Why positive childhood experiences are important for all children and families [positiveexperience.org/blog]

What are positive childhood experiences?

Positive childhood experiences, also known as PCEs, are protective experiences that help heal the brain from trauma and promote healthy mental health in adulthood. In 2019, HOPE Director Robert Sege, Christina Bethell, PhD, MBA, MPH, and others published a study in JAMA Pediatrics where they found that PCEs can promote well-being even when exposed to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

When children are exposed to ACEs, they are at risk for developing depression and poor mental health effects as adults. The outcomes from the 2019 study show that we will not automatically develop poor mental health due to ACEs exposure. PCEs give us hope that we can heal from trauma and protect ourselves against future effects of trauma.

How to practice PCEs

Positive childhood experiences can look different for each child and family. PCEs allow children to form strong relationships and meaningful connections, cultivate positive self-image and self-worth, experience a sense of belonging, a sense that they matter, and build skills to cope with stress in healthy ways.

At the HOPE National Resource Center, we train all on the Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) framework, an approachable strength-based model where PCEs are organized into four broad categories we call the Four Building Blocks of HOPE. These categories – relationships, environments, engagement, and emotional growth – originated from a 2017 paper by Drs. Sege and Charlyn Harper Brown published in Academic Pediatrics where the HOPE framework was first introduced as a response to ACEs.

[Click here to read the full blog post.]