Teaching Co-Regulation and Self Regulation as a Public Health Path To Prevent and Respond to Our Aces Epidemic:

This talk will provide an overview of how an understanding of attachment and co-regulation is being woven with tangible wellness tools (rooted in somatic experiencing and the polyvagal theory) to support prevention of and response to trauma and ACEs. Our goal is that these essential concepts and self-regulation tools are accessible to all people and build the conditions for and commitment to systems change. The Reconnect for Resilience curriculum is being embraced in rural and urban communities, by early care professionals and public educators, firefighters and first responders, behavioural health providers and in medical settings, with incarcerated people and in faith communities, in university contexts and in trailer parks. As we seed Circle of Security Parenting across our state, we are building skills for self-reflection and secure attachment, moving from early experiences of blame, shame, fear and submission (and from institutes that have long-reinforced such trauma across the lifespan) toward the bedrock of nonviolence, wellbeing, equity and resilience – one nervous system, one secure relationship, and one resiliency-focus institution at a time.