The month of May...

celebrates the resilience and legacy, traditions, and culture of Asians, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders across the United States.

Historical Novels

The Making of Asian America:

• A History by Erika Lee (Simon & Schuster, 2015)
• Pacific Worlds: A History of Seas, Peoples, and Cultures by Matt K. Matsuda (Cambridge University Press, 2012)

May is also Mental Health Awareness

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
What is an adverse childhood experience?
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are negative experiences that happen between the ages of 1 and 17 years. These experiences are usually traumatic events. ACEs can affect a person’s health throughout their lifetime. They may lead to issues such as mental health conditions, chronic physical health conditions and/or substance use disorder. These conditions can be treated or managed throughout a person’s life.

What is atraumatic event?
An event or experience that causes long-term (chronic) stress or extreme stress (toxic stress) is a traumatic event. These events affect a person both physically and emotionally.

Common signs of a traumatic event include feeling:

• Terrified.
• Helpless.
• At risk of danger or in danger.
• Physically hurt.

An adult or child may feel trauma if they experience an event firsthand or see an event through media like television or the internet. Media can also trigger flashbacks to traumatic events that happened during childhood.

Different types of traumatic events include:

• Natural disasters.
• Domestic violence.
• Shootings.
• Bullying.
• A car accident.
• Sexual abuse.
• Loss of family member/parental divorce or separation.

These are only some examples of traumatic events, but there are many more. A traumatic event may
occur once or it could happen several times during one’s childhood. Not every child reacts to the same event in the same way.

If you or one of your loved ones are considering suicide, reach out to a healthcare provider or call the suicide prevention hotline at 988.