Teachers as Buffers Against ACEs

Kerry Jamieson Blog, Fighting ACEs PBC, Latest News, Uncategorized

We give teachers unprecedented access to our children. We entrust them to educate our children but we also allow them to influence our children’s thoughts, attitudes, and behavior for many hours every day. Fortunately, most teachers are special, dedicated people who care deeply for the well-being of little ones. Teachers also have a profound opportunity to positively affect the life of a child with ACEs. For this reason, teachers can be powerful buffers against adversity and should have all the knowledge and support they need to meet this enormous challenge.

We all know that teachers are basically superheroes. Many of us have a special teacher in our past, someone who came into our world at a crucial time and possibly changed the course of our lives. Even people who don’t have fond memories of school acknowledge that being a teacher is a calling more than a career, especially since teachers are often considered overworked and underpaid. Teachers tend to give of themselves above and beyond what could reasonably be expected. The very best teachers sacrifice their personal time and money to give their students richer learning experiences. These caring professionals may sometimes feel unappreciated, but they play a crucial role in supporting our children – not only in their academic pursuits, but in their development as flourishing, fulfilled human beings.

School is a Pivot Point in a Child’s Life

A child’s first experiences, positive and negative, come from interactions with their immediate family members or caregivers. After the age of 5 or 6 (and often younger) a new area of influence enters their lives: kindergarten or school. At school, children meet peers and teachers. Adjusting to mixing with other children who are not siblings is a challenge even for a well-adjusted child. For a child who has not benefitted from strong family supports, it may be almost impossible. Their backgrounds have not prepared them for life lessons like:
• Sharing, fairness, and negotiation;
• Self-expression of emotions, creativity, and personality;
• Kindness and compassion; and
• Simply getting along with others.

Sadly, every year millions of children start their school careers with very little preparation from the home front. They may come from chaotic, deprived, or even abusive backgrounds. They are among the 20% of little ones starting school disadvantaged by at least two ACEs. This puts them at risk for mental and physical health issues and diminishes their ability (at a bio-chemical level) to behave appropriately and be academically successful. There’s no doubt that teachers of very young children are up against many challenges!

Teachers likely spend more time with young children than their parents do. They are uniquely positioned to identify:
• Children struggling to adapt to school;
• Children with learning difficulties like dyslexia, ADHD, and numerous other concerns; and
• Children with physical challenges like vision, hearing, or coordination issues.

So, while already tasked with a full load of teaching and testing requirements, teachers are also often responsible for the social-emotional wellness of the little people in their charge.

Why Do Teachers Play This Role?

Of course, teachers don’t necessarily relish this aspect of the job. Their primary assignment is to educate but many are thrust into the position of having deal with emotional and behavioral issues simply to maintain order in their classrooms. It can be a constant battle to ensure that the many children trying to learn are not disrupted by the few who are “acting out”. How teachers approach this juggling act is absolutely crucial.

Throughout this series, we have learned about the alarming prevalence of ACEs. The statistics show that every classroom in America has several children who are trying to cope with experiences that even adults would struggle with. These issues are amplified in neighborhoods experiencing Adverse Community Environments (the mirroring component of the Adverse Childhood Experiences issue). Schools are challenged when they are located in areas troubled by inequity, poor resources, gang violence, weakened social supports, high rates of unemployment, and poor maintenance of communal areas like parks, roads, and sidewalks. These schools, which would benefit the most from prevention and early intervention childhood mental health services, often receive the least attention. Their teachers may be facing the most daunting and complex problems.

Organizations like the Center for Child Counseling can make the most impact in these neighborhoods. Our skilled therapists are co-located in more than 30 schools (as well as numerous community centers) in at-risk zip codes but they alone cannot have as much influence as the numerous teachers working in those areas’ schools.

What is the Most Important Thing in a Classroom?

It’s not the behavior of the children, the number of students, or the facilities available in the school. When it comes to building successful children, the most important aspect of every classroom is the ATTITUDE OF THE TEACHER. Children are sponges who absorb words, feelings, and the atmospheres in which they live. They look to their teachers to provide examples and guidance about how to behave. The way teachers choose to respond to every situation with a child either escalates or deescalates that situation.

A child who smashes a toy in a rage can be labelled in a teacher’s mind as bad or naughty. However, the behavior can also be identified by the teacher as an indication of some intense emotion that child is experiencing. By avoiding the label of “bad”, teachers can decide to see this behavior as an opportunity to intervene and teach a great child who is full of potential! Accepting a child for who they are, even in moments when their behavior is challenging, means teachers can reserve judgement and avoid sending the message to a child that they are disliked, a failure, or simply a bad kid.

Attitude and acceptance work hand in hand to help build self esteem and resilience in children, and we already know that these qualities serve as antidotes to the adverse experiences they may be experiencing at home or in their community.

Special Care for Educators

Of course, all teachers were once children, too! Many teachers still carry the burdens of unresolved childhood adversity with them. They can bring their own pain, sadness, and insecurity into the classroom where children’s behavior can serve as a trigger that churns up past emotions. It’s vital for teachers to identify their own ACEs, what triggers negative feelings in them, and key ways to cope not only with a child’s behavior but their own responses to it.

We Offer Support for Teachers

Our training, designed specifically for teachers, offers practical, useful advice to help teachers become more trauma informed, so they can be the strongest possible buffers for our children. Society has assigned teachers a sacred role and we need to equip them to fulfill their calling to the best of their ability.

Our specialized therapists co-located in elementary and middle schools throughout Palm Beach County provide direct support to both students and teachers — a model that’s truly unique. Our approach offers prevention, early intervention, and targeted services for children while also creating a wraparound supports for teachers that build a positive learning environment throughout the school.

If you’re a teacher, or the parent of a child, ask for our training at your school. We offer basic and advanced modules through our Institute for Clinical Training. As members of the community, let’s support our teachers because they really are the front-line troops, the crucial buffers, against adversity in our war with ACEs.

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Safari, Ltd. Delivers More Than Just Toys…

Kerry Jamieson Latest News, Uncategorized

A recent donation of boxes full of toys from Safari, Ltd. will make a big difference in the lives of children receiving Play Therapy at Center for Child Counseling to help them heal from trauma and abuse.

