Category: Fighting ACEs PBC

ACEs and Minorities

ACEs can affect anybody, anywhere. Children experiencing adverse situations, and adults who experienced adversity when they were children, come from all walks of life. ACEs are not confined to any particular race, religion, socio-economic background, or nationality. Any child can experience the sustained toxic stress associated with untreated trauma and suffer negative mental and physical health effects.

The original study on Adverse Childhood Experiences conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and insurance giant Kaiser Permanente in the mid-1990s unearthed this fact early in their research. Their study was conducted among 17,000 middle-class Americans living in Southern California. Even though these original participants were not necessarily representative of the average American, approximately half of them had still experienced at least one ACE.

Subsequent US-based ACE studies, including the largest study conducted to date between 2011 and 2014, have consistently shown the same general prevalence of ACEs among American children. This far larger sample group, and the data accumulated from many studies, highlighted some startling differences in who is most likely to suffer from ACEs. Children from minority backgrounds—whether based on race, socio-economic standing, or sexual orientation—were at distinctly higher risk of ACEs and their devastating life-long effects than middle-class white children.

At-Risk Minority Groups

Children of different races and ethnicities across the country do not experience the same exposure to ACEs. In the United States, 61% of black children and 51% of Hispanic children have experienced at least one ACE, compared to 40% of white children. In every part of the country, the lowest rate of ACEs was among Asian children. In most areas, the population most at risk was black children.

Geographic regions also showed different results. Compared to the national average of 1 in 10 children experiencing and ACE score of 3 or more, in 5 states—Arizona, Arkansas, Montana, New Mexico, and Ohio—1 in 7 children had experienced the same.

In Florida, 49% of children between birth and 17 reported no ACEs. 26% reported 1 ACE, 14% reported 2 ACEs and 10% reported 3 or more ACEs. This is generally in line with national averages.

The high occurrence of ACEs among minorities can likely be attributed to the uneven provision of services and opportunities in minority neighborhoods. This inequity is caused by social determinants of health. The World Health Organization describes the social determinants of health as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources.” These result in the unfair but avoidable differences in health status seen between different neighborhoods, zip codes, and even states. The social determinants of health are responsible for most health and other social disparities.

ACEs Clusters

ACEs are the result of not only situations children face within their own homes or families but the general circumstances in which they live. Because the impact of ACEs is cumulative, we see high rates in areas where several detrimental situations are occurring simultaneously. For example, a neighborhood where there is a high rate of unemployment, few educational opportunities, a strong gang presence, and high rates of domestic violence is likely to produce children who are suffering from clusters of ACEs. Because of this, ACE studies now look at the cumulative effects of ACEs rather than the individual effects of any one specific ACE.

ACEs caused by the community environments where a child is raised go hand-in-hand with the ACEs occurring in individual homes and within families.

So, ACEs aren’t a racial issue; they’re a societal one. People with low incomes and limited education are also more likely to experience ACEs, as are people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or are questioning their gender or sexuality (the LGBTQ community). According to numerous research papers, including one published by the US National Library of medicine/National Institutes of Health, this group has a dramatically higher chance of experiencing childhood trauma, probably the result of lack of understanding among family members, the taboo of discussing these issues in some communities, and the stigma often imposed by society at large.

Helping children in these particular minority groups involves cultural sensitivity and the kind of community education that takes a long time to penetrate established ways of thinking. For many children confronting overwhelming adversity and inequity, buffering relationships are needed. It is essential to address the rejection and hardships they are statistically likely to experience in their lives - with a mental health professional or caring mentor or teacher who understands the impact of these experiences. Success among marginalized groups involves developing strong internal fortitude in children and encouraging them to eventually find accepting, supportive friends, if these relationships are not available at home or school.

It’s clear that minorities, children living in economically challenged neighborhoods, and members of traditionally marginalized groups are in particular need of support in the fight against ACEs.

Solutions

Now that we know that certain groups are more likely to experience ACEs, what can we do? As individuals and communities, we can channel our efforts. A high ACE score does not predestine a child for poor life outcomes, but it does identify that child as vulnerable. Since the fight against ACEs has two primary weapons, namely 1.) building resilience and 2) promoting healthy relationships (the internal and external supports, if you like), we can provide two practical forms of assistance to targeted groups.

