Never has it been more important to focus on creating a more trauma-informed culture in Central Florida than now. Bad events anywhere are visible 24-7 to adults and children all over the globe. In our own community, we have daily news cycles of the trauma and displacement of over 100,000 people from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Evacuees fled to Florida as we began our own recovery from Hurricane Irma. Many suffered homelessness, poverty, food insecurity and more. All of these events affect children.
Each day hundreds of children in our community experience what are known as ACEs, or adverse childhood experiences. These toxic stress events can be triggered by domestic violence, child abuse, sexual molestation, loss of a parent through death or divorce, opioid overdose or any severely traumatic event that affects early brain and neurological development. But the wounds go deeper.
As the number of childhood toxic events rise, so does the risk of school failure, mental illness, incarceration, drug addiction and death. Lifespans can be cut short as much as 20 years. Entire communities can be affected similar to natural disasters or gang wars in the streets. The cycles repeat for these young lives, triggering more violence, abuse, addiction and poverty.
[For more on this story by Kevin Sherin, go to http://www.orlandosentinel.com...-20180322-story.html]
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