We wanted to let you know what progress has been made in implementing the seven objectives of Gloucestershire’s ACEs Strategy since it was launched at the More than ACEs Conference in November 2018.
Objective 1- Communications Campaign
This objective is being led by the Action on ACEs core communications team, made up of panel advisors, ACEs speciailists and outside comms support. It covers awareness raising across the county through the FREE screening of the Resilience Documentary, alongside events and the development of resources for champions. Achievements so far include the inaugural conference, branding and communications tools, three additional screenings of the documentary with a further three in planning.
Objective 2 – Training
This objective is being lead by Dr. Imelda Bennett, Designated Doctor, Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group. This includes the development of a knowledge and skills framework, which is currently being consulted on with a number of partners and will be launched later in 2019. ACEs awareness training packages are also being developed alongside a suite of tools and resources. Gloucestershire Constabulary have also been delivering ACE awareness sessions to settings across the county, from schools to early help; educational psychologists to community partners. Between October 2018 and February 2018 they delivered sessions to almost 800 people.
For ACEs training enquiries please contact actionaces@gloucestershire.gov.uk
Objective 3 – Partnership with Communities
This objective is being led by Paul Stephenson, Chief Executive of Cheltenham Borough Homes and it is supported by the communities sub group. Two community pilots will begin in Kingsholm, Gloucester and St Pauls in Cheltenham. If you live or work in these areas and would like to be involved in creating ACE Aware Communities please get in touch. An ACEs education sub group has also been set up, led by Kevin Day, Headteacher at Belmont School.
Objective 4 – Information and Resources
Access to resources and information is a key part of our awareness raising activities. The new Action on ACEs website will act as a hub for local and global ACEs resources. This includes videos, links to expert research, support networks and the creation of a Gloucestershire community asset map.
To add an organisation or community group to the map, please get in touch.
Objective 5 – Distribution of ACEs
Our understanding of the distribution and prevalence of ACEs in Gloucestershire increasing daily as more and more organisations and communities start to use ACEs in their work to support the needs of children, young people and families.
Objective 6 – Policies, Strategies and Contracts
We are hearing many stories of how an understanding of ACEs is already being built into organisations; thus giving people a common language to talk about adversity and resilience. Gloucestershire Constabulary is working towards becoming a trauma-informed organisation. Wendy Williams, Assistant Director for Integrated Children and Families Commissioning at Gloucestershire County Council, has developed a range of toolkits to help support commissioned providers to have a conversation around ACEs and resilience. To see how these tools can be transferred to other service contexts, they will be piloted in different settings (from health to voluntary organisations) across the county. We are working in partnership with our colleagues in Wales to evaluate the effectiveness of these tools.
Objective 7- Evaluation
This objective is being led by Dr. Tanya Richardson, Consultant in Public Health at Gloucestershire County Council. We are already receiving requests to share Gloucestershire’s story from organisations all over the country and beyond (the most distant requests so far came from New Zealand!). An evaluation framework is being develop that will capture the stories that came from viral change, alongside ‘fit for purpose’ quantitative metrics to help us demonstrate the impact we are having. We are exploring possible evaluation partnerships with Public Health Wales and local universities.
You can view the full Gloucestershire’s ACEs Strategy here>>