NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 10, 2023 – Omni Family of Services, a national leader in child welfare and behavioral health, in collaboration with the Hope Research Center and Attend Behavior technology platform, is pleased to announce the formation of the Hope Collective. This partnership has been selected as the recipient of a four-year Tennessee Department of Children’s Services ACEs Innovation Grant, funded by the Tennessee State Legislature, beginning July 1, 2023. The Hope Collective is designed to reduce the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) for families throughout the state.
This funding will allow the Hope Collective to develop a practice model based on the work of the Hope Research Center to guide family serving organizations. This evidence-based approach improves community outcomes by reducing the impact of ACEs, increasing client goal achievement, and retaining family-serving staff. The Attend Behavior platform will support the project with data collection and evaluation. Over four years, Omni Family of Services staff will receive training and consultation to identify and research best practices in service delivery. Nurture the Next, an in-home parenting support organization, will also participate in the Hope Collective to broaden the impact across Tennessee.
ACEs are traumatic events that occur before a child reaches the age of 18. ACEs include all types of abuse and neglect, such as parental substance use, incarceration, and domestic violence. The CDC-Kaiser ACE study in the 1990s, considered to be a landmark study on ACEs, found a significant relationship between the number of ACEs a person experienced and a variety of negative outcomes in adulthood, including poor physical and mental health, substance use, and risky behaviors. The more ACEs experienced, the greater the risk for these outcomes.
In partnership with Omni Family of Services, Omni Family Institute will manage the project’s implementation. With a focus on driving innovation to child welfare and behavioral health, Omni Family Institute delivers evidence-based models and training.