July 1, 2019 — Play Therapy is one of the most effective ways of working with children who have experienced abuse or trauma. Highly-skilled, specially-trained childhood mental health therapists, like those at the Center for Child Counseling in West Palm Beach, Florida, use toys to communicate and interact with children as young as two years old. “Play is a child’s language age and toys are their words,” explains the Center’s CEO, Renée Layman. “We use established best-practice techniques and we operate Play Therapy rooms at our Child and Family Center and in numerous community-based locations.”

Safari, Ltd. has made a tremendous difference in the lives of children visiting the Play Therapy rooms by donating a truckload of their toys to the Center. Since 1982, Safari has created hand-painted learning toys for kids — from dinosaurs, to wild animals, to mythical creatures. Their detailed models help children understand the world they live in. They fuel the imagination, promote creativity, and give hours and hours of playtime fun. Most importantly, they’re built to last!

“This donation means the world to us,” says Stephanie de la Cruz, Center for Child Counseling’s Director of Clinical Services. “Our clients use sandboxes to build scenes and tell stories; they use the toys to express their fears and show us situations and experiences. Toys are crucial elements in our work. The quality of Safari’s toys makes them both beautiful and durable.”

Many of the Center’s clients need financial assistance with their services. “Not having to outlay money for toys means we can use that money to support direct services for the children we help. That means more children will get the therapy they need to begin to heal,” says de la Cruz. “We’re so grateful to Safari for giving back in this way. Their gift will bring so much joy to children who, we believe, always deserve to be playful, hopeful and healthy.”

Abigail Beebe, Chair of Florida Bar Family Law Section, Chooses Center for Child Counseling for $5,000 Award

Kerry Jamieson Uncategorized
Courtesy of Capehart Photography
Representatives of Center for Child Counseling, Eddie Stephens and Lauren Scirrotto, accepting the award from Abigail Beebe.

The 2018-2019 Chair of The Florida Bar Family Law Section, Abigail Beebe, has selected Center for Child Counseling as the recipient of a $5,000 annual honorarium which is awarded each year to a deserving local nonprofit selected by the outgoing chair for their work on behalf of children interacting with the judicial system.

June 28, 2019: West Palm Beach: The area of family law in Florida’s courts present some of the most challenging and emotional cases in the legal system. Situations involving children and families can be sensitive at best and fraught with tension and anger at worst. That’s why the outgoing Chair of the Florida Bar Association’s Family Law Section, Abigail Beebe, awarded a $5,000 honorarium to a local childhood mental health nonprofit, Center for Child Counseling, which works to help children and families experiencing trauma and abuse begin to heal. “I wanted to select an organization that was getting to the root of what causes so many of our families’ issues in the first place,” explains Beebe. “Center for Child Counseling addresses adversity in individual homes and families interacting with the court system as well as social inequity in the community at large. They bring a special kind of compassion and commitment to their work and really advocate for the best interests of our children.” The honorarium is allocated to the outgoing Chair each year to be awarded at their discretion.

Lauren Scirrotto, LMHC, Chief Program Officer and Eddie Stephens, Board Member (and Family Law Section Member) accepted the check on behalf of Center for Child Counseling. “I work with the Center because I know the effects Adverse Childhood Experiences had on my life as I was growing up,” says Stephens who is an equity partner at Ward Damon. “It’s so important to provide children with positive adult role models that can help buffer the effects of this kind of adversity and keep children on a healthy path in life.”

Sound Solutions for Children’s Mental Health

Kerry Jamieson Latest News, Uncategorized

A generous donation of noise-mitigating wall art from Audimute is going to make all the difference to Center for Child Counseling’s new Child and Family Center offices and play therapy rooms located in the Palm Health Pavilion at St. Mary’s Medical Center.

Children at play are noisy — just ask any parent! Now imagine you work with exuberant children all day long and that your offices share walls and hallways with their playrooms. The din can be pretty disruptive. That was the situation for dozens of therapists at the Center for Child Counseling in our wonderful new offices located in the Palm Health Pavilion on the grounds of St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach. CfCC’s Child and Family Center moved into the new facilities in January and have been getting settled in but finding a happy sound balance between our playrooms, which can be loud and our offices where we need to do careful reporting and administrative work was a challenge.

Now, we’ve had help solving that problem thanks to an incredibly generous donation from Audimute, a company that specializes in producing eco-friendly, sound-dampening acoustic solutions for residential, commercial, and industrial applications. Audimute donated hundreds of acoustic tiles–8 boxes full, in fact–to us for their walls. Audimute has its headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, far from our home base. But that was no problem for Audimute…they picked up the shipping costs to deliver the products, too!

When our therapists opened the boxes, they were amazed at the variety and quality of the tiles – all designed to delight children. “Play is a child’s language and toys are their words,” explains CfCC’s CEO, Renée Layman. “That’s why we use play therapy with our clients who can be as young as two years old. Many of these children are suffering the effects of abuse and trauma. Having a bright, cheerful, safe place where they can just have fun and express themselves alongside a skilled therapist goes a long way to help them on their journey to recovery.”

The hundreds of donated tiles instantly brought new life to the organization’s play therapy rooms. “They’re terrific as art and to ensure privacy for our clients,” says Stephanie de la Cruz, the Center’s Director of Clinical Services. “They’ve also transformed our offices into tranquil places we can enjoy.”

Center for Child Counseling wishes to thank Audimute and its Founder and President, Mitch Zlotnik, for their caring and creative commitment to our kids. Your contribution helps make therapy a less daunting experience for children who we believe should always be joyful, playful, and hopeful.

Community Leaders Unite Against Childhood Trauma

Kerry Jamieson Uncategorized

Center for Child Counseling (CfCC), Palm Beach County’s preeminent agency in the field of childhood mental health, brought together leaders from the public and private sectors to jumpstart an action plan to address childhood adversity.