Building Internal Coping Skills

To build resilience in children, they need to be taught how to self-regulate and cope. Anybody can help a child to develop these vital skills. Simple techniques like providing encouragement, supporting special interests, and even just taking notice of a child is, in some small way, building self-esteem and promoting independence and strength. Children will copy the actions of adults, especially those they admire. Showing children how to calmly and fairly negotiate, compromise, demonstrate empathy, and look at all sides of an issue can help them establish a new way of thinking. Remember that children mimic both positive and negative behaviors, so it’s important to carefully consider the messages you’re sending with your behaviors and choices.

Providing External Support Systems

Of course, the most at-risk children may need professional assistance to build effective coping skills and resilience. Offering age-appropriate early intervention and mental health care in childcare centers and elementary schools (especially in at-risk neighborhoods) is the obvious place to start. Center for Child Counseling, with support from local funders including Quantum Foundation, has developed a comprehensive model for childcare centers and schools, including trauma-informed education for all caregivers, classroom-based mindfulness activities, and direct services for children identified as needing assistance. The model focuses on transforming the school environment, which in the long-term, impacts all students.

Another approach is to provide supplemental support systems in at-risk neighborhoods. Many highly-respected nonprofits do just this by creating places where children can meet, play, and be in contact with positive, caring role models and mentors. Local organizations like Urban Youth Impact, the YMCA, Compass, and Big Brothers Big Sisters are all examples of nonprofits in Palm Beach County focused on creating positive relationships that may be absent from the home.

And, as always, every one of us can play a role in the fight against ACEs by advocating for children, encouraging every child we encounter in our lives, and being on the alert for children who may need the support and help of a caring, ACEs-aware adult.

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ACEs: How to Be a Buffer for a Child

Kerry Jamieson Fighting ACEs PBC, Latest News November 9, 2018December 4, 2019ACEs, be a buffer, buffers, help, practical tips, toxic stress

Research shows that just one positive adult can dramatically improve the outlook for a child suffering from Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Learn how your simple actions can provide a buffer against toxic stress and change the course of a child's life.

Remember when you were a child. Think back. Remind yourself how vulnerable you were. The world was big; you were little. Was there ever a time when someone protected you? For many of us, it was an older sibling, maybe a big brother, who stepped in, literally, and came between us and a bully or danger. Do you remember how safe that made you feel? How exhilarating it was, in your moment of need, to know that you could rely on help to arrive. When you hurt yourself or had your feelings hurt, you probably ran to a parent who gave you a caring hug and soothed you. Without consciously knowing it, those of us with these sorts of memories were running to a buffer, looking for the concern and protection every single child needs and deserves…but which not every child gets.

For millions of children worldwide, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) make growing up a challenge at best and a chaotic nightmare at worst. The brain of a child growing up in a home with attentive parents will create a world view where adults as safe, predictable, and a source of love and sustenance. But the brain of a child living in a home plagued by domestic violence or neglect will create a world view where adults are unreliable and a source of fear and pain. Children carry these ideas with them and they color all future relationships. Depending on their experiences and outlook, children can grow to become nurturing, invested adults or mistrustful, suspicious and withholding.

During this blog series, we’ve learned about ACEs, their tragic lifelong consequences for individuals and communities, and how we must urgently address this greatest of all public health crises. Rather than being overwhelmed by the statistics though, let’s focus on hope because healing is possible.

As a society, we now know more about ACEs than ever before. That knowledge empowers us. On a system level in Palm Beach County, we’ve mobilized the community to fight ACEs, but the truly encouraging news is that you don’t need to be an expert to help turn a child’s life around. Of course, severely traumatized children might need the professional help and compassion provided by skilled therapists like those at the Center for Child Counseling, but for many of the others the answer is relatively straight-forward. The answer is you.

As someone who loves and cares for a child, or who interacts with children often, it is vital to be ACEs educated and trauma informed. Simply by reading this educational blog series, you’ve demonstrated an interest in the subject. You’re already equipped to play your small but vital part in the fight.

