Effective Communication Strategies that Built and Strengthened the ACEs Aware Initiative
While Aurrera Health Group’s role in leading the ACEs Aware initiative on behalf of the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and the Office of the California Surgeon General (CA-OSG) was primarily focused on implementation of the policy and programmatic aspects, another key element of our role was to design and implement a robust strategic communications and outreach strategy to educate and encourage health care clinical teams across the state. Following, we highlight some of the key moments from our creative campaigns and the results that were achieved during our tenure.
Building Awareness
Our first task was to help conceptualize and test a name for the new initiative. What began as the Trauma-Informed Care initiative eventually became ACEs Aware. Our team planned and executed an extensive marketing campaign that leveraged a new ACEs Aware website, social media channels, as well as traditional outreach and stakeholder engagement to build awareness.We produced a series of micro-campaigns designed to encourage health care providers to learn, act, and integrate a deeper understanding of toxic stress physiology and trauma-informed care into their clinical practices. As part of ACEs Aware we also offered webinars, tools, and resources, and the focal point of the initiative, a free, on-line training, Becoming ACEs Aware in California that certified providers to bill Medi-Cal for conducting ACE screenings.
Building Momentum
In an effort to gain momentum for the initiative, we launched a campaign to incentivize providers to take the ACEs Aware training and begin screening for ACEs. The campaign focused on a deadline of completing the training and “attesting” to completion by July 1, 2020. We leveraged email marketing, display ads, and social media to spread the word. The use of a hard deadline proved to be an effective motivator — more than 7,300 clinicians completed the new training over a four-month period.By January 2021, nearly 14,000 providers had completed the Becoming ACEs Aware in California training and more than 300,000 patients had been screened for ACEs, but we knew there was more work to be done. We produced a video encouraging care providers to “Join the Movement to Screen, Treat, and Heal Toxic Stress,” featuring former California Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris that proved wildly successful.Our policy team produced regular data reports highlighting the number of trainings, ACE screenings, and attestations completed, as well as the number of Medi-Cal beneficiaries with ACE scores of 4 or more. Together, our policy and communications teams ensured these data points were accurate and well represented with visuals that were on brand and easy to understand.
Education and Peer-to-Peer Learning
One of the core objectives of ACEs Aware is to raise awareness of the impact of ACEs and toxic stress on individuals’ long-term health and wellbeing. Our team produced 20 monthly educational webinars that averaged 1,500 attendees on topics ranging from The Fundamentals of ACE Screening and Response in Pediatrics, ACEs and Maternal Health, and a three-part series on The Science of ACEs and Toxic Stress.We also owned and distributed ACEs Aware in Action, a monthly newsletter distributed to a list-serv of more than 39,000 individuals.
Spreading the Word
As noted in a blog for our Pathways to Resilience initiative, Reflections on ACEs Aware, we were fortunate to have California’s first-ever Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris as the spokesperson on ACEs and toxic stress. Her research on, and passion for identifying, screening, treating, and preventing ACEs and toxic stress for children and families was key to launching and building momentum for ACEs Aware.We supported several speaking engagements for CA-OSG and Dr. Burke Harris; managed owned, earned, and paid media requests and strategies; and drafted press releases on behalf of the initiative in conjunction with DHCS and CA-OSG. Dr. Burke Harris also appeared in five marketing videos, and participated in many ACEs Aware webinars, generating hundreds of thousands of video views and inspiring many health professionals to take the ACEs Aware training.
Meeting Families Where They Are
Another key element of our work was to engage with providers in their places of business – health care clinics and practices. With The ACE Resource Network and on behalf of ACEs Aware, we developed a consumer-facing poster for providers to display in their exam rooms and public spaces. The poster, which provides an entry-level explanation of ACEs and strategies for addressing toxic stress, was sent to more than 90,000 Medi-Cal providers as part of the multi-faceted launch of the ACEs Aware “State of CAre” campaign in the spring of 2021.The ACE Resource Network’s Number Story campaign generated considerable buzz by enlisting the star power of celebrities like Camila Cabello, John Legend, and Oprah Winfrey – each of whom were eager and personally motivated to help promote the understanding of ACEs and to normalize conversations about mental health and toxic stress.
Our State of CAre is ACEs Aware
In May 2021, we launched the seven-month “State of CAre” provider engagement campaign. We focused on digital and print media to raise awareness about ACEs and the long-term health effects they have on children and adults. We also developed a public service announcement with Dr. Burke Harris which received more than 6.7 million views.The “State of CAre” campaign wrapped in mid-December 2021 and resulted in more than 270 million impressions across multiple digital platforms.
ACEs Aware in Action
Our team leveraged the ACEs Aware initiative to direct $45 million in grant funding to key communities and organizations across California. Grantees developed trauma-informed networks of care supporting cross-sector referral networks and led exciting bodies of work including provider training, provider engagement, and communications.To celebrate and highlight the accomplishments of our amazing ACEs Aware grantees, we hosted a conference in May 2022. The ACEs Aware in Action: Innovations and Lessons Learned conference provided networking opportunities and educational sessions for nearly 300 participants from throughout the state of California. Grantees had an opportunity to share best practices, learn from their peers, and build lasting relationships with other grantees and experts in the field. Our communications team created the branding and identity for this exciting and informative gathering.The conference wrapped with the premiere of the first video in the Faces of ACEs Storytelling Series, featuring pediatrician and ACEs Aware champion Dr. Eric Ball from Children’s Health Orange County. His story highlights the importance of applying his training in ACEs and trauma-informed care to support patients, families, and clinical staff in coping with the psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and other life stressors.
The Faces of ACEs Through Storytelling
Together with CA-OSG, we developed a comprehensive storytelling campaign, the Faces of ACEs, highlighting grantee experiences and leveraging physician champions in promoting the ACEs Aware initiative.During our last year supporting ACEs Aware, we developed three unique stories:
And, with expert advice from Dr. Burke Harris, we put together one final video, Healing From Toxic Stress.Finally, in May 2022, new inspiration and opportunity led our team at Aurrera Health Group to launch Pathways to Resilience – a national effort to advance trauma-responsive policies and programs in states and communities across the country. Our experience leading ACEs Aware provided the knowledge, expertise, and passion we needed to serve as a national home for this important work. We hope you will:
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Contact info@Pathways-US.org to share information about your work, request a meeting to discuss how you can get involved, or to become a partner or funder.