Last week’s 3rd annual “Lead the Fight: ACEs to Action” event represented a milestone in addressing the basic human right of all children in Palm Beach County to lead lives free from trauma and adversity. The County’s leaders in mental health, business, education, law enforcement, healthcare, and the judiciary assembled to tackle the most pressing public health issue facing our communities today: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which carry lifelong physical and mental health implications and result in exorbitant costs to taxpayers, financially and in terms of social ills. The event was attended by 289 VIPs from across Palm Beach County and beyond.

Based in Palm Beach County, CfCC offers mental health services to children from birth to 18. The nonprofit agency specializes in helping to heal young children exposed to trauma and has emerged as the local leader in the fight against ACEs. They also work to educate the public about the prevalence and profound negative effects of childhood trauma by conducting an awareness campaign focused on training teachers, healthcare providers, and community leaders to view their interactions with people, especially children, through a more trauma-informed lens. This year’s “Lead the Fight” event was aimed at uniting important stakeholders to tackle ACEs by putting research-based plans into action.

CfCC’s CEO, Renée Layman, describes her commitment: “It’s the most crucial work we can do. We raise the future in our children…how we choose to harm or help them determines the kind of future we can bank on. We know that prevention and early intervention is the key to ensuring healthy childhood development, but we keep failing our children even though most societal issues, including soaring rates of teen depression and suicide, school shootings, substance abuse, incarceration, and domestic and community violence, all have their roots in childhood trauma that was never adequately addressed.” In recent years, research has proved that adverse experiences and trauma effect the physiological development of a young child’s brain and cause a lifetime of issues. “We need to prioritize efforts that get help to children when they first need it; we need to fund these efforts.”

The event’s keynote speaker was Dr. Neil Boris, Medical Director of Circle of Security International and President of the Florida Association for Infant Mental Health, who shared the social consequences of missing the opportunity to intervene and help children as early as possible.

Amber Payne, CfCC’s Director of Community Engagement and Development, presented the findings of a White Paper entitled: “A Public Health Approach to Fighting ACEs in Palm Beach County: Opportunities for Levers of Change and Innovation”. The paper which assesses the County’s readiness to respond to this public health crisis, was underwritten by local health funder Quantum Foundation and provides best-practice solutions to help different sectors identify ways to work with children who are facing adversity.

As Ms. Payne explains: “We know that people with high levels of childhood adversity suffer throughout their lives and die, on average, 20 years younger than those without these experiences. There is hope, however, because research shows that introducing just one positive adult influence in a child’s life can make all the difference to the trajectory of that child’s future path. We want to equip people to promote and provide those buffering relationships to our children.”

CfCC offers training opportunities for those who wish to learn more. As Renée Layman explains. “We want people to know their ACE score and understand the implications of that score. Knowledge is power,” she said. “If you can understand how ACEs have affected you and how they might be affecting your children, you’ll be able to break the intergenerational cycle of abuse and start on the road to healing.”

Learn more about CfCC's Fighting ACEs work or to take the free, anonymous 10-question ACE survey right now.

The Power of Language: ACEs and Trauma

Kerry Jamieson Uncategorized

ACEs and trauma are different. Gain an accurate understanding of adversity, ACEs, trauma, and toxic stress to fully understand how best to fight adverse experiences in childhood.

Language, or the words we choose to describe experiences to ourselves and others, is powerful. Words influence the way we think, and how we choose to think about ACEs and trauma influences our actions. So often, we use the term ACEs and the word trauma interchangeably, but they are different. While this educational series is part of our Fighting ACEs campaign and therefore focused on ACEs, we cannot afford to ignore the full range of childhood adversity, including social inequity, and how children can respond to it in many ways.

Before we get into definitions, it’s important to remember some concepts we’ve discussed before. Every child is unique from the genetic level up. The way they react to trauma can and will vary dramatically. Because their brains are still growing, children are vulnerable to situations that can alter their chemistry and hamper normal brain development. But they also have neural plasticity which makes them adaptable and responsive to healing interventions. Two children (even siblings living in the same home…even twins!) might experience the same traumatic event then process and respond to it very differently. There are no rules for how we can expect a child to react or behave after a traumatic event. Of course, expert therapists trained in childhood mental health, like those at the Center for Child Counseling, can make some predictions based on years of experience and work with a child accordingly.

Certain types of childhood adversity are especially likely to cause trauma reactions in children, such as the sudden loss of a family member or witnessing intense domestic violence. Other events, like divorce or separation result in a wider, less predictable range of responses. Some children are deeply traumatized when their parents divorce; some fare well and may even thrive, especially if the divorce removes a negative influence (such as an abusive, alcoholic father) from the picture thus stabilizing the relationship between mother and child.

General Adversity in Childhood

Let’s consider adversity in general. Adversity describes any number of situations or events that threaten healthy development for a child, both physical and psychological. Adversity can include circumstances like abuse, neglect, domestic and community violence, bullying, extreme poverty, and discrimination. Adversity tends to be a condition that exists for an extended period of time; it is not a one-time event. Adversity is a general living condition that is often, or always, present.

Certain groups of children, including minorities, receive a disproportionate dose of adversity because they belong to a group that has been historically disadvantaged and continues to face the challenge of inequity. Science shows that enduring adversity for long periods can affect the developing brains of children, resulting in lifelong physical and mental health issues. However, adversity is only one half of the equation because it seems that even the most harmful experiences can be balanced out, or even negated, if a strong support system is in place.

ACEs Defined

General adversity is not the same thing as ACEs which are a clearly identified set of adverse situations. ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) is an acronym that emerged after a study originally conducted by Kesier Permanaente and the Centers for Disease Control in the 1990s. This study was the first to identify a strong correlation between certain adverse experiences in childhood and poor physical and mental health outcomes (e.g.: heart disease, diabetes, substance abuse, depression, etc.) later in life. The term ACEs describes a more specific set of adverse experiences outlined by the original study and subsequently added to.

The original study placed adverse experiences into seven specific categories based on 10 questions:

  • physical, sexual, and emotional abuse
  • a mother who was treated violently
  • living with someone who was mentally ill in the household
  • someone who abused alcohol or drugs in the household
  • incarceration of a member of the household

ACEs vs. Trauma

So how do ACEs differ from trauma? Trauma is one possible outcome of prolonged exposure to adversity. We tend to think of a trauma as a sudden, cataclysmic event like a serious car accident or a tornado. While it’s true that those experiences can qualify as ACEs, trauma is also the result of sustained periods of toxic stress over weeks, months, or even years.