Adjust Your Approach
Being trauma-informed really means adjusting our thinking and the way we respond and react to a child’s behavior. Instead of asking: “What’s wrong with you?” the focus should be: “What happened to you?” This changes our attitude to consider what the child has experienced rather than the resulting behaviors which may be frustrating. Follow-up questions will help get to the cause of the problem, questions like: “When did this happen?”, “How long has it been going on?” and “Who has been there to help you since this happened?” This way of approaching children helps to avoid re-traumatizing already traumatized people. It creates a safe, non-judgmental place where children feel secure enough to share their experiences and ask for help without fear of punishment or retribution.

Be a Buffer
Supportive, loving caregivers can buffer the effects of toxic environmental stress. There are many ways you can support a child with ACEs. Studies show that a positive, nurturing relationship with even one engaged adult can help a child cope with adversity. Consider how you interact with children—your own and other people’s—and focus on being loving, kind, and genuinely interested in them.

Easy Ways to be a Buffer
In the bestselling novel “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett, a devoted nanny repeatedly tells the young child in her care: “You are kind. You are smart. You are important.” Let that be your mantra when helping a child who has experienced ACEs. Whether you’re a teacher, neighbor, coach, community volunteer, or friend of the family, being a buffer means employing several different approaches aimed at:
• Reducing stress
• Building positive relationship
• Strengthening life skills

Here are some practical, real-world ways you can combat the toxic stress caused by ACEs.

Celebrate:
When we celebrate a child’s achievements and challenges, both big and small, and affirm who they are as individuals, we support the development of their self-identity and remind them of their competence, importance, and lovability. When we acknowledge their birthdays, graduations, or everyday accomplishments like completing their homework, making a new friend, or doing chores, we help children build positive self-esteem. It may be something as simple as a clap, a smile, or a ‘thumbs up’. These simple gestures are expressions of support that can build self-confidence and help a child to thrive.

Comfort = Safety:
Children who have experienced trauma or toxic stress need comfort. Often, they need help to manage their emotions and to calm themselves down. Practicing relaxation, patience, and emotional regulation may help them connect with their feelings. Creating a safe environment is one of the most valuable components in re-establishing a sense of security and stability for a child. Whether the issue seems big or small, offer reassurance and always reinforce your commitment to be there for them. Sometimes it can be difficult to stay calm and supportive when a child exhibits the behaviors associated with toxic stress, but a measured response tells them that you are solid and reliable.

Help Children Collaborate:
Science shows that children who have been exposed to toxic stress may struggle to appreciate others’ perspectives. They may lack a sense of belonging. They may not have the skills or the know-how to reach out. And they may need help controlling their emotions, working through their problems, and gaining independence. Every day there are opportunities to collaborate or work with children towards common goals. With simple examples, you can teach problem solving and basic negotiating techniques to deal with conflict. When children learn to collaborate fairly, they feel like part of a team rather than isolated.

Grow Optimism:
We’ve already learned that a young child’s growing brain has plasticity – it’s still forming neural pathways and those pathways can be altered for the better. Brain science shows that we can actually train our brains to be more optimistic and hopeful about the future by practicing positive self-talk. You can reinforce this kind of positive brain growth in the children you know.

Don’t Just Hear…Listen:
It may sound easy, but listening is a skill we all need to practice. For all children, especially those who have experienced traumatic stress and violence, a patient and receptive adult who listens can help them feel safe and valued. Active listening means paying careful attention to what is being said, rather than simply hearing it. Listening is the foundation of learning and understanding what a child is trying to communicate. It shows care and concern. Listening to a child and teaching them how to listen helps them communicate and see situations from other people’s perspective – a key to empathy. Whether children are sharing happiness, sadness, anger, or fear, having someone truly listen to them matters.

Hold on to Healthy Relationships:
Often, when parents separate or divorce, it becomes a challenge to help kids maintain healthy contact with grandparents, supportive adults, and extended family members. One key to reducing stress is making the effort to maintain contact with these positive influences. It’s never a bad idea to let your children interact with people who truly love them…sometimes it means setting aside personal feelings in the best interest of the child.

Inspire:
To inspire someone means to lift them up with your words. Children need constant encouragement to recognize and reach their full potential. They need help identifying dreams and working towards them. Children who have witnessed violence and experienced traumatic stress can become negative, often have a low sense of self-worth, expect to be unsuccessful, and fail to foresee a positive future. But caring adults can help children reverse these negative responses. You can help inspire a child by identifying their strengths and natural talents and by connecting them to programs that help develop self-confidence.

