From Treatment to Healing
The Power of Trauma-informed Health Care
Childhood and adult trauma are not only common but can be a hidden cause of most illness and death. By addressing trauma and building on individual and community strengths, we can help families heal, prevent child abuse and neglect, reduce infant mortality, and more effectively solve our country’s most pressing health issues.
UCSF, UCLA and State of California lead first-in-nation childhood adversity and toxic stress program
The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is contracting with the UCLA/UCSF ACEs Aware Family Resilience Network (UCAAN) to implement the State’s groundbreaking ACEs Aware initiative. Led and administered through the Department of Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the UCSF Center to Advance Trauma-Informed Health Care (CTHC), UCAAN received its initial funding of $41 million in October 2021 to promote early detection and intervention to mitigate the health and societal impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress.
“UCAAN is developing and disseminating the evidence, practice, and policies to address trauma, promote resilience, and achieve better health outcomes and health equity for the many physical and mental health conditions driven by early childhood trauma and other causes of toxic stress.” said Edward Machtinger, MD, UCAAN Co-Principal Investigator and Director of UCSF CTHC.
Whole Family Wellness
Experts now believe it’s most effective to treat the whole family when trauma occurs. With funding from Genentech, the Center to Advance Trauma Informed Health Care (CTHC) is developing and evaluating a whole family wellness model of primary care to improve outcomes for children and families.
Why Trauma?
Trauma is associated with eight of the ten leading causes of death including: heart, lung and kidney disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, suicide and overdoses.
Our Vision
CTHC’s vision is a health care system that understands the traumatic roots of most illness and death, and is organized to help individuals and families prevent and heal from trauma as a core element of all services and care.
A transformation from treatment to genuine healing
Dr. Edward Machtinger, founder and director of CTHC, is a nationally respected thought leader and advocate for health policy pertaining to trauma-informed care.