The original ACE questionnaire was not definitive. More recent, expanded studies have added questions about peer victimization (bullying, etc.), serious physical illness in the household, especially where the child might become a caregiver, and one-off traumatic events with long-term consequences (a car accident, for example). No survey can cover the full scope of what might be an adverse experience for a child, not only because the variables are endless but also because not every child sees or responds to the same experience as an adverse one. Adversity and ACEs are, to some extent, in the eye of the beholder. What is traumatic is very much about perception. This perception is often unconscious or automatic rather than a considered reaction.

In simple terms, not every child who experiences a traumatic event is traumatized by it.

When a child experiences an adverse situation, let’s use a school shooting as a sad example, in the moment they will feel the associated emotions (terror, panic, helplessness) and the physiological responses (rapid heartbeat, adrenaline surge) as well as the after-effects which may manifest themselves immediately or much later. These manifestations may last far beyond the event itself and can include responses like bedwetting, nightmares, and stomach aches.

The same is true of the intensity of the experience. A child who witnessed the shooting and saw friends harmed or killed versus a child who was in the school during the event and experienced the panic but did not necessarily witness anything, might behave differently. The services they will need will likely differ, too, but again this depends on genetic vulnerabilities, prior experiences that have damaged the stress response system, or the presence of limited healthy gene expression (learn more about gene expression in our post about epigenetics).

PTSD and Toxic Stress

While the event is the same, two aspects may be very different: the physical experiences of the event and the individual’s response to it which can be based on nature (genetic resilience), nurture (coping skills that have been learned) and the support they have received in their lives thus far as well as the support they receive after the event i.e.: the immediate presence of crisis-trained buffers as well as the support of long-term buffers. Of course, one child who experienced the shooting may recover quickly without significant distress, whereas another may develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and benefit from professional help and services – crucially, those provided by a trauma-informed team of caregivers. Swift intervention can certainly help children express and deal with the aftermath of an intense traumatic event, mitigating or buffering against that stress and preventing it from harming their development or well-being.

If trauma is unaddressed and prolonged, it can result in toxic stress which we’ve discussed at length in an earlier post in this series. It is really the effects of toxic stress on the body that can result in lifelong negative outcomes. Toxic stress wears down the body’s natural response systems over time and is the real villain in the story of ACEs, building up insidiously and causing countless potential future ills for the individual and for society.

Knowing Better = Doing Better

As our understanding of adversity, trauma, and ACEs grows, and as awareness grows among sectors who work with children and the general public grows, too, opportunities to intervene will reveal themselves. Some opportunities are already self-evident, however. Knowing that adverse community environments breed ACEs, we can focus on children living in these conditions who are most likely to need therapeutic intervention. We can provide preventative and early intervention services to support these children and avoid retraumatizing them. Sound knowledge can also help us avoid over-diagnosing or over-medicating children who are responding well to their circumstances or demonstrating the resilience that is the antidote to toxic stress

Let’s be specific in our language and avoid jargon and catchphrases which don’t accurately describe the situation. Labels can be vague and dangerous. The more specific we can be with our words and their meanings, while understanding the differences and uniqueness of each individual, the more effective we will be as buffers and healers for our children.

 

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Double Win for Childhood Mental Health in Palm Beach County!

Kerry Jamieson Uncategorized

Center for Child Counseling is ‘two for two’ with local Impact organizations

Center for Child Counseling has been awarded not one, but two grants totaling $200,000 from both the north county and south county women’s giving organizations, Impact the Palm Beaches and Impact 100. The funds will be used to transform the lives of children experiencing adversity and trauma by providing four elementary schools with innovative, research-based prevention and early intervention mental health services and education.

In a first since their inceptions, the southern-based and northern-based chapters of the Impact charitable organizations have both selected us as their 2019 grantees, which means we’ve been recognized as an outstanding nonprofit from one end of the County to the other!

The first award was made by Impact the Palm Beaches, based in West Palm Beach, at an event held on Thursday, January 31st at the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. This event represented the final stage in a year-long search to identify and support worthy local projects that are innovative and transformational. Center for Child Counseling received top honors, walking away with the $100,000 grant.

The second win came on Wednesday, April 17th when Impact 100, based in Boca Raton, awarded Center for Child Counseling $100,000 at an evening event held at the Lynn University campus.

These grants will be used to support Center for Child Counseling’s school-based mental health programs which offer prevention, early intervention, and direct services. Since the aim of the grants is to transform schools one at a time, the awards will be used to pay for specialized child therapists to provide mental health education and support at four elementary schools which are eager to welcome the program.

The therapists will work with children, families, and their caregivers – helping them manage behaviors, cope with challenges, and regulate emotions that can lead to mental health concerns later in life. This unique model brings a calmer, more positive atmosphere to the whole school and promotes an environment of security that is conducive to learning.

The therapists will also educate and train school staff, teachers, and parents about the impact of ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and how they can have a lifelong effect on a child’s mental and physical health.

“It’s our goal as local leaders in this field to ensure we have a trauma-informed community,” said CfCC’s CEO Renée Layman. “The women of Impact the Palm Beaches and Impact 100 clearly recognize this need and have supported our research-based model for schools with their wonderful grants. We thank them, and our community’s children thank them.”

Implementation of the project at the four schools is planned to begin immediately.

