Compassionate Communities
Where Everyone
Can Thrive
Together we can address Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) by creating the conditions for healing and well-being.
At Iowa ACEs 360, we work collaboratively with leaders, organizations, and community members to advocate for policies that strengthen support for families.
2024 Iowa Report
Leading with Hope:
Report on Health, Well-Being and Childhood Experiences in Iowa
Understanding how our experiences impact our health and well-being is an important foundation for creating the conditions that help families thrive. The 2024 report expands on traditional ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) data to include a wider range of childhood experiences and well-being indicators. While ACEs data remains central, the report emphasizes the need to consider broader social, historical, and local factors to better understand and improve the health and well-being of Iowa’s children and families.
Join The Work
Support Families & Communities
We support a network of partners in government, nonprofit, philanthropy, education, health care, faith,
business, community, and more. Everyone is invited to get involved.
RESEARCH
Read research about ACEs, brain science, and how to respond.
TRAINING
Take a self-guided course or request a training.
ADVOCACY
Join the network to receive updates on ways to take action.
CONTACT US
Apply new approaches that prioritize healing and well-being.
Deep Dives
Dive deeper into each of our policy asks and gather talking points you can use in conversations with leaders.
Supporting Iowa's Families During the Postpartum Period
Children's Mental Health: Building Community for Parents and Caregivers
Paid Leave
Social Feed and Action Alerts
Questions
Join the Work
We welcome everyone who wants to learn about ACEs and trauma-informed, healing-centered approaches to respond. Take action with us today.
Offering a wellness benefit is Step 1.
Step 2 is making it possible for employees to use it.
An employee assistance program, counseling benefit or wellness resource does not help much if employees do not know it exists, cannot find time to use it or worry their supervisor will judge them for asking.
Employers can start by asking:
Do employees know what support is available?
Can they access it privately?
Do schedules and workloads leave room to use it?
Do supervisors treat using benefits as normal?
The goal is not another benefit employees politely ignore. It is support people can actually use when life gets hard.
Learn more about building supportive workplaces at workwelliowa.org. ... See MoreSee Less
Most Iowa students are headed back to school this week! Among the excitement, there is often stress and worry that impact kids and their caregivers. Great advice below for supporting kids AND taking care of yourself as caregiver! ... See MoreSee Less
Most employees who are breastfeeding have a federal right to reasonable break time and a private place other than a bathroom to pump at work. That is the floor, not the finish line. A policy only works when employees can use it without losing needed work time, falling behind or worrying that a supervisor sees pumping as a problem. Employers can support nursing parents by reviewing scheduling, coverage, privacy and supervisor communication together. Learn more about supportive workplace policies: www.workwelliowa.org ... See MoreSee Less