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Hope and Healing
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Safety and Connection
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Resilience and Healing
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Connection and Hope
"You are giving children with trauma a voice. And hope for the future."
A Message from our CEO
Every child is filled with tremendous promise – and, as a community, we have a shared obligation to foster that potential.
The stress of the past four years has been unprecedented. The current state of the world has taken a toll on everyone’s mental health, well-being, and even sense of hope for the future.
Anxiety and depression in children and teenagers is at an all-time high. We are tackling the youth mental health crisis through innovation, using a public health framework that includes prevention and early intervention. We don't have to wait for a child to fall apart emotionally before we step in and help. We simply can’t address these issues alone, so we are deeply grateful for you, our generous donors. You make our mission and work possible.
2022 Impact
Connecting Children to Safety
Building hope and resilience for the future means creating a community where all children and families feel loved, safe, protected — and connected.
Because of your generous support, we served over 7,500 children in 2022! We combined forces with KidSafe — and forged new connections together — to be our strongest in preventing and protecting children from becoming victims of abuse and trauma. To date, more than 60,000 children have been empowered to report abuse through the KidSafe curriculum.
We could not innovate and do this critical work without your support. We can’t build connections, educate the public, and prevent trauma on our own.
We are so grateful for your unwavering passion and dedication. On behalf of our staff and the children we serve, thank you.
Read the 2022 Community Impact Report.
Our Work in Action
Initiatives
We all see the news. War, violence, conflict, school shootings...and so much more.
Trying to make sense of a war or school shooting is difficult for most adults, much less putting into words to explain it to a child.
Through support from caring donors, we were able to launch Ways to Talk to Children in direct response to parents reaching out for help. This new initiative is tackling tough topics like sexual abuse, suicide, school shootings, war, and more...so parents have the words and tools to soothe fears and help children feel safe.
Inspiration
Children are not born with resilience, however we can build it through positive relationships.
Our Childcare and Community Social-Emotional Wellness (CCSEW) Program has been bringing the research to practice for over 20 years.
The program uses a multilayered approach with prevention, early intervention, and mental health services for children, their teachers and adult caregivers, and families. As our flagship program, CCSEW has won many awards, including the prestigious Florida Blue Foundation Sapphire Award for advancing health equity.
Impact
In our nation and community, children and teenagers are facing a mental health crisis.
In the first six months of 2022, we saw the need more than triple, further complicated by a shortage of professionals in Palm Beach County.
With your support, our team facing this crisis directly, reimagining every aspect of our work to expand critical mental health services for children and teens. At times we are overwhelmed, but we are filled with hope when we hear the stories of healing. Stories that are only possible through your generosity and support.
Stories of Hope and Resilience
Hailey's Story
Hailey's story is one of transformation and love. Hailey began the earliest years of her life experiencing extensive trauma. She was faced with abandonment by her biological family, and placed in the system to cope with her feelings of being "unloved" and abandoned. Read her story of hope here.
Meet Lili
Meet Kenny
Meet Sam
Meet Heather
Fighting ACEs and Childhood Trauma
The science tells us that in the absence of buffering relationships, chronic stress in childhood can change the architecture of the developing brain. It impacts everything--classroom behaviors, learning and comprehension, the ability to self-regulate--and heightens the risk for future health problems.
Yet, as a society, we continue to primarily invest deeply in deep-end interventions rather than addressing the root causes of so many of society’s issues – from soaring rates of teen depression and suicide, to school shootings, and the opioid epidemic. We cannot afford a "business as usual" attitude. We are at the tipping point where awareness must become action. Information alone does not change behavior; however, if we have systemic reinforcements, we can create a coordinated effort for tangible, sustainable change. Read our white paper below.
Merger to Fight Child Sexual Abuse
One in four girls and one in thirteen boys will report they were sexually abused by the age of 18. On October 3rd, 2022 we officially merged with the KidSafe Foundation, bringing on KidSafe as a program to expand awareness and the prevention of child sexual abuse, trafficking, and exploitation as a part of Fighting ACEs in Florida. Read the News Release.