More about the Center for Child Counseling:
Center for Child Counseling is building the foundation for playful, healthful, and hopeful living for children and families in Palm Beach County. We work to ensure an ACEs-aware and trauma-informed community with a focus on preventing and healing the effects that ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and toxic stress have on developing children by promoting coping skills, resilience, and healthy family relationships. To learn more about the Center for Child Counseling or its work, visit centerforchildcounseling.org

 

 

More about Impact the Palm Beaches:
Founded in 2015, Impact the Palm Beaches is a unique organization of dynamic women who make transformational change in their local community through collective philanthropy. Impact members each contribute $1,000 annually and award a $100,000 Impact grant. Impact the Palm Beaches serves the northern portion of the county from Lake Worth to Jupiter. To learn more about Impact the Palm Beaches or its work, visit impactthepalmbeaches.org

 

 

More about Impact 100:
Impact 100 Palm Beach County is a women’s charitable organization funding local nonprofit initiatives. It is comprised of a growing number of women (532 members last year) who donate $1,000 annually, pool their funds and vote to award multiple $100,000 grants to local nonprofits in southern Palm Beach County. The organization is a progressive leader in women’s philanthropy, committed to strengthening our community through the collective resources of our members by awarding high-impact grants in five focus areas: Arts & Culture, Education, Environment, Family, and Health & Wellness. To learn more about Impact 100, visit impact100pbc.com

Epigenetics and ACEs

Kerry Jamieson Uncategorized , , , ,

Reading the word “genetics” in the title of an article fills most of us with dread. We won’t understand it. We don’t even remember the basics from school. Genetics is such a complex field of study that it won’t make sense to us. But please read on because the possibility of a connection between genetics–or, more accurately, epigenetics–and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) could uncover startling revelations about how we should be raising our children.

Let’s start at the beginning. Genetics is a branch of biology concerned with the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity—or the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring—in living organisms.

For many people, knowledge on the subject is limited to a few simple facts:
1.)  We all have genes that we got from our parents.
2.)  Genes carry our inherited information or genetic code.
3.)  Genes are responsible for characteristics like eye color, height, hair color, etc.
4.)  Genes also account for less tangible traits like whether we will be susceptible to certain diseases, or even if we will be optimistic and resilient, or prone to
alcoholism or depression.

Some of us may remember a little more of what we learned in high school science class, but here are the basics:
•  Human cells can house about 25,000 – 35,000 genes, which are carried on structures called chromosomes.
•  As a human being, you have 23 pairs of chromosomes (46 total) – half from your mother and half from your father. Your genetic makeup is determined
when your father’s sperm fertilizes your mother’s egg at conception to produce the materials needed to make a new, unique individual – you!
•  Each gene on the chromosomes has a function. The DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in a gene spells out specific instructions—like a cooking recipe — for
making proteins in the cell.
•  Proteins are the building blocks for everything in the body from bones to muscles to blood. Proteins help our bodies grow, work properly, and stay
healthy.

Genetic processes don’t occur in a vacuum, however. They can be greatly influenced by our environment and experiences which, in turn, can affect our development, decision-making, social-emotional wellness, and behavior. But how much of who we are is due to our genetic code and how much is the result of how and where we were raised and by whom? This is often referred to as the nature versus nurture argument.

Identical Twins and Nature vs. Nurture

Consider the example of genetically identical twins separated at birth and raised in different homes. One child ends up in a chaotic, insecure environment where he suffers ACEs and trauma. The other child grows up surrounded by love and kindness; he is provided with close personal bonds, diverse opportunities, and encouragement. While the nature of the identical twins might be genetically determined to be equal, the nurture component is clearly different. The child raised in the austere, uncertain climate may develop at a slower rate and have greater difficulties in school and life than the nurtured twin. The toxic stress associated with his ACEs has delayed his cognitive and behavioral development, disadvantaging him from birth.

How much of who we turn out to be is the result of genes and how much is the result of our environment is an age-old debate that has not yet been settled. Most scientists accept that both nature and nurture are at play in all human development. There is, however, a growing body of research that suggests a great deal of who we are is up to our genes. Genetics is an incredibly complex (and often misunderstood) field of science and breakthroughs are made every day. Decoding who we are and what kind of lives we will lead is a great mystery, one of the last great frontiers of human exploration and discovery.

The Concept of Epigenetics

Let’s take the concept one step further into the realm of epigenetics. Epigenetics is the study of cellular and physiological phenotypic trait variations that are caused by external or environmental factors that switch genes on and off and affect how cells read genes instead of being caused by changes in the DNA sequence. Huh? That may sound like gobbledygook to most of us, but it simply means that while the field of genetics looks at the expression of the genetic code, epigenetics studies factors that influence the expression of the gene.

Research in the area of epigenetics has concluded that during early life, the environment we live in can affect the way our genes are expressed.
So, environmental factors like security, bonding, and love can alter how our genes switch on and off, or simply operate. Differing genetic expressions can occur without causing any changes (or mutations) to the underlying genes themselves. In essence, the environment we experience, especially when we are young, can affect which of our genes are active (or expressed), and which remain dormant (or unexpressed).

The Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma

This is why we are discussing epigenetics in connection with ACEs. Because, increasingly, research seems to bear out the fact that the toxic stress of ACEs might not only be experienced by an individual but could also be transmitted from one generation to the next at a genetic level. In very simplified terms, it may be possible to pass on trauma to our children and grandchildren, making the implications of ACEs more devastating and far-reaching than we ever imagined.

Some researchers who have studied historic periods of trauma like the American Civil War or the Holocaust now suspect that abuse, neglect, deprivation, and trauma can impair the functioning at some level of future generations who may not even be living in the same adverse circumstances.

Experiments with Mice and Scent

Controlled experiments in mice have allowed researchers to begin to understand the epigenetics of ACEs. A 2013 study found that there was an intergenerational effect of trauma associated with scent. Researchers blew acetophenone – which smells like cherry blossoms – through the cages of adult male mice, zapping their foot with an electric current at the same time. The mice learned to associate the smell of cherry blossom with pain. Shortly afterwards, these males bred with female mice. When their pups smelled the scent of cherry blossom, they became jumpier and more nervous than pups whose fathers hadn’t been conditioned to fear it. To rule out that the pups were somehow learning about the smell from their parents, they were raised by unrelated mice who had never smelt cherry blossom.

The grand-pups of the traumatized males also showed heightened sensitivity to the scent. Neither of the generations showed a greater sensitivity to smells other than cherry blossom, which indicates that the inheritance was specific to that scent.

The science is far from definitive however. Many studies are currently underway and several alternate theories of if and how this is possible are still being debated within scientific circles. One thing is certain: Epigenetics is going to reveal many secrets in the coming years.

