Mower Refreshed organizers want to help children get past stressful childhood situations, and they’re planning for a large discussion from many community members on how to do just that.

The community health initiative’s second annual Take 5 event on June 13 will feature guest speaker Dr. Glenace Edwell of the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Edwell will speak on the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and recent research concerning childhood trauma in Minnesota.

ACE is more of a score to see how many adverse experiences children must deal with, according to Sandy Anderson, Mower County coordinator. ACE scores measure things like whether children must deal with shouting, slapping or pushing at home, whether their parents are separated, whether one or more family members deal with mental illness, and so forth.

“Some of those things are unfortunately common,” Anderson said.

After Edwell’s presentation, community members will discuss ways to decrease childhood trauma and stress.

“We’re really trying to simplify our approaches, and helping to decrease the amount of trauma, childhood trauma in particular,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the Take 5 initiative, which deals with decreasing stress and teaching children resilient behaviors to make them healthier, will explore some of the ideas brought up by community members, similar to last year’s Take 5 event.

The event will take place starting from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, June 13, with registration starting at 8:45 a.m. The event is free, but residents must register due to limited space. Only 140 people can attend, according to Anderson, and all participants must RSVP by June 3 to Elizabeth Hagan by emailing her at hagan.elizabeth@mayo.edu. Lunch will be provided, and donations are accepted. The event is also worth 3.2 continuing education units from the Departments of Health and Human Services.