Those who spend more time with children, like teachers, caregivers and, of course, parents have a greater opportunity to provide the tools that can really have a positive impact. Increasingly, schools, sports clubs and community events aimed at children are including elements of mindfulness training, self-care, and self-regulation activities in their work. But every one of us, even those of us who only have time to give a child a quick high-five, can consider it a privilege that we are contributing to that child’s resilience, health, and wellbeing.

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The Alarming Effects of ACEs on Our Community

Kerry Jamieson Fighting ACEs PBC, Latest News October 8, 2018December 4, 2019

We have to share the world we live in. That might seem obvious but consider the hundreds of ways we interact with others every day, adhering to an unwritten social contract. When a traffic light turns red, we stop. We rely on others to obey this signal, too. We share space with total strangers in grocery stores, at gas stations, and on public transport. We spend hours a day with co-workers we need to get along with. No matter the natural human inclination towards self-interest, we all have high stakes in keeping our communities as healthy and safe as possible. We’re social creatures and we’re in this together – sharing communal space.

This makes us vulnerable to the behavior of others. When there’s another tragic school shooting, our community’s children lose their lives. When a local teenager overdoses on drugs, we suffer the pain and confusion of that senseless loss. When a child in the neighborhood watches his father hit his mother, science indicates that the behavior tends to be repeated generation after generation. All these ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) affect us. Nobody is insulated by the location of their home, their economic privilege, or perhaps even their conscious efforts to isolate and protect themselves and their families. Whether for humanitarian, religious, altruistic, or even selfish reasons, it’s in our best interests as individuals and a society, to care about others.

Through this blog series, we’ve learned what ACEs are and the profound implications they have on the lives of individuals, but whenever children are exposed to ACEs, each and every one of us may end up paying the price. Domestic and community violence is directly correlated to ACEs. So are substance abuse, alcoholism, depression and many diseases.

However, we can reduce future violence, substance abuse and many other social ills by intervening and acting as a buffer for our community’s children. Anne-Marie Brown, LCSW, MCAP, CIP, ICADC, Director of Center for Child Counseling’s Childhood Trauma Response Program, has seen the results of non-intervention firsthand. Before joining CfCC, she spent over a decade working with adults overcoming substance abuse and, without fail, Anne-Marie saw where her clients’ problems began.

Every single adult she encountered had a history of childhood trauma, illustrating a direct link between ACEs and greater societal issues. Palm Beach County has a significant number of parents who abuse substances or suffer the cycle of domestic abuse.

In the County and State, children aged 0-6 enter the child welfare system at very high rates. In just one four-day week recently, Center for Child Counseling (CfCC) handled calls for 20 children who needed assessments because they were removed from their families, most due to substance abuse and domestic violence.

The Negative Toll on Community Wellness

ACEs often negatively affect a family for generations. Kids who are abused or neglected grow up and find themselves in similar situations with domestic violence or substance abuse. Their children suffer abuse and neglect, turn to drugs or alcohol, and the cycle starts all over again.

Karen Baldwin, a clinical therapist for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Crisis Intervention Team, says she receives calls every day about situations where people are unable to regulate their emotions or think rationally.

“Adults who experienced ACEs and didn’t get some sort of intervention have been using coping mechanisms for a very long time. Unfortunately, most of them don’t work,” she says. “Eighty percent of the women in our jail system have a history of trauma they’ve likely never dealt with. They get trauma counseling when they’re released, but they needed it long before then.”

The lack of community awareness about ACEs’ generational impact is a roadblock to securing more resources and greater involvement. That’s why CfCC works so hard to educate, train, and build the skills of a wide range of community stakeholders.

The Economic Argument

The financial implications for society are staggering.

Besides the obvious losses caused by a criminal act, determining the true economic impact of antisocial behavior on a community is complicated. A research paper co-authored by Dr. Kathryn E. McCollister of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine estimates the total tangible cost of one murder at $1.5 million, one rape/sexual assault at $47,500, and one aggravated assault at $23,000 – not to mention the psychological damage perpetuated by a violent act over several generations. (Figures adjusted for inflation.)