Consequences and Hope

The good news is that intergenerational transmission of trauma seems to happen infrequently. The story of human history is rife with trauma. If the transmission of that trauma was inevitable, all of us would be riddled with crippling health issues and developmental delays, and yet most of us are not. Protective factors that seem to mitigate or even prevent transmission in many people are clearly at play. Again, how and why this happens is not fully understood.

Still, the idea that we may be passing on the effects of trauma is a weighty one.

If this is the case, it should change the way we live our lives. Our parents’ and grandparents’ experiences should suddenly take on new relevance to us. Knowing that the consequences of our own actions and experiences could have long-term implications for the lives of our unborn (and yet to be conceived) children should dramatically alter the choices we make. It might even influence how seriously we, as a society, take violence, abuse, trauma, and mental health.

All these possibilities make it more important than ever before that we value and nurture ourselves and protect our mental and emotional wellbeing. ACEs and trauma are not a predetermined route to a disastrous life, they are simply warning markers along the way that encourage us to be self-aware, surround our children and ourselves with buffers, and practice resilience skills and self-care.

“There’s a malleability to the system,” says Brian Dias, researcher at Emory University and the United States’ Yerkes National Primate Research Center, and author of the 2013 controlled epigenetics study in mice. “The die is not cast. For the most part, we are not messed up as a human race, even though trauma abounds in our environment. [I believe that], in at least some cases, healing the effects of trauma in our lifetimes can put a stop to it echoing further down the generations.”

Our goal should be healing the effects of childhood trauma now, so that even the possibility of passing it on to future generations is minimized. As a community, let’s all focus on trying to achieve that.

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Toxic Stress and ACEs

Kerry Jamieson Fighting ACEs PBC, Latest News , , , , , ,

Stress is a strange thing. It’s both a feeling (a sense of being under intense pressure or emotional strain) and a mechanism by which the body’s systems respond to those feelings. We hear opposing statements about stress. Either stress is good for us because it motivates us to succeed, or all the stress in our lives in going to kill us… Which one is true? When it comes to stress, it’s a matter of degree. Yes, a little stress is part of human survival. It focuses us, energizes us, and helps us get things done. On the most primitive levels, feelings of danger trigger our body’s autonomic responses, flooding us with the hormones that once allowed us to flee from predators or enemies, or stand and fight them. Although that dramatic response is seldom needed these days, except in extreme cases of danger or sudden emergency, the stress response mechanism is still in place and vital in the rare instances when we need it. But this powerful system that’s built into every human body can be very dangerous—especially to children—when it’s triggered too frequently.

The body has several reactions to extreme danger or fear:
1.) It can embolden us to stand our ground and fight for our survival (FIGHT)
2.) It can trigger the strength and stamina we need to run away (FLIGHT)
3.) It can cause a state of near inertia in some people, thus the phrase “paralyzed with fear” (FREEZE)

It’s often hard to predict which response we’ll have in any given situation. In many cases, it seems that our body innately chooses for us but, in every case, the presence of danger sets off a series of chemical reactions in the body led by the brain and the endocrine (or glands and hormones) system.

The Immediate Effects of Adrenaline and Cortisol

The presence of danger or even severe unpredictability causes the brain to send a message to the glands to release adrenaline and cortisol. Between them, these two hormones do quite a lot to the body in a very short time:
1.) They increase the heart rate which raises blood pressure
2.) They expand the air passages to the lungs, bringing more oxygen to the body
3.) They rush sugar to the bloodstream
4.) They dilate the pupils of the eyes
5.) They prioritize the sharing of oxygen with muscles to give us power we may not know we had. Think about those news stories where people suddenly display incredible strength to save others, by lifting up a wrecked car to save a child, for example. Thank you, adrenaline!

However, adrenaline and cortisol are emergency measures — the last resort response for extreme situations. You might feel exhausted or quite nauseous after an extreme adrenaline dump, for example. That’s because your body is recovering from the intense activation and takes some time to manage and re-balance all the hormones in the blood. The body is always looking for homeostasis, or balance, where all systems are operating normally. Spikes of adrenaline and cortisol severely disrupt homeostasis and that’s a problem.

It’s true that there are good levels of stress. These are short periods of pressure that push us to complete tasks or focus on something we need to achieve. The stress passes and the body recovers quickly. However, when the stress is prolonged or repeated and there aren’t enough positive resources to counteract their effects, stress becomes dangerous and we call that toxic stress.

ACEs and Hormones

So why all this information on hormones and toxic stress? And how does it all tie back to understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences? Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, a pioneer in ACEs research, explains that adrenaline and cortisol are great if you encounter a bear in the woods. “The problem,” she says, “is what happens when the bear comes home single night?”

Continuous and repeated activation of the fight or flight response can “burn out” the system which is not intended to be in constant use. Adults suffer physical health issues if adrenaline and cortisol are released too frequently into their bodies. High blood pressure, chronic inflammation, high glucose levels, and low bone density are just a few of the numerous side effects which can result in:
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Digestive problems
• Headaches
• Heart disease
• Sleep problems
• Weight gain
• Memory and concentration impairment

The Effects on Children

For children, the situation is even worse. When little human brains and bodies are growing, there is a lot to do. The brain is developing at its fastest rate. Brain growth surges for the first 3 years of life, expands rapidly for the next ten years, then plateaus in the early 20s. But during the formative years, the body is using resources like the energy from food to accomplish countless tasks – building muscle, growing bone, honing the senses, and developing coordination and communication skills. With only a finite number of resources available, the brain allocates them to the most immediate and vital needs. In the case of constant fear and danger, the adrenaline process is triggered again and again at the expense of developing other parts of the brain and body.

Since survival must come first, that’s where all the energy goes, neglecting cognitive development and impeding those sectors of the brain vital for reasoning, self-regulation, and ultimately behavior and learning ability for the rest of a child’s life. In many cases, the lost ground is difficult, if not impossible, to make up.

A Life of Fear

So, imagine a child living in a home with domestic violence. He lives with daily uncertainty and apprehension. He is on constant alert, waiting for the next tragic event. He is always in fear of witnessing or being the victim of abuse. When it occurs, he suffers extreme terror and a sense of helplessness. He lives his life in a constant state of toxic stress. The healthy development we owe all children has, in a sense, been stolen from him.

