Dr. Felitti's remarks about the primary prevention of adverse childhood experiences.

John,

Dr. Felitti and Dr. Anda deserve the Congressional Medal of Honor or the Presidential Medal of Freedom or a Nobel or all three for their work.  Perhaps that would give them the forum to push for the primary prevention of adverse childhood experiences.

Regarding Dr. Felitti's remarks, Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is an evidence based home visiting program, provided by bachelor's prepared nurses.  We are preventing ACE's from the very beginning, before the child is even born.  Nurses work with low-income, first-time mom's starting in pregnancy, and up through the child's 2nd birthday.  Our program breaks cycles of trauma and adversity, which impact not only the client, but also her baby, and subsequent generations to come.  

One of our NFP programs in Washington State was part of a pilot project to incorporate NEAR@Home into our visits with clients.  NEAR is the acronym for:  Neuroscience, Epigenetics, ACE's, and Resilience.  We continue to use this in our practice with every client we serve.  For more information and a downloadable toolkit, please visit: https://www.nearathome.org/  

To learn more, please visit:  www.nursefamilypartnership.org or watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be

Really thanks for this heads-up on the series.  Nicely done and valuable and so accessible for all.  I am spreading the word!  : )

In my 20 plus years of helping parents overcome the automatic pattern of imposing their unresolved ACE's onto their children, thousands of parents have found solutions for self-recovery through my CD recording, now available as an audio on youtube: True Parent Authority.  Would love you to give it a listen and to receive your feedback.  Here's the link for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NMq-XsfMGY

We at ATN have always agreed that the root is helping the parents find connected, trauma-informed ways to parent (or preventative ways to parent). This includes recognizing that if there's a way to support a parent who has had a hand in traumatizing their child to learn better ways to parent, it truly can be less traumatizing than removing the child (because we have to also understand the role that attachment-- healthy or otherwise - plays.)   It's in the need for the implementation to be so widespread where things get overwhelming - both the implementation of informing parents and shifting their thinking of societal parenting practices AND in the arduous training/re-training and supporting parents as they (we as a society) focus on highly relational, attachment-rich parenting strategies that ultimately help build resilient children.  How does a generation of parents with high ACE scores turn this ship around instead of passing on the residual of their own trauma to the next generation?  My belief is that we (those of us who understand the problem and are starting to grasp the solutions) do it by any and ALL avenues available to us -- through the medical community, through the educational system, through community initiatives, through public/media.  It's coming -- the wave of change is coming in all these areas.  Parents turn to all of these systems for advice and expertise.  Parents and families are the target...but in order to adequately help, coach and support them, we all must do our part.  So I guess I disagree that we have to sit in this overwhelming problem and wait for "the" answer of primary prevention - I believe if the nibblers reach a critical mass...we'll start making a real difference...we have to at least try, don't we?

David-

You and I have discussed this before and I do have your bumper sticker on my car.  Yet, at times I think we are spending so much time and resources and conferences discussing trauma informed care and the science behind ACEs, that I feel like you that there needs to be a louder voice EVERY DAY on prevention.  I have felt that way since I first watched a video years ago of Dr Felitti and more of them recently, where he ALWAYS talks about prevention.  Imagine the heartache he and Dr Anda felt, tears as I've read, about their original findings, and those of others who re-did their studies because they thought no one would believe their results.

I see at times that we are making parenting harder than it should be. I have a 9 year old heart so this is easier for me.  Most children simply need to know someone cares.  That is supposed to be the responsibility of the parents. Yet, if they didn't see it or feel it, it most like won't happen.  When I speak about ACEs from the prevention side, I suggest a simple yet impactful move that seems to get people's attention so much so that they can't wait to call or write and tell me about it.  If you take your child's face in your hands and say these words, "There is nothing in this world I wouldn't do for you."  Depending on the age of the child,  you might get the, "I know Dad" words or look. Yet, if you slowly do it again and look right into their heart...it does one very significant thing.  It removes doubt and fear about how you feel about them.  You can screw up many things parenting of course, but if you take away the doubt and fear about how you feel about them isn't it possible that fewer toxic chemicals would be released in the brain?  Don't we all agree with the statement...Children don't care What you know, until they Know how much you care?  My mother did this hands on the face thing with all of her 4 sons and it had a dramatic effect on our lives, as well as loving us unconditionally. 

