Tag: HOPE

A Child’s Story Doesn’t Have to End the Way it Began

Cara Hansen Blog, Fighting ACEs PBC, Latest News, News Releases April 2, 2026ACEs, adverse childhood experiences, Center for Child Counseling, FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute, fighting ACEs, healthy outcomes from positive experiences, HOPE, LaFrance Project, Lisa LaFrance, resilience

NEWS RELEASE
April 2, 2026
For immediate release
Media contact: Cara Scarola Hansen
Center for Child Counseling Public Relations Counsel
cara@yourmissionmarketing.com

A special screening of ‘Resilience’ and community conversation with nonprofit, higher education, and medical leaders gives hope for all children.

“Children’s lives can be different…the story doesn’t have to end the way it began.” This was the hopeful and resounding message at the recent event Center for Child Counseling (CFCC) hosted at the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute. Presented in partnership with the LaFrance Project, community members came together to reflect on their shared commitment to preventing and healing childhood adversity.

The evening featured a screening of the acclaimed documentary Resilience: The Biology of Stress & the Science of Hope and a thought-provoking panel discussion with community experts in the fields of neuroscience, medicine, education, the judicial system, and mental health.

The documentary uncovers one of the most important public health discoveries of our time: the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The film explores how toxic stress can alter brain architecture, increase the risk of chronic disease, and shape the trajectory of children’s lives. Just as importantly, it shines a light on proven solutions that communities are using to break cycles of adversity and build resilience.

Resilience reflects the science that has guided Center for Child Counseling’s Fighting ACEs Initiative for the past decade—revealing how early adversity affects health and development, and how informed, connected communities can create lasting change. The film reinforces a powerful message at the heart of our work: resilience grows when awareness, prevention, and supportive relationships come together.

Over the past decade, CFCC, along with its extraordinary partners, has embedded trauma-informed care into pediatric practices, school systems, judicial systems, and early childhood programs.

“We’ve helped build trauma-informed childcare and classrooms. We’ve piloted and scaled the HOPE (healthy outcomes from positive experiences) framework—because we learned that it’s not enough to count ACEs. We must build positive childhood experiences. We must give children something to run toward, not just something to run from,” stated Renée Layman, chief executive officer of CFCC.

The Center uses a data-to-action approach—one of the only integrated clinical dashboards of its kind in the nation—to identify trends, respond in real time, and measure what is actually working.

“Because behind every data point is a child. A face. A family. A story. The science has confirmed what we hoped: resilience is real. It’s biological. And it can be built,” added Layman.

Following the viewing of the film, Lisa LaFrance, investment professional turned philanthropist, moderated a discussion with the panelists, including: Dr. Randy Blakely, Ph.D., founding executive director of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute and director of the Neuroscience Graduate Program at FAU; Dr. Eugenia Millender, co-founder and co-director of the Center of Population Sciences for Health Empowerment, assistant dean for research, and Marie Cowart endowed professor at Florida State University College of Nursing; Keith Oswald, chief of student health and wellness for the Palm Beach County School District; Mary Quinlan, chief deputy court administrator for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County, Florida; Dr. Shannon Fox- Levine, South Florida medical director at Bluebird Kids Health, medical director at Center for Child Counseling, and president of the Palm Beach County Pediatric Society.

“This panel represents something remarkable — five systems that rarely sit at the same table. The brain. The body. The classroom. The courtroom. The community. And yet, ACEs science has reached into all of them and asked the same question: how do we stop waiting for children to fall apart, and start building the conditions for them to thrive?”commented LaFrance.

Attendees gained insight into how early adversity impacts health and development; learned how local leaders are creating real change in our community; and connected with others committed to ensuring every child grows up safe, supported, and resilient. They left with the reinforced knowledge that a child’s story doesn’t have to end where it began, and every community member can play a role in writing that story of hope.

For more information on the Center for Child Counseling, how it is fighting ACEs and providing HOPE, or upcoming community events, visit centerforchildcounseling.org.

About Center for Child Counseling
Center for Child Counseling has been building the foundation for playful, healthful, and hopeful living for children and families in Palm Beach County since 1999. Its services focus on preventing and healing the effects of adverse experiences and toxic stress on children, promoting resiliency and healthy family, school, and community relationships. www.centerforchildcounseling.org Twitter: @ChildCounselPBC Facebook: @CenterforChildCounseling Instagram: @childcounselpbc

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CFCC Named Crisis Intervention Team Community Partner of the Year by PBSO

Cara Hansen Latest News, News Releases November 6, 2025November 6, 2025ACEs, adverse childhood experiences, Center for Child Counseling, healthy outcomes from positive experiences, HOPE, PBSO, PCEs, positive childhood experiences, Renee Layman, risis Intervention Team, The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, trauma-informed care

NEWS RELEASE
November 6, 2025
For immediate release
Media contact: Cara Scarola Hansen
Center for Child Counseling Public Relations Counsel
cara@yourmissionmarketing.com

Center for Child Counseling Named Crisis Intervention Team Community Partner of the Year by PBSO

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) recently recognized Center for Child Counseling (CFCC) as its Crisis Intervention Team Community Partner of Year at the 2025 PBC Crisis Intervention Team Annual Luncheon.

For more than 10 years, CFCC has helped train PBSO’s law enforcement officers, corrections deputies, communications officers, sponsored recruits, and school resource officers. Each month, CFCC’s staff of mental health providers present on ACEs (adverse childhood experiences), PCEs (positive childhood experiences), and HOPE (healthy outcomes from positive experiences). The team also facilitates the brain architecture game. As a training partner, CFCC is one part of the 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training.