Effects of Toxic Stress on the Body Systems of a Child

Nervous System:
Toxic stress disrupts the developing brain, including changes to the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala. This raises the risk of cognitive impairment, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, poor self-regulation, inhibited memory and attention span, and anxiety.

Cardiovascular System:
Toxic stress increases a child’s risk of developing high blood pressure later in life because it elevates levels of inflammation that can damage the arteries. This can lead to heart disease, stroke, and other serious heart issues.

Immune System:
Toxic stress raises the risk of infections and autoimmune diseases due to chronic inflammation and other factors. This can impair the normal development of the body’s immune system.

Endocrine System:
Toxic stress can inhibit the functioning of hormones that regulate growth and development. It can also lead to obesity and impede or accelerate the onset of puberty.

This is what toxic stress looks like: It’s the relentless fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and terror that can cripple a child’s developing brain and body.

ACEs are not just experiences, they are events that cause chemical disruption in the body and result in lifelong mental and physical health issues. When a child is traumatized, abused, or neglected, we are changing who they are at a cellular level and causing damage from which it is very difficult to recover.

But hormones are powerful agents for good, too. A few months ago, this blog series focused on resilience and how to be a buffer for a child. Science shows that the presence of just one positive adult influence in a child’s life can help mitigate against the detrimental effects of ACEs. How does that work on a cellular level?

The Science of Kindness
As well as hormones that protect us, we have hormones that keep us close as a society. Human beings are communal creatures and we’ve developed to co-operate and help one another. Our bodies are even programmed to want to do this because it facilitates our survival imperative: we are stronger together than we are alone.

Acts of kindness often bring us a good, warm feeling. That’s not just an emotion, it’s a chemical reaction in the body. Kindness or altruism releases a chemical in our blood called oxytocin which sends positive, self-affirming signals to our brain. It’s often called the happiness drug. Oxytocin, along with dopamine and serotonin, make up what’s called the Happiness Trifecta. They increase the production of neurochemicals that lift your mood.

Kindness, care, support, warmth, compassion, and love all release these amazing chemicals which have positive health effects like lowered blood pressure, which reduces strain on the veins and arteries and can help stave off heart disease. These positive chemicals are fast-acting, too. In fact, chemicals resulting from a kind or loving interaction can positively influence the brain in as little as 3 seconds!

Remember a time when you felt anxious or depressed. Think how good a simple hug from a loved one felt at that time. That’s oxytocin! There’s a reason it’s called the “cuddle hormone”. Think about how uplifting an unexpected compliment can feel. That’s dopamine! The Happiness Trifecta help both the giver and the receiver to raise their levels of good, happy hormones. And its these hormones that counteract and neutralize the effects of adrenaline and cortisol.

Every time you have an interaction with a child that’s focused on giving something positive to them–even if it’s a high-five, a thumbs up or a big smile–that’s medicine that works as an antidote to ACEs. It hardly seems possible that it’s also doing great things for your own body, too.

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ACEs and Divorce

Kerry Jamieson Fighting ACEs PBC, Latest News , , , ,

Between 40 and 50 percent of US marriages end in divorce. Divorce may seem commonplace, even mundane, these days but its prevalence is exactly what makes it such a threat to the healthy mental and physical development of children. While divorce may have become more socially acceptable in recent decades (or even ‘normalized’) the experience for children is almost universally difficult. There is no doubt that the conflict and chronic stress involved in divorce is one of the leading causes of trauma in young children and a very significant ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience).

Even when both parents agree that it’s the best decision, divorce is a confusing, difficult process for adults, let alone children. Divorce introduces new stressors into a child’s life. Whether the separation occurs when they’re three or 13, children worry about what’s happening to their family. Often, children experience feelings of fear, uncertainty, anger, and disappointment. To a child, a divorce can feel like a violation of trust or a broken promise. Most children rely on their homes to be a place of security and safety. Breaking up that home shakes their world to its core. Little brains that are still forming cannot process information in the same way a more reasoning adult can. Children tend to internalize feelings of guilt or self-blame over their parents’ divorce that can affect them for the rest of their lives.

True, there are millions of successful adults who grew up as children of divorce. While ‘pro-marriage’ groups say all divorce has negative impact on children, other studies do seem to indicate that it is preferable for unhappy parents to separate and care individually for their children than for children to be raised in two-parent homes filled with resentment or even rage. A recent British study shows that 82% of children (aged 14 to 22) whose parents divorced  preferred their parents to separate agreeably than to ‘stay for the kids’. Divorce becomes an even more urgent decision when domestic abuse or violence against one or both partners (or the children themselves) is occurring. But there are as many adult children of divorce who are still trying to deal with the emotions and experiences their parents divorce caused them. Some studies indicate that the death of a parent (one of the most significant ACE indicators) may be easier for some children to understand and manage than divorce. In a child’s mind, it is easier to think that a parent died rather than that they left by choice.

Why is divorce such a powerful ACE?

• It introduces intense feelings of uncertainty, often for the first time if it happens very early in a child’s life
• It can cause an environment of chronic stress from anger, bitterness, and fighting
• It may cause economic strain on one of the divorcing parents
• It may separate the child not only from one parent but that parent’s family members who may have been a loving and stable influence
• It may expose a child to a parent’s new partners, which can increase risk of physical or sexual abuse

Of course, resilience levels among children are different. Some children cope and adapt better to divorce than others. Even among siblings experiencing the same divorce environment, the reactions may vary dramatically.

What Are the Warning Signs?

Here are just some of the indicators that your child may be having difficulties coping with your divorce:
• Poor performance or declining grades in school due to inability to focus
• Behavioral problems like attention seeking, “acting out”
• Mood swings or prolonged sadness/depression
• Apathy or loss of interest in places or activities they once enjoyed
• Less interest in spending time with friends
• Unwillingness to cooperate with everyday activities/defiance
• Low self-esteem and withdrawal
• Regressing to younger behaviors in an attempt to return to babyhood, clinginess
• New or increased irrational fears

If you’re dealing with divorce, be aware that even very young children may struggle emotionally. Short-term sadness and anger are normal. If negative emotions and behaviors continue beyond a few months, experts suggest counseling. Organizations like the Center for Child Counseling can provide expert, age-appropriate therapy to help children during and after a divorce. If an ACE like divorce is not addressed adequately, children may be impacted long-term and have a higher likelihood of using drugs and getting involved in criminal behavior later in life.

