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Anne and Alison interview Adrian Alexander and Juleus Ghunta, community managers of the ACEs Caribbean Community, raising awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and promoting Protective Factors, Positive Experiences, Hope, and Resilience throughout the Caribbean. They are working to inform and transform their region to see more empowered, trauma-informed, and resilient people, families, communities, organisations, and nations. Adrian and Juleus share about their trauma-informed anti-violence work in the Caribbean, including healing the wounds of boy children, who often are overlooked when we focus on gender-based violence. Juleus shares an excerpt from his recent book and poetry so good that it will capture even those who are thinking "I'm just not into poetry." 

Juleus Ghunta is a Chevening Scholar, children’s writer, a member of Jamaica’s National Task Force on Character Education, and an advocate in the Caribbean’s Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) movement. Ghunta holds a BA in Media from The University of the West Indies, Mona, and an MA in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford, UK. His work explores the links between toxic stress and academic underachievement, and the varied effects of false positivity and emotional invalidation on the choices and hopes of survivors of complex trauma. His poems and essays on ACEs have appeared in 30+ journals across 16 countries. His picture book, Tata and the Big Bad Bull, was published by CaribbeanReads in 2018, and he is the co-editor of the December 2019 and March 2020 issues of Interviewing the Caribbean (The UWI Press), focused on children’s literature and ACEs in the Caribbean. He is also the co-editor of a special issue of PREE magazine on ACEs and storytelling (Dec. 2021). Ghunta’s new book, Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows: A Story About ACEs and Hope, was published by CaribbeanReads on December 31, 2021. His Notebook of Words and Ideas, which features prominently in Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows, will be published by Dreamright in 2022.

Adrian Alexander is an ACEs movement community leader based in Trinidad and Tobago.

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Latchkey Urchins & Friends website.
Audio mastering by Josh Collins.
Song "One Cloud is Lonely" by Próxima Parada.
Cover art by Claire Dierksen.