I did 8 years of NPR Father's Day call in shows and consistently 80% of the callers wanted to talk about and honor their "Dad" who was not their biological father.  At first I didn't understand why that was happening.  Yet, as we have learned in our ACEs world, it often only takes ONE person who cares to change a life. It seems to resonate even stronger when it is done by someone who actually "saves" a heart. I have learned that personally from my brilliant and kind adopted grand daughter Brogan.  She came to our family when she was 9 and is now 21. In an 8 hour car ride from Chicago to my home in Nashville, we talked about ACEs the entire way.  Halfway home, she took the ACE Survey and with tears in her eyes said she was a 7. But a smile quickly appeared after and said she felt she was a ZERO now and with further discussion suggested we start NoACEs.club to reach out to children who felt like they didn't belong anywhere and she wanted to put a table on the QUAD at the U of Illinois to reach out to students who NEVER have told their story. Imagine if we promoted a club that brought out ACEs from behind the shame cloud that covers so much joy in lives...our goal needs to be NO ACEs because it reduces the need for trauma informed care.

Yet, TRUE prevention is the mark here.  Why would it be so hard to make it mandatory in our country that we teach parenting as a mandate for ANYONE who is having a child?  Say, two hours of ideas, words, activities and tools for so many new parents that didn't have the benefit of a supportive childhood.  This isn't rocket science...you just need to show what it feels like to be cared for.  The same thing works for every school, corporation and family in the US. If you make people feel like you truly care for them...everyone wins.

As well, there needs to be a national mandate of parents taking the ACE survey at the pediatricians office like the Portland, OR clinic did so successfully.  Sadly, change often occurs in government when DOLLARS are the subject.  We need to have our ACEs leaders talk more about the win-win cost wise for ALL of us when we prevent the need for so many social services when trauma takes hold of a life.  WE are paying for the social services for our fellow Americans.  We are even losing teachers at a greater rate than ever before.  Part of that is compensation and part is disrespect for the daily effort they are making parenting our children in school. You can ask any teacher from K-12 if it's getting worse every year and you will hear a resounding YES!

I moved here 6 years ago with an offer of a PBS TV show that morphed into "Musicians Behaving Dadly."  An interview show that learned about the childhood of some of our celebrity musicians and how or what they might do differently with their own children. My hope was to do something positive with their celebrity...instead we have MILLIONS of followers for the Kardashians.  What is going wrong America???  If we could reach the fan base of celebrities and let them know how to parent better...could that be a beginning of change.  And the show could simply be "Behaving Dadly."  I can still hear and see Dr Felitti suggesting a TV show in his address to a Native American conference, where he actually suggests that very same idea.  I played that video last week for a school district In Service day.  The funding of my show has fallen thru twice now because the funds went back into the public sector to colleges, etc. for study.

Please forgive my too simplistic rambling this morning, but until you've tried the hands in the face thing with your child or used that same type of feeling at work or school, don't fault me.  We all just need to know that we are appreciated for just who we are...period.  My definition of family is...ANY situation where you have the possibility of watching over others through kindness without measure.

I have many songs that relate to the same family attitude, so if you know anyone who wants to connect to a "positive parenting" message like your bumper stickers...send them my way.  The future of parenting...It's in our hands!

John Trayser

The Greatful Dad!

Thank you David.  Do you have a copy of the full text of Dr. Felitti's remarks ?

Breastfeeding and attachment efforts can help...  One intervention, simply giving new moms a soft carrier worn on the body, and suggesting the Mom make an effort to wear her baby at least an hour or two each day, doubled the rate of secure attachment.   Co sleeping promotions might be helpful as well.

I'd like to see a campaign like the anti-littering (crying native american) and anti-smoking campaigns (kid copying dad in all things)  that I remember from my childhood.  We need to promote nurturing practices.  We need to let people know that babyhood/toddlerhood  is a time of RIGHT brain learning, where the emotional tenor of interactions is the key, and feeling safe, seen, and loved by one main attachment figure leads to a healthy self concept. 

We are WAY too far from the "paleo" template of babyhood. This is what we need, to improve national mental health.  Everyone understands you do not take a baby bird out of the nest and expect it to thrive.  But we take baby humans out of their "nest" -- and we don't even know  it, since modernity has changed "the nest" so much.  Our "nest" is supposed to be a dyad.  Babies who do not get dyadic one-on-one care are seriously disadvantaged.  