Fighting the Immediate and Lifelong Impact

Organizations and individuals do fight back. Since 1999, the Center for Child Counseling has been addressing the immediate and lifelong impact that exposure to toxic stress and traumatic experiences has on children. Two years ago, CfCC’s Childhood Trauma Response (CTR) Program was developed in collaboration with ChildNet to serve children aged 0-5 entering the foster care system. In the last eight months, through funding from the Moran Foundation, CTR has assessed more than 130 children. The program provides services that help build resilience and provide coping techniques, so children can process what they’ve experienced.

Both Brown and Baldwin say they need the community’s help. Here are some of their goals:
1.) Every clinician and every adult in contact with children needs to commit to early intervention.
2.) Every adult in a child’s life must be aware of ACEs and their dire consequences.
3.) All of us can find ways to share information about ACEs.

Evidence shows that early intervention for ACEs, like that provided by CfCC, can reduce or prevent someone from engaging in harmful or violent behaviors later in life. Every child should grow up feeling safe and loved. You can be a buffer against childhood trauma and adversity by joining us in the fight against ACEs in Palm Beach County. How do you become a buffer? What does a buffer need to do to be an effective shield for a child? You’ll learn the answers in our next blog.

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Resilience: A Powerful Weapon in the Fight Against ACEs

Kerry Jamieson Fighting ACEs PBC, Latest News August 2, 2018December 4, 2019

Think about a toddler who is just learning to walk. Picture the number of times that toddler stumbles and tumbles. Researchers at New York University, directed by Dr. Karen Adolph, showed that newly-walking infants travel about 2,360 steps each hour. They also fall down an average of 17 times during that same period. Imagine you failed at something you were trying to achieve 17 times every hour. You’d be experiencing a setback once every 3.5 minutes – very disheartening. But do toddlers stop trying to walk successfully? Never. They get up again and again and keep moving. This is a compelling way to describe resilience. As Oliver Goldsmith, an 18th century Irish poet, put it: “Success is simply standing up one more time than you fall down.”

What makes some people so resilient and what does this have to do with ACEs? As we’ve learned, ACEs are Adverse Childhood Experiences that have a dramatically detrimental effect on a person’s lifelong mental and physical health. The statistics for those with high ACE scores seem bleak. They suffer from more diseases, greater levels of depression, alcoholism, and substance abuse. They die, on average, 20 years younger than those with no ACEs. But there is hope and resilience might be the key.

What is resilience?

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from life’s difficulties. It can be described as a varied and dynamic mix of many traits like determination, toughness, optimism, faith, positivity and hope. Resilience isn’t necessarily something a child is born with, although scientists now believe that certain children are genetically predisposed to higher levels of resilience. But the good news for all children is that resilience is like a muscle - the more you exercise it, the stronger it grows, especially in very young children where neural pathways are still forming and thinking patterns are elastic.

ACEs are only one half of any equation to try and predict a child’s future course. While each child is exposed to different degrees of trauma, they also have their own unique set of characteristics that can protect them against that trauma. A high ACE score is not a guarantee of negative outcomes in life. It’s a big warning sign but no child is doomed by their ACE score.

Two crucial factors are at play: 1.) The child’s own biological and developmental characteristics (their “nature”) and 2.) external influences from their family, community, and support systems. When these influences are positive, we call them “protective factors”. Protective factors help explain why some people who have sustained a great deal of adversity as children fare relatively well in adulthood.

Like a balancing scale, resilience is the result of interactions between a person’s ACEs on one side and his or her protective factors on the other.

How does resilience develop?

Researchers continue to refine their understanding of the components and processes involved in resilience. However, there is agreement about a variety of important conditions that support resilience.

• Close relationships with competent caregivers or other caring adults
• Parental resilience
• Caregiver knowledge and the use of positive parenting skills
• Having a sense of purpose (through faith, culture, identity, etc.)
• Individual competencies (problem solving skills, self–regulation, autonomy, etc.)
• Opportunities to connect socially
• Practical and available support services for parents and families
• Communities that value people and support health and personal growth

Protective factors help a child feel safe more quickly after experiencing the toxic stress of ACEs. Protective factors can neutralize the physiological changes that naturally occur during and after trauma. This protects the developing brain, the immune system, and the body as a whole from negative effects.

If the child’s protective factors are firmly in place, development can be sound, even in the face of severe adversity.

If these protective factors are inadequate, either before or after the traumatic experience, then the risk for developmental problems is much greater. This is especially true if the environmental hazards are intense and prolonged.

