exclusions and suspensions in primary school. Executive Summary by Chance UK, April 2024.

Action & Tools
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See Beyond is a toolkit that provides information, resources and guidance for criminal justice sector professionals and practitioners to look beyond what they see and provide support to young women displaying harmful behaviours. By Safer London, 6 Nov 2024.

A bookclub for professionals interested in learning more about psychological trauma and its neurological and biological impacts. Run by Whitney Illes, founder of Project 507, with the aim to facilitate regular discussions and monthly meet ups via Zoom, with probably a few fun things splashed in here and there.

Professor Kathy Willis, a leading expert in biodiversity and former Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew, shares  groundbreaking insights on how direct interactions with nature - seeing, smelling, and touching - can dramatically improve physical health. Promoted by RSA, 29 Oct 2024.

Play contributes to sturdy brain architecture, the foundations of lifelong health, and the building blocks of resilience. In this episode of  The Brain Architects podcast, by the Center on the Developing Child, you can learn more about how play contributes to the development of resilience. February 2022.

Racial Justice
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Service leaders and members of communities reflect on the role of the counselling professions in combatting racism. By BACP, 8 November 2024.

The campaign calls for the government to #TakeRacismSeriously to stop harming young people. It emphasises the need for a whole-school approach to address racial discrimination in education and support systems. Key demands include: 

  1. Review of the National Curriculum: Ensure an anti-racism focus, making Black history compulsory and consulting experts for an inclusive, diverse education.
  2. Race Equality Act: Require schools to create action plans to address race inequality and improve data collection on ethnicity and race outcomes.
  3. Racism as a Safeguarding Issue: Recognize racism in schools as a safeguarding concern and include it in mandatory staff training.
  4. Anti-Racism Guidance: Publish comprehensive guidance for schools and colleges on addressing peer-to-peer racism and the mental health effects of racial trauma.

Lived Experience

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A long-awaited new mental health bill falls far short of the fundamental reforms needed to ensure full human rights for disabled people, and will not stop them being subjected to forcible detention and degrading treatment, activists have warned. By John Pring, in Disability News Service, 7 Nov 2024.

News & Initiatives
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Special Interest Group Newsletter detailing events, reports and initiatives on ACEs, December 2024.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Gwen Adshead gives her third Reith Lecture inside Grendon prison. There, she discusses with prisoners and staff if they think trauma causes violence. An episode of 'Four Questions about Violence', The Reith Lectures, BBC Radio 4, 10 December 2024.

The Minister of Education highlights that "The statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance makes clear that teachers should be aware of common adverse childhood experiences, including bereavement, and understand when and how these may be affecting their pupils." On They Work for You, Department for Education written question answered, 18 Nov 2024.

Articles & Books
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An article by Jenna Alley and colleagues, in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, January 2025.

An article by J. Scott Ashwood and colleagues, in Preventive Medicine Reports, November 2024.

An article by John Fardon and Louise Bomber, on Protective Behaviours, 16 November 2023.

An article by Simon Partridge, first published in Attachment, December 2023.

A book by Isobel Ross (Morag Edwards). Goldcrest Books, 2024.

A book by Benjamin Perks, a story-driven tour of everything we know about child trauma and its lasting and costly impact on individuals and society. 

A Dot of Inspiration

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"The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written."

~ Melody Beattie

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Disclaimer: News for Action is a collection of initiatives and information shared by members and collaborators of the London ACEs Hub (LAH).

The LAH is an independent and non-partisan network and the opinions here presented might not represent the LAH. All items included in this newsletter aim to promote constructive discussion as well as personal and collective development.

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