Adverse Childhood Experiences and Toxic Stress are considered by many to be the #1 Public Health issue of our time.  These experiences are often at the core of many other issues that we see in our communities such as interpersonal and community violence, substance use and misuse, suicide, and any number of chronic health issues such as diabetes, cancer, even Alzheimer’s. While it often seems like an overwhelming task, taking on public health crises is something that advocates in the U.S. have done very well – just look at the progress that has been made related to tobacco use and combating HIV. Four basic steps for using a public health approach to addressing these issues include: 1)  raising awareness through public education, 2) early and routine screening for risk factors, 3) early intervention, and 4) implementation of the best practices that we have available while conducting ongoing research to discover new strategies.

One of the leading authorities in our country for addressing public health issues is the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and ACEs/Toxic Stress are no exception. The CDC has developed a framework to help communities organize their efforts to create safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for all children called Essentials for Childhood (EfC). This framework has four goals:

• Goal 1: Raise awareness and commitment to promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments and prevent child abuse and neglect.
• Goal 2: Use data to inform actions.
• Goal 3: Create the context for healthy children and families through norms change and programs.
• Goal 4: Create the context for healthy children and families through policies.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll highlight each of these goals and ways that some of the communities we’ve met are working to achieve them. We hope you will share your stories and ideas as well! To learn more about statewide efforts to ensure all Kansas children live in safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments, visit Kansas Power of the Positive online and keep visiting us here at Kansas ACEs Connection.

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