Dr James W Prescott of the NIH did a huge study of dozens of native tribes back in the 1970's and discovered that babies getting carried around was the top predictor of a society being more peaceable and contented.  The somatic stimulation of carrying is very important to the vestibular cerebellar system, which is key to future brain development in other later-to-develop areas.  

If we can articulate a vision of the physical and emotional care needed by babies and provide education and support to young families we can start to turn this ship around.

Progress has been slow in advancing use of the ACE findings, and has occurred in unexpected (to me) places: schools, judicial settings, State Legislatures, etc.  Today I learned that California's Gov. Newsom, in his inauguration talk, just referenced the ACE findings and his intent to integrate them into California's schools.  The link is: <http://www.capradio.org/129005>.  I wonder whether Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris' skillful efforts might have gotten this information to him.

Diane Petrella posted:

Elizabeth Perry posted:

I agree with Dr. Felitti that the problem is enormous and needs to be addressed at the root. I believe parenting programs are a part of the solution, but ultimately as societies we must reprioritize our focus to #MeetNeeds of developing humans which means properly supporting families. Poverty is still the number one indicator or adversity in childhood. Providing a #BasicIncome to all is a start. I also believe letting everyone know about ACEs is giving the masses the necessary knowledge with which they can make informed decisions about their own response. 

My favourite child advocate is Alice Miller. She cuts through to the chase. I name our issues colonial child rearing. Many of us, the children of the oppressed and the oppressors, have developed skewed perceptions of our selves. Miller calls it soul murder, as a result of children being forced to adapt to adults' needs (unmet during their own development) rather than adults adapting and providing for the needs of the children. We've had our priorities upside down. And now we have societies that have so many problems we'll never be able to resolve them. Unless we give everyone the knowledge, and inspire the grassroots to develop solutions. 

I'm looking forward to watching the entire Whole Child Series. Thanks for posting this quote David. 

In solidarity,

Elizabeth Perry 

Hi Elizabeth,

I completely agree with you. And I love Alice Miller. Her book, Prisoners of Childhood, informed my early work. Thank you for mentioning her.

I appreciate this discussion and all the comments. I don't disagree that children need to be safe and protected. It's just that some of the systems, including the child welfare system or the mental health system, often (though not always), make things worse or a different kind of hard/bad for kids even when that's not the intention.

Kids removed from homes, for their own protection, can be abused, neglected, and face countless disruptions, losses and transitions (of towns, homes, siblings, extended family, neighborhoods, etc. etc. when removed from a family and some of those are protective even when the situation at home is not). It's so complicated and systems, like parents, have patterns, bias, history that impact how things are done. Often, they disproportionately impact or punish the most marginalized in a community and that's not the same as protecting kids that are most vulnerable. I think systems must change, and systems change is important, in order to get at root causes not only of ACEs but historical trauma.

It has to be all of us, individually, as families, systems, and sectors becoming trauma informed together and working collaboratively, and even as I type this I know how challenging it is. Thanks again for the discourse back and forth! 

Elizabeth Perry posted:

I agree with Dr. Felitti that the problem is enormous and needs to be addressed at the root. I believe parenting programs are a part of the solution, but ultimately as societies we must reprioritize our focus to #MeetNeeds of developing humans which means properly supporting families. Poverty is still the number one indicator or adversity in childhood. Providing a #BasicIncome to all is a start. I also believe letting everyone know about ACEs is giving the masses the necessary knowledge with which they can make informed decisions about their own response. 

My favourite child advocate is Alice Miller. She cuts through to the chase. I name our issues colonial child rearing. Many of us, the children of the oppressed and the oppressors, have developed skewed perceptions of our selves. Miller calls it soul murder, as a result of children being forced to adapt to adults' needs (unmet during their own development) rather than adults adapting and providing for the needs of the children. We've had our priorities upside down. And now we have societies that have so many problems we'll never be able to resolve them. Unless we give everyone the knowledge, and inspire the grassroots to develop solutions. 

I'm looking forward to watching the entire Whole Child Series. Thanks for posting this quote David. 

