Current Initiatives
Boot Camp Translation
This project involves recruiting a team of community members and educating them about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which are stressful or traumatic events that occur during childhood and, if unresolved, can put people at higher risk for a host of poor health and wellness outcomes. The team is then asked to answer the question, "What do you want your community to know and do, in regards to ACEs?" Leaning into the team's understanding of local culture, we'll determine the best ways to communicate those messages and co-create communication strategies and materials.
ECSEL
Working with the Community Concepts Head Start program, we've developed the Early Childhood Social Emotional Learning (ECSEL) resource kit to support Social Emotional Learning in early childhood education (ECE) settings. This will help support emotional regulation and healthy relationships for children from an early age, helping to set the stage for a healthy life. COVID-19 threw a wrench in our plans to roll out the ECSEL kits, but we're still planning to share them and train local ECE providers on their use, hopefully in the spring/summer of 2021.
Maine West
For the past five years we've been a steadfast member of this initiative, which aims to explore what is possible when bringing the conservation, education, economic development, and health sectors together to address systemic rural challenges. We currently convene the Active Communities focal group and steward the Second Nature Adventure Challenge--which aims to get more people on local trails and offers the incentive of doing good for our communities at the same time, so you can "give back when you get outside." Learn more at www.mainewest.org.
ResilientME (formerly the Oxford County Resilience Project)
Resilient people are able to heal from ACEs, and we can build resilience through healthy, supportive relationships, self-care, authentic listening, and more. We work with ResilientMe to create supportive environments within school systems and the broader community to build the resilience that people need to heal from trauma. Part of this work involves maintaining a directory of resilience resources at www.resilientmaine.com. We also work to raise general awareness of ACEs and the importance of resilience building through community engagement.
Western Maine Addiction Recovery Initiative
WMARI is a grassroots coalition working to create a recovery ready community by raising awareness and reducing stigma around substance use treatment and recovery. WMARI engages the community through presentations to various groups, events such as the annual Western Maine Recovery Rally, and operates a program called Project Save ME to support people seeking treatment and recovery from Substance Use Disorder.
For more information about any of these initiatives, including how to get involved, please contact Brendan Schauffler via email or by calling (207) 744-6191.