Adults Recall the Childhood Trauma of Divorce

When adult children of divorce look back on their childhood experiences, many express that it was the stress and conflict that was created by the divorce and not the splitting of parents itself that was so difficult to overcome. Often, children are used as pawns or become weapons in the fight between the separating partners. Asking children to choose between parents is extremely traumatic and brings feelings of anxiety and guilt that can last a lifetime.

Most times, parents go into self-protective, offensive mode and “lawyer up” which, while advised for many reasons, can create an immediately hostile and adversarial environment into which the children are inevitably dragged. The numerous emotions adults feel during a divorce—grief, anger, disappointment, loss of control, fear, loss of status, antagonism, bitterness, sadness, etc.—may also be experienced by children in different ways and for different reasons.…and if adults find it difficult to identify and cope with the emotions being raised, how much harder must it be for a child’s growing brain to process?

Parents who prioritize their children’s needs during a divorce should be viewed as heroes who have managed to look beyond their own emotions and chosen not to put their children at risk for long-term repercussions associated with ACEs.

Minimizing the Impact of the Process

You don’t have to put your own interests/needs last in order to put their children’s interests first. There are different ways to get a divorce. Parents can try to choose a non-adversarial form of divorce, if possible. They can consider mediation or collaborative resolution, if the nature of the divorce allows for it. It’s cheaper and often less traumatic for everyone involved.

Of course, there are as many different kinds of divorce as there are marriages. Some divorces are divisive and going to court may be inevitable. Center for Child Counseling board member and partner at Ward Damon, Eddie Stephens views ACEs from a family court perspective. He sees the trauma in families going through divorce: “There is an incredible amount of dysfunction out there. It is on full display in family courtrooms across the nation. Most professionals are just dealing with symptoms (substance abuse, violence, reckless behaviors), but little is done to address the root cause. In more cases then not, these individuals have suffered through some kind of traumatic experience(s) as a youth. That is the problem that needs to be addressed… not just the symptoms.”

Stephens sees how childhood trauma is transmitted from one generation to the next.

“The goal should be to create a trauma-informed society that appreciates the impact ACEs can have on an individual throughout their lives. If we shifted resources and provided the needed therapy when these kids were young, we would be more likely to stop the generational cycle which would lead to a healthier society. If we don’t embrace that approach as a society, we will continue to spend money on the symptoms while further generations become entrapped in this horrible cycle of dysfunction.”

Try to Have a ‘Grown-Up Divorce’

Children mimic grown-ups’ behavior. They learn what maturity is by watching adults. Parents teach us lessons of sharing, listening, playing fair, and being honest and kind, yet so often these simple rules are broken during a divorce. For a little brain seeking to process these events, it’s all very confusing. Positive or negative world views are being formed at this stage of life and witnessing a mature versus an acrimonious divorce can skew a child’s views on the safety or danger of adult relationships for the rest of their lives.

Mature parents can minimize the impact of their divorce by focusing on some simple guidelines. They may sound like common sense but, in the heat of the moment, practicing these rules can be a challenge. However, it will benefit your child during your divorce and for the rest of their lives.

Communicate:
Wherever possible, communicate decisions about the divorce as a family. Ideally, if all parties are present, the child will understand what is happening and see that both parents still love them. Do not share intimate details of the causes of the divorce; share age-appropriate facts only. Avoid the “blame game” or “he said, she said” story-telling.

Prepare:
Tell your children ahead of time what will be happening and when. Nobody, especially a child, likes to be sidelined by dramatic, unexpected events. Tell your children, as early as possible, about major life events like moving houses, changing schools, etc.

Acknowledge Emotions:
Don’t try to pretend that this decision is the best choice and “better for everybody”. Your child may not feel that way. Empathize with their sadness and fear and allow them to talk about their emotions. Always allow them to talk positively about the other parent.

Prevent Stress:
Try not to expose your child to adult concerns. Ensure they don’t overhear cruel arguments or intimate issues. You need to walk a fine line between keeping them informed and protecting them from age-inappropriate facts, no matter how true.

Provide Structure:
Some of the biggest changes for a child going through a divorce is the loss of significant time with one parent or the other and the constant moving between new living spaces. If you can agree on universal rules that are obeyed at both homes, it will reduce stress for your child. Try to maintain routines and not change/cancel plans at the last minute. This will only add to your child’s anxiety and insecurity.

Keep Loving Buffers in Their Lives:
Your child should never have to choose one parent over the other and that goes for extended family members, too. Your child may be very close to your ex’s siblings (their aunts, uncles, and cousins) and your ex’s parents (their grandparents). These positive influences in their lives can help buffer against the stress of the divorce and minimize the effects of ACEs. Do your best to nurture those relationships and let your child enjoy the stability of still having these good, kind people in their lives.

Use Kind Words:
In the case of biological children you have in common, it helps to remember that your amazing, precious children are 50% your ex. Every bad thing you say about him or her, you’re saying about the children you share, too.

Don’t Force Them to Hide Things From You:
Your children are likely to feel torn or periodically disloyal during and after the divorce. Allow them to share positive thoughts or feelings about your ex. They shouldn’t feel that they have to hide funny stories or happy thoughts about your ex from you. You can find ways to reinforce these in a way that’s both honest and supportive of their feelings:
“I always loved how smart your mom is.”
“You dad always tells the best jokes.”

Love Them Extra:
It goes without saying that during this difficult time you should support your child even more than usual. Smother them with love and encouragement. In the case of an especially hard divorce, you might try to remind yourself that you love your child more than you hate your ex.

There is no reason your divorce should be a childhood trauma that scars your children for life. So many parents manage to get it right and provide two secure, stable and happy homes for their children after their divorce. The ultimate goal is not to “win your divorce” but for your children to have a lifelong positive relationship with both their parents.

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