Methodist Children’s Home (MCH) is proud to reintroduce the Willson-Johnson Lecture Series as part of its 2025 conference lineup. Established in 1957, this distinguished lecture series has served as a national platform for advancing knowledge and practice in child welfare. For decades, the series has featured influential voices and thought leaders dedicated to improving the lives of children, families, and communities.
This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Robert Anda, co-principal investigator of the landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. Dr. Anda’s groundbreaking work has reshaped how practitioners, educators, and policy leaders understand the long-term impact of childhood trauma on health and well-being. His insights will challenge and inspire professionals working across sectors to adopt more trauma-informed and compassionate approaches to care.
This presentation will include a review of how adversity gets embedded in neurodevelopment and affects the way our genome may be used and affected. The public health and community-wide implications of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study will be reviewed, and specific examples of how this science has shown how ACEs affect the goals and practices in human service systems (education, justice, health care) in the community will be provided. “Self-Healing Communities” use this science—and the understanding and compassion that flows from it-- as a platform to engage the creativity, minds, and hearts of all people in community, that can lead healing at the individual level and to a culture of change. This change brings people who have been affected by ACEs and the systems that serve them together to bring hope, new meaning, and understanding that is necessary for moving beyond old ways of thinking about trauma, ACEs, and their related outcomes. These changes unlock the latent potential and creativity in communities, leading to new ways to interrupt the intergenerational cycle of ACEs and reduce exposure to ACEs for future generations.
Join us for this important conversation as we continue to explore the evolving needs of those we serve—and how we, together, can respond with purpose and innovation.
