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.
UCLA and UCSF awarded $41.5 million to address the impact of childhood adversity and toxic stress on health
UCLA and UCSF, have partnered with the California Department of Health Care Services and Office of the California Surgeon General to lead a multi-campus initiative addressing the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences and other causes of toxic stress on health.
The UCLA/UCSF ACEs Aware Family Resilience Network (UCAAN) brings its expertise and resources to the state’s ACEs Aware initiative, which trains clinicians on how to screen children and adults for ACEs to treat the toxic stress response.
“UCAAN has the opportunity to develop and disseminate 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, Co-Principal Investigator, UCAAN, UCSF Professor of Medicine, 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.