Resilience can be the antidote to ACEs

The negative consequences of ACEs can be counteracted with support, care, and appropriate intervention. Through positive relationships, children learn to develop crucial coping skills. They know that they are not alone, and they adopt healthy ways to process stress.

When children are taught coping mechanisms at a young age, they start to exercise their resilience muscle. As a child moves into maturity, they need to keep working their resilience muscle. When they do, they continue to grow stronger and are better equipped to manage the ups and downs of life.

Support in Childhood Pays Off in Adulthood

A 2017 “ACEs and Resilience” study conducted by the National Health Service in Wales found that, overall, having supportive friends, opportunities to engage with their community, people to look up to, and other sources of resilience in childhood more than halved the current mental illness in adults with four or more ACEs from 29% to 14%. Adults who acknowledged having childhood protective factors reported a reduced rate of suicidal thoughts and self-harming of 19% versus those without protective factors, who reported 39%.

We know that resilience requires that a child can rely on the presence of at least one supportive, caring adult. But who are these people? Are you one of them? Every child is surrounded by adults who can help them: family members, friends, neighbors, teachers, counselors, coaches, medical professionals, etc. These positive adult role models can be a buffer in a child’s life. A buffer is like a shield that helps to block some of the negative effects of ACEs exposure.

We’ll share more about being a buffer in our next blog.

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Early Childhood Trauma Can Lead to Early Death

Kerry Jamieson Fighting ACEs PBC, Latest News June 27, 2018December 4, 2019Center for Child Counseling 0 Comment

Five-year-old Maria* saw her mother collapse during a severe asthma attack, then watched as an ambulance whisked her away for what would turn out to be several weeks of recuperation away from home. Maria was too young to understand what was happening. She just knew that suddenly, something was wrong with Mommy and she was taken away. Maria began having nightmares.

Without a buffer or an intervention from a trusted, positive influence to guide her and her family in the right direction, the negative effects of her ACEs could range from disrupting her neurological development to reducing her life expectancy by 20 years.Adverse events can traumatize the whole family. They are difficult to talk about rationally and constructively. But we must face the harsh reality of what happens when we – as a community – don’t discuss ACEs and how to fight them.

Discussing the community’s role in ACEs is just as important as the actual trauma-informed therapy provided to children and families at places like the Center for Child Counseling. The impact of ACEs on the well-being and productivity of a community is enormous.

Long-term community costs

Communities have an obligation to keep children safe, but society has a vested interest in fighting ACEs that goes way beyond the moral imperative. Children who experience ACEs without receiving interventional care can have a dramatic effect on their communities in the form of higher healthcare costs, potentially higher crime rates, mental-health expenditures, and lost productivity.

Scientists have found clear distinctions between brain scans of people exposed to the chronic stress associated with ACEs and those who have not been exposed. Living with chronic stress is toxic, resulting in a smaller hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala – areas of the brain responsible for self-regulation, decision-making, managing stress, and processing emotions, memory, and fear.

Simply put, the brains of children who experience abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction are structurally altered, threatening their ability to grow up to be productive, contributing members of society.

Of course, the behaviors associated with ACEs vary based on a child’s age and circumstances. From the outside, we see only the symptoms exhibited when something triggers a trauma reminder. These symptoms include but are not limited to:

Withdrawing
Refusing to comply with directions
Jumping from 0-10 on the anger scale
Having difficulty building trust in relationships
Lacking control and/or impulsivity

In reality, most children are resilient. They carry on even after experiencing ACEs. Without early screening and intervention though, they’ll be heading down a dangerous road that involves ever-riskier behavior. When children are deprived of the security, love, and trust that make them feel safe (or good), they often choose to take risks later in life. When they are old enough to have access to things that make them feel safe or good, they may abuse them. This often includes unsafe sex with multiple partners and/or misusing drugs and alcohol.

However, the consequences of ACEs don’t stop there. As with all types of chronic stress, ACEs-induced stress takes its toll on the body as well as the mind.

Body + mind

As Maria grows into an adult who experiences chronic stress for years on end, her body will process adrenaline and cortisol at atypical rates. This will make her more susceptible to serious health issues like:

Our mental health and physical health are intertwined, so it’s not surprising that ACEs can have serious physical consequences – ultimately leading to an early death.

