“I have an ACE Score of 10"…. I whispered aloud to myself after taking the ACE Questionnaire for the first time over a decade ago. After first hearing about the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, frequently referred to as the ACE Study, I was hooked and have wanted to know and share all that I can about this research since that day. It is my belief that this is research that can change the shape of public health and improve the outcomes for all Americans. For those who know about this world-changing research, the sentence, “I have an ACE score of 10” usually evokes a sense of compassion, indignation, with people stating of “You are proof it can be done, you educated yourself in spite of a rocky foundation” or disbelief that someone who has had things happen to them, things happen around them and things not happen for them now dedicates their life to educating people about Neurobiology, Epigenetics, ACEs, and Resilience.
The ACE Study originated in 1995 and was completed in 1997 and the research supports that it takes close to 30 years for research to translate to public knowledge. While I was raising a child in low income housing and living on welfare in Oklahoma, Drs. Vincent Felitti and Rob Anda were completing the study that would open up a world of knowledge and confront hard truths about the importance of understanding how adverse experiences during key developmental periods can have a profound impact on the trajectory of the lives of millions of people: including me. It has now led to the development of a roadmap to responsiveness that I follow as a person, mother, therapist, and trainer.
Dr. Felitti and Dr. Anda’s research helps us to understand the role of how our experiences shape our capacity to trust and connect. These capacities are vital for transformative growth – which only happens in tandem with safe-competent adults in a person’s world. Educating others about neurobiology, resilience, epigenetics and ultimately hope is incredibly valuable; however, without including the key information about how much our childhood experience matters, we are simply educating people about these topics and glossing over an important piece of the roadmap to responsiveness.
We cannot simply hope for transformative growth and trust that it will happen – we need a roadmap. And that roadmap is learning about adversity, it’s exploring the hard truth of trauma (of which our Nation and State are founded upon), it’s having discussions about the adults we serve who were once children who might not have had food to eat, might have learned they are only safe in school and did not experience safe connection with competent caregivers. In my work as an infant mental health therapist and a children’s play therapist, I have learned a significant amount about the idea of parallel process. This process supports the notion that a caregiver’s growth and competence will ultimately parallel the child’s growth and capacities; additionally, in my experience in public health, I have seen those parallels in the systems that serve and support children, families and individuals. We start the process of therapy by creating a strong foundation through building relationships, strengthening the connection between the therapist and caregiver by truly understanding the experiences that brought them to us and lastly, we instill hope.
If I start our work by jumping in to share the message of hope and sharing the tools I have that will help them and glossing over their pain or their backstory, I will have missed many opportunities to see, hear and feel with the client. This is true on a systemic level: if we jump in with strategies, the message of hope and focus only on stories of resilience, it may mean nothing unless we are in a position to truly understand what that means for an agency, a department, a workforce. We are simply minimizing their history and sharing a shiny message that may resonate, but only short term; furthermore, we run the risk of engaging in toxic positivity. If we start the work by understanding, we can hold space for the hard things and move forward with the hope that these hard things have prepared them to survive before we move into strategies that help them thrive and in this way, we get to have a front seat to witness the growth of individuals and systems.
Autumn Cooper, MBS, LPC-S, RPT-S, IMH-E® (III)
Behavioral Health Consultant, Oklahoma State Department of Health
Co-Owner Nurturing Mamas Network
Autumn is also one of the Potts Family Foundation’s Community Resilience Trainers working toward certification as an ACE Interface Master Trainer.
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