“At Center for Child Counseling, we are building trauma-informed communities. When we create trauma-aware adults who understand how trauma versus positive experiences affect a person, we are promoting a culture that provides optimal support for staff. In turn, that promotes the resilience and well-being of children that comes from healthy child-caregiver relationships. We are committed to our partnership with PBSO and training the adults in all organizations on trauma-informed care and the HOPE framework, because we want to give them meaningful tools to build healthier families, schools, and communities,” said Renée Layman, CEO of CFCC.

CIT is an effective law enforcement response program designed for first responders who handle crisis calls involving people with mental illness including those with co-occurring substance use disorders. CIT training emphasizes a partnership between law enforcement, the mental health and substance abuse treatment system, mental health advocacy groups, and consumers of mental health services and their families. CIT is both a training program, and a collaborative effort that builds community partnerships with mental health service providers. This training ensures that deputies are able to safely assess and interact with persons with mental illness in a crisis situation.

Since the start of 2025, CFCC has trained more than 500 PBSO officers.

CFCC provides an array of live and online trauma-informed training options for schools and organizations. For more information, visit: centerforchildcounseling.org/traumainformedcare.

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Hopeful Message Delivered to Pediatric Professionals at Lead the Fight Event

Cara Hansen Latest News, News Releases December 7, 2024December 19, 2024ACEs and trauma, adverse childhood experiences, Center for Child Counseling, Eugenia Millender, healthy outcomes, HOPE, Lead the Fight, PCEs, positive childhood experiences, Positivity will give HOPE for our future, Renee Layman, Shannon Fox-Levine

December 9, 2024
For immediate release
Media contact: Cara Scarola Hansen
Center for Child Counseling Public Relations Counsel
cara@yourmissionmarketing.com

Hopeful Message Delivered to Pediatric Professionals at Lead the Fight Event
Part III of the 2024 Lead the Fight series emphasized how to promote healthy outcomes from positive experiences for children–giving hope to vulnerable families for a brighter future.

Center for Child Counseling continued its 2024 Lead the Fight series to move forward its efforts addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and childhood trauma with the healthcare providers who are on the frontlines of seeing children and families. In partnership with the Palm Beach Pediatric Society, the Center hosted the third and final part of the series, Positivity Will Give HOPE for Our Future, on December 4.

Led by Dr. Shannon Fox-Levine, president of the Palm Beach Pediatric Society and medical director of Center for Child Counseling, the event focused on HOPE (healthy outcomes from positive experiences) and understanding the effect of positive childhood experiences (PCEs) on countering the long-term effect of ACEs and trauma, including the role of epigenetics.

Featured guest speakers included Renée Layman, CEO of Center for Child Counseling, and Eugenia Flores Millender, Ph.D., RN, PMH-APRN, FAAN. The goal of the evening was to help pediatric medical professionals better understand PCEs and how environmental influences–children’s experiences–actually affect the expression of their genes.

Layman presented an overview of PCEs and the HOPE framework–stressing the idea that positive experiences are the antidote to adverse experiences in a child’s life.

According to Layman, “As a society we tend to continue to focus on the negative…While addressing problems and deficits in a child’s life is vital, it would be a mistake to overlook the positive experiences that prevent, mitigate, and support healing from childhood trauma. HOPE shifts the narrative.”

She emphasized the necessity of love, connection, and intentional care for fostering a child’s ability to thrive, both in the moment and over their lifetime.

“A child thrives in the context of strong, nurturing connections with adults who care for them unconditionally. This connection creates a sense of safety, belonging, and worth essential for healthy development,” Layman added.

Positive experiences promote children’s health and well-being, allow children to form strong relationships and connections, cultivate positive self-image and self-worth, provide a sense of belonging, and build skills that promote resilience. The national data shows that PCEs protect adult mental health–the more positive experiences that a child has, the better their long-term health outcomes.

Following Layman, Dr. Millender discussed how environmental stressors impact child development and health–diving into the research of epigenetics.

Millender is board chair at Center for Child Counseling and the co-founder and co-director of the Center of Population Sciences for Health Equity, assistant dean of research, and a tenured professor at Florida State University College of Nursing. She is an Afro-Indigenous Latina scientist, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, and a bilingual first-generation immigrant. These diverse experiences shape and guide her research, focusing on reducing mental health disparities.

Millender’s work explores how socio-cultural stressors and trauma contribute to transgenerational psychological and co-occurring physical illnesses through gene-environment interactions. She has dedicated her career to increasing access to integrated mental health services and community-engaged research.

“It is not easy but it’s worth doing for our children, for their futures,” said Millender.

In 2015, Center for Child Counseling launched Fighting ACEs to build awareness and action to mitigate the impact of ACEs and build well-being through Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs). In conjunction with Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2017, the Center developed ‘Lead the Fight’ in 2016 to bring awareness to system leaders around fighting childhood adversity with advocacy and action. Since that time, the agency has educated tens of thousands of parents, professionals, and systems leaders.

Partnership sponsors who are leading the fight in making these important and necessary conversations possible include: BeWellPBC, Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County, Florida Association for Infant Mental Health, Hanley Foundation, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Palm Beach County, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, Mead Johnson Nutrition, Palm Beach Pediatrics, Palm Beach Pediatric Society, and Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart & Shipley.

CFCC’s Fighting ACEs initiative to build trauma-informed communities is made possible with the generous support of Quantum Foundation, Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, and private donors.

CFCC’s pediatric integration program is made possible thanks to the support of Quantum Foundation, The Frederick DeLuca Foundation, and Palm Beach County Community Services Department.

The Lead the Fight 2025 series will kickoff with an event featuring Dr. Nadine Burke Harris on February 28 at the Kravis Center. Burke Harris is the former attorney general of California and an internationally renowned pediatrician, public health advocate, and author.

For more information on the upcoming event and joining the fight against ACEs, visit: centerforchildcounseling.org/leadthefight.

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