In solidarity,

Elizabeth Perry 

Hi Elizabeth,

I completely agree with you. And I love Alice Miller. Her book, Prisoners of Childhood, informed my early work. Thank you for mentioning her.

Cissy White (ACEs Connection Staff) posted:

Diane Petrella posted:

It pains me to agree with Dr. Felitti's statement about the magnitude of the problem. Early in my career as a clinical social worker—over 30 years ago—I worked with abused children and their families. What frustrated me the most were laws that protected parents over the needs of children.

Enough research has been done about the effects of childhood abuse. No more research. We know the results. We need laws passed to protect children. We need laws passed preventing schools from using corporal punishment. (It horrifies me that this is still legal in some states!) We need laws passed so children have the same rights as adults.

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to rant.

Diane:

As @Rebecca Lewis-Pankratz says, “Parents are just kids with ACEs who grew up” and I think that is most often the case. Was that your experience as a practitioner? 

Cissy

Hi Cissy,

Absolutely. The parents I worked with who abused their children had their own histories of abuse. Some, however, minimized the impact and remained "loyal" to their parents' way of disciplining children. Each situation was unique, of course. Even if a parent has had ACES, the bottom line was their children needed to be safe. And that sometimes meant removing children from the home. ACES is an explanation but unless a parent who has abused their child wants to change, their child is not safe.

I agree with Dr. Felitti that the problem is enormous and needs to be addressed at the root. I believe parenting programs are a part of the solution, but ultimately as societies we must reprioritize our focus to #MeetNeeds of developing humans which means properly supporting families. Poverty is still the number one indicator or adversity in childhood. Providing a #BasicIncome to all is a start. I also believe letting everyone know about ACEs is giving the masses the necessary knowledge with which they can make informed decisions about their own response. 

My favourite child advocate is Alice Miller. She cuts through to the chase. I name our issues colonial child rearing. Many of us, the children of the oppressed and the oppressors, have developed skewed perceptions of our selves. Miller calls it soul murder, as a result of children being forced to adapt to adults' needs (unmet during their own development) rather than adults adapting and providing for the needs of the children. We've had our priorities upside down. And now we have societies that have so many problems we'll never be able to resolve them. Unless we give everyone the knowledge, and inspire the grassroots to develop solutions. 

I'm looking forward to watching the entire Whole Child Series. Thanks for posting this quote David. 

In solidarity,

Elizabeth Perry 

Diane Petrella posted:

It pains me to agree with Dr. Felitti's statement about the magnitude of the problem. Early in my career as a clinical social worker—over 30 years ago—I worked with abused children and their families. What frustrated me the most were laws that protected parents over the needs of children.

Enough research has been done about the effects of childhood abuse. No more research. We know the results. We need laws passed to protect children. We need laws passed preventing schools from using corporal punishment. (It horrifies me that this is still legal in some states!) We need laws passed so children have the same rights as adults.

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to rant.

Diane:

As @Rebecca Lewis-Pankratz says, “Parents are just kids with ACEs who grew up” and I think that is most often the case. Was that your experience as a practitioner? 

Cissy

It pains me to agree with Dr. Felitti's statement about the magnitude of the problem. Early in my career as a clinical social worker—over 30 years ago—I worked with abused children and their families. What frustrated me the most were laws that protected parents over the needs of children.

Enough research has been done about the effects of childhood abuse. No more research. We know the results. We need laws passed to protect children. We need laws passed preventing schools from using corporal punishment. (It horrifies me that this is still legal in some states!) We need laws passed so children have the same rights as adults.

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to rant.

Pick out a bumper sticker, Ms. Foster and I'll send it to you.  There are fifty-one to choose from.

During the premier of the documentary Whole-People in Saint Cloud Minnesota 1-10-19 the audience agrees with you David. Please do continue watch the entire series there are four more that will be aired every Sunday at 7pm on TPT . It can be watched on line at tpt.org/whole-people

#101 - CHILDHOOD TRAUMA January13 at 7 p.m. TPT MN
#102 - HEALING COMMUNITIES January 20 at 7 p.m. TPT MN
#103 - A NEW RESPONSE January 27 at 7 p.m. TPT MN
#104 - FAMILY SOLUTIONS February 3 at 7 p.m. TPT MN
#105 - HEALING JOURNEYS February 10 at 7 p.m. TPT MN

You will see many different ways to build health and well-being including parent education.