The two biggest myths about ACEs science are: MYTH #1 — That it’s just about the 10 ACEs in the ACE Study — the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study . It’s about sooooo much more than that. MYTH #2 — And that it’s just about ACEs…adverse childhood experiences. These two myths are intertwined. The ACE Study issued the first of its 70+ publications in 1998, and for many people it was the lightning bolt, the grand “aha” moment, the unexpected doorway into a blazing new...

What are ACEs? ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children's developing brains so profoundly that the effects show up decades later; they cause much of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence. ...

"Trauma is everywhere. Support needs to be everywhere too." Dan Drew, the mayor of Middletown, Connecticut. Mayor Dan Drew helped open the Leadership Roundtable on Trauma & Resilience hosted by the Community Resilience Collaborative (CRC) of Middlesex County. In fact, Mayor Drew was a little late to come to the podium because he was out in the hall filling out his ACE and Resilience surveys as all attendants were asked (anonymously) to do. He noted how many people are impacted by the...

What's Your ACE Score? (and Your Resilience Score?) There are 10 types of childhood trauma measured in the ACE Study. Five are personal -- physical abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect. Five are related to other family members: a parent who's an alcoholic, a mother who's a victim of domestic violence, a family member in jail, a family member diagnosed with a mental illness, and the disappearance of a parent through divorce, death or abandonment. Each...

Measuring Trauma-Informed Care: Overview of Series Federal, state, and local governing bodies are increasingly mandating trauma-informed care (TIC), requiring organizations, schools, and service systems to demonstrate they are advancing TIC in their settings. Yet, organizations and schools have little guidance about how to do so. For example, the Family First Services Prevention Act requires Qualified Residential Training Programs (QRTPs) to demonstrate effective use of a TIC framework, but...

There's a new ACEs-resiliency survey in town! It came out of a conversation between two physicians having a conversation on a bus. Here's the story about how it was developed, and how to use it. And, it's free.

But if we want to prevent shootings, asking about motive will just get you a useless answer to the wrong question. If you use the lens of the science of adverse childhood experiences, the answer reveals itself, and usually pretty quickly.

New and returning lawmakers take the oath of office on day one of Washington state's 2017 legislative session. — Jeanie Lindsay/Northwest News Network As advocates prepare to see how ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) science, trauma, and resilience play out in the 2020 state legislative sessions — many beginning in January — they are undoubtedly asking: “What does a legislator want?" It may be a stretch to play on Freud’s question: “What does a women want?", but the query captures how...

In 2012, Greater Richmond SCAN and five other community partners hatched a one-year plan to educate the Richmond, Virginia, community about ACEs science and to embed trauma-informed practices. Eight years later, the original group has evolved into the Greater Richmond Trauma-Informed Community Network (GRTICN) with 495 people and 170 organizations. And they're just scratching the surface.

Can universal ACEs screening be equitable? A conversation about concerns and solutions. When: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2-3:30 pm PDT/5-6:30 pm EDT This webinar explores what it takes to ensure that equity is built into the process of screening and providing support for families who have experienced trauma and want help. REGISTER HERE Background At the beginning of this year, California, through the ACEs Aware initiative began rolling out universal screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs),...