For all these reasons, it’s imperative that communities like ours address ACEs through open and honest dialogue. There is hope. Soon after witnessing her mother’s collapse, Maria underwent three months of play therapy at the Center for Child Counseling. Trained counselors help children like Maria every day to express and work through their confusing, negative feelings rather than keep them inside where they can do lasting damage.

Children like Maria can heal after trauma, but only if the adults around them are willing to fight on their behalf.

The Center for Child Counseling provides healing care to more than 2,500 children each year. Interested in learning how you can help fight childhood adversity in your community? Sign up below to learn more through our ongoing educational blog series.

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Childhood Trauma is Linked to Long-Term Health Issues

Kerry Jamieson Fighting ACEs PBC, Latest News May 30, 2018December 4, 2019

Many of us experienced some type of highly stressful or traumatic event in our childhood. We may have had effective “buffers”: people like a trusted teacher, coach, therapist, or supportive family and friends. Or, depending on our age at the time, we may have decided we could handle our reactions on our own.

But, are you aware of the lifelong physical health issues scientists have found to be associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs? Take our quick questionnaire to find out your ACEs score, then come back here to learn what it might mean for your physical health.

ACEs are the single greatest unaddressed public health threat facing our nation today.
- Dr. Robert Block, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics

ACEs threaten public health

Research by Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control showed that ACEs scores are correlated with health outcomes. Children and adults with high scores (4 or more) are:

“Children are especially sensitive to repeated stress activation because their brains and bodies are just developing,” said Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, pediatrician, in a 2014 TEDMED talk. “High doses of adversity not only affect brain structure and function, it also affects the developing immune system, developing hormonal systems, and even the way our DNA is read and transcribed.”

The need for routine screening and early intervention through play therapy, mental health services, child-parent psychotherapy, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, and positive parenting programs is evident. “ACEs are the single greatest unaddressed public health threat facing our nation today,” said Dr. Robert Block, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

How can we intervene?

Abuse and neglect don’t discriminate. Neither do behavior issues or family dysfunction. But by helping children heal, each of us can stop the ongoing, repeated cycle of abuse and adversity.

Public awareness and education expands the ability and capacity for the entire community, including schools, organizations and businesses, to respond to the needs of children exposed to early adversity. In Palm Beach County, anyone who knows and cares about a child who has experienced ACEs can turn to the Center for Child Counseling.

Our mission is to foster healthy, resilient children and families through support, counseling, and awareness. In the next year, we will train 3,000 pediatricians, nurses, teachers, caregivers, police officers, and mental-health professionals to recognize the signs of ACEs.

Children deserve to live their lives free of abuse. We owe them a sense of security whether they’re at home or out in the world.

The Center for Child Counseling provides healing care to more than 2,400 children each year. Interested in learning how you can help fight childhood adversity in your community? Sign up to receive newsletter updates.

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How Play Therapy Can Help Heal Childhood Trauma

Kerry Jamieson Fighting ACEs PBC, Latest News May 16, 2018December 4, 2019

At his first appointment at the Center for Child Counseling for childhood trauma, 8-year-old Thomas* asked his trauma therapist if she “liked to hurt kids, too.”

Thomas had been bullied and physically abused by a much-older stepbrother. Often, young children cannot explain or even understand what’s bothering them and they may struggle to verbally express themselves. Their language is play. Stressful or traumatic events – referred to as Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs – can become evident through the way a child chooses to play.

What are Adverse Childhood Experiences?

ACEs are situations where a child faces some sort of trauma or stress. They typically fall into three categories:

Abuse – physical, emotional, sexual
Neglect – physical or emotional
Household dysfunction – parents facing incarceration, separation, divorce, mental illness, domestic abuse, substance abuse.

Nationally, the most common ACEs children face arise from:

Economic hardship
Issues associated with divorce
Witnessing or being a victim of violence (including domestic violence)
Living with someone who suffers from mental illness
Living with someone with drug or alcohol addiction
Issues associated with the incarceration of a parent or caregiver

The result of these situations? Insecurity from the constant threat of the unknown and anxiety associated with feelings that a caregiver may not be reliable.

The prevalence of these situations for our children is alarming: It’s estimated that nearly half of U.S. children (45%) have experienced at least one ACE, while one in 10 (10%) have experienced at least three of these traumatic events.

