Free webinar, 'Health for a Change: ACEs, Substance Use Disorder, and Prevention' is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 19

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky's next "Health for a Change" webinar is titled "ACEs, Substance Use Disorder and Prevention." It will be held Friday, Jan. 19, from 11 a.m. to noon ET. 

This free webinar will dive into the connection between adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, and SUD, while sharing what’s going on in Kentucky to address it. Click here to register. 

"Substance use disorder is a critical health concern in Kentucky," says a foundation news release. " So, how can we prevent future generations from struggling with the disease? It requires us to start as early as childhood." 

Studies show that ACEs, a term used for all types of abuse, neglect and family dysfunction that occur under the age of 18, are linked to negative health outcomes in adulthood. One in five Kentucky children have experienced at least two ACEs.

The webinar will offer prevention strategies and ways to support them. It will include topics such as how childhood trauma makes a person more at risk of developing substance use disorder, examples of ACEs interventions and SUD prevention and how an initiative called Bloom Kentucky is working to increase these efforts across the state.

The webinar's scheduled speakers include:

· Barry Allen, president & treasurer, The Gheens Foundation, Louisville
· Shannon Moody, chief policy and strategy officer, Kentucky Youth Advocates
· Dr. Connie White, deputy commissioner for clinical affairs, Kentucky Department for Public Health