The potential damage to a child may seem obvious, but in reality, ACEs are incredibly complex and may not manifest the same way in every child. This makes diagnosing and fighting ACEs a challenge; two children who suffer the same sort of emotional abuse may act out quite differently.

How do we help a child with ACEs?

Because every child is unique, only an individualized treatment strategy can give them the best chance of working through their ACEs. The strategy begins with a questionnaire that helps therapists score and assess their mental and physical health.

Questions include:

Did a parent or other adult in your house often push, grab, slap or throw something at you? Did a parent or other adult in your house ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were hurt?
Was someone in your house depressed or mentally ill? Or did someone attempt suicide?
Did you often feel that you didn’t have enough to eat, had to wear dirty clothes, or had no one to protect you?

With these answers, qualified counselors like those at the Center for Child Counseling can start children on a healing journey that will improve their mental and physical health throughout their lives.

After six months of trauma therapy, Thomas is now able to express his feelings about the violence and abuse he experienced in his home through play therapy.

He is learning that most adults can be trusted and don’t hurt children.

You can learn more about the lifelong physical health issues associated with ACEs in our next blog. For now, equip yourself with knowledge by taking the quick ACEs questionnaire to learn what impact ACEs may have had on your life.

The Center for Child Counseling provides healing care to more than 2,400 children each year.
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Leading the Fight Against Childhood Adversity and Trauma

Kerry Jamieson Fighting ACEs PBC, Latest News May 16, 2018May 17, 2018

Dr. Blakely, Dr. Baganz, Eddie Stephens, and Randy Scheid, VP at Quantum Foundation.

“The single most pressing problem affecting societal wellness” — that was how speakers described ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) at the 2nd Annual “Lead the Fight” event hosted by the Center for Child Counseling at FPL’s Manatee Lagoon Discovery Center in Riviera Beach in April. The event brought together dozens of local business and community leaders, including the mayors of West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington and Jupiter, and the Vice Mayor of Royal Palm Beach, as well as Palm Beach County School District 4 Board Member Erica Whitfield, and the senior management of local health funders and law firms.

The Center for Child Counseling, a nonprofit based in Palm Beach County, offers mental health services to children from birth to 18, specializing in helping to heal young children exposed to trauma. The organization has emerged as the local leader in the fight against ACEs and is driving an awareness campaign focused on training teachers, healthcare providers, and community leaders to view their interactions with people, especially children, through a trauma-informed lens.

The Center’s CEO, Renée Layman, describes the effect of ACEs. “Children interpret experiences differently and we know that unless they’re able to process those experience - especially adverse ones - in a constructive way, the result can be a lifetime of mental and physical health issues.” In recent years, scientific research has shown that adverse experiences and trauma affect not only mental health but the physiological development of a young child’s brain.

The event’s keynote speakers from the FAU Brain Institute, Dr. Randy Blakey and Dr. Nicole Baganz, spoke about these early changes to a crowd of more than 125 guests. We tend to think that issues affecting the brain may have obvious consequences for mental health but, in fact, many diseases like diabetes, obesity, and substance abuse are linked to higher ACEs scores. Dr. Blakely talks about the impact of ACEs “Increasingly we recognize the powerful, enduring effects of early life experience, whether constituting risk for, or resiliency against, brain disorders and mental illness. The deeper we understand the biology surrounding these effects, the more we appreciate the influence of friends, family, and community.”

Members of the Board of the Center for Child Counseling, Bill Lynch and Eddie Stephens, spoke of their personal experiences and ACEs expert, Amber Payne, asked attendees to consider the economic impact ACEs have on the community. They contribute dramatically to depression, substance abuse, and other issues that result in lower productivity. Ms. Payne explains: “We know that without help and positive buffers, the changes in a child’s growing brain will have a profound effect on the rest of their lives. In fact, people with an ACEs score of 4 or higher live, on average, 20 years less than those without ACEs.”

Renée Layman encouraged the room to take advantage of the Center’s training opportunities. “We want people to know their ACE score and understand the implications of that score. Knowledge is power,” she said. “At the Center for Child Counseling, we’re partnering with numerous local agencies including Quantum Foundation and Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County to spearhead this crucial awareness effort in Palm Beach County”.

To learn more about ACEs, the Center’s work, or to take the quick 10-question ACEs test, visit: