Looking for an ACEs Article Critique

In general, I feel the ACES people talk to much about problems and not enough about solutions. Jane and I are going back on forth on this. She might convince me yet. she says people need to know how awful their life has been in order to decide to fix it. I think just work on fixing it.

Try this resilience info, see how the problems are much less central and the solutions are more emphasized? From here:  https://www.mind.org.uk/media/...ient_communities.pdf

5.1 What is wellbeing? There are numerous definitions of both wellbeing and resilience and in our research we found some confusion about what these terms mean.

Wellbeing has been defined as: A positive state of mind and body, feeling safe and able to cope, with a sense of connection with people, communities and the wider environment14. A state in which an individual is able to realise his or her own abilities, cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.

Wellbeing covers more than just ‘happiness’; it involves the complex interplay of several different factors in a person’s life. When measuring wellbeing the Office for National Statistics includes both subjective measures of a person’s own feelings of wellbeing and more objective factors such as health, finance and housing16. Public mental health approaches should therefore not focus solely on reducing the number of people living with mental health problems, but also need to consider ways of enabling people to flourish by promoting positive wellbeing in all areas of their lives. This report will focus on mental wellbeing, as distinct from physical wellbeing (or physical health).

5.2 What is resilience? Resilience is the capacity of people to confront and cope with life’s challenges and to recover from, or adapt to, adversity. Whilst wellbeing refers to a person’s ‘psychological state at a point in time’19, The Young Foundation describe resilience as ‘dynamic, taking into account the past and the future; a person can build resilience before they hit crisis and be more likely to cope with problems that may be around the corner’20. Resilience can be learned and improved, as well as eroded or worn down by difficult circumstances, so a person’s resilience may vary over their lifetime. The Young Foundation goes on to explain how resilience can add an element of ‘future-proofing’ to a wellbeing analysis.

It is not only important that communities have high levels of wellbeing but also that they are resilient to maintain this wellbeing in difficult circumstances. This is particularly important in a time of economic recession when many people are facing job-cuts, welfare reforms and economic uncertainty. Activities, facilities and services that promote wellbeing are important, but we must make sure that these are not only providing short-term gains in wellbeing, but also longer-term gains in resilience. This report considers three key components to building resilience; • promotion of wellbeing • building social capital • developing psychological coping skills.

5 ways to wellbeing

1. Connect With the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. At home, work, school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.

2. Be active Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and that suits your level of mobility and fitness.

3. Take notice Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.

4. Keep learning Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.

5. Give Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you.

Hi, Barbara: So glad you're creating a peer parenting group! I think your stress primer covers most everything, and we'll link to it. I have only a couple of suggestions: you may want to make it clear that parents have toxic stress due to ACEs, and that they can pass this on to their kids (if they don't incorporate what you'll be telling them in the primer on resilience!).

You also may want to check out the Parenting with ACEs group here for some other resources.

Corinna's suggestions are great for building resilience in individuals. In case you don't already have this, here's a link to Strengthening Families' five protective factors.

Hi Corinna,

Thanks for the report! This will definitely come in handy. 

I think the concepts of positive psychology and resilience are vastly underappreciated in today's society, but I still think the ACEs discovery needs more attention. From a treatment perspective, it feels like it's best to know where you come from, what made you who you are, what drives you, and what your triggers are in order to ultimately achieve a healthy state of mind. With the rates of mental health diagnoses and long-term prescription medication steadily rising, it seems like the biggest problem in psychology right now is that we aren't looking at root causes, simply "cures". 

"Know thyself" is my motto right now. I stole it from Socrates, but he doesn't mind.

My other concern is that people are desperately trying to take the steps to heal themselves, but because something is weighing heavy on their souls, they simply can't get to where they want to be. I hear it so often, especially with parents; they want to practice self-care, they want to have more patience with their kids, they want to get out and active, but the stress of the daily grind exhausts them, so they burn out or shut down. They don't understand why certain things get to them so badly, and those usually have something to do with their ACEs. It's a depressive state, really, and so many people are living like that as "the new norm". When parents live like that, kids suffer, and the parents see the suffering, and in turn, they suffer more. 

I'd love to hear more of your thoughts! Thanks for the feedback!

Jane, thanks for the reply! 

Yes, I should make the parenting-toxic stress connection more clear there, thanks for point that out.

That link to the Five Protective Factors looks like my missing piece. Bingo! Thank you. I'll be sure to post the resilience page here for feedback as well. I have what's currently a six-page instruction booklet for running the parenting group, and I'm building on it weekly, so I'd love to run that by anyone who's interested. I've gotten some great input from a few psychologists, a few trauma workers, and a resilience trainer so far. The hope is to have the first session sometime this Spring.

Thanks again for the feedback, and I'd love to hear any other advice you have as I go along!

Sounds great, Barbara. You may also want to chat with Cissy White, who's the community manager for Parenting with ACEs group. I can see some fabulous synergy between you two! You can message her through the network.

Great Job!  The only feed back I have is to perhaps put a addition space between the picture of Fight/ Flight and the next heading "Your Brain/ Body Response" .  They run together a bit.

Great information and visual.  This will be very helpful to those you will be serving!

Tracie

Love your piece!  I plan to share it with our office's Family Relations Coordinator.  You may want to check out our web page outlining Wisconsin's Collective Impact Resilience Workgroup:  http://children.wi.gov/Pages/I...lienceWorkgroup.aspx

Best,

Elizabeth

I really like your emphasis on stress, as opposed to trauma, as sometimes people shut down, stop reading or think that's not me if the word trauma is used. It's really great and informative and I like the graphics and the lay out. It was easy to read. I can't wait to read the next one on resilience.

I love the idea of a peer parenting group. Please feel free to post this question in the Parenting with ACEs group (as a post or a discussion) to get more feedback.

One small thing that stopped me a few times is the language switched from "us" and "we" and sometimes it was "they" and "them" and I wasn't sure why it switched. That stopped me in a few places.  

It's SO good! 

Cissy 

Parenting with ACEs, Community Manager

For some young parents-who've had educational 'special needs'when they were in school, I think the You-Tube TED TALK video of pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explaining ... how seeing a bear in the woods affects the H-P-A axis... in comparatively understandable language,  may be quite helpful.

Elizabeth Hudson posted:

Love your piece!  I plan to share it with our office's Family Relations Coordinator.  You may want to check out our web page outlining Wisconsin's Collective Impact Resilience Workgroup:  http://children.wi.gov/Pages/I...lienceWorkgroup.aspx

Best,

Elizabeth

Thanks, Elizabeth! I'm definitely going to check out the resources on your page, and I'd love to talk more about what successes you've had in your office. My eyes were immediately drawn to "The Science of Resilience", so I know that will be a good read for the week. :-) Let's keep in touch!

Tracie E. Kercher posted:

Great Job!  The only feed back I have is to perhaps put a addition space between the picture of Fight/ Flight and the next heading "Your Brain/ Body Response" .  They run together a bit.

Great information and visual.  This will be very helpful to those you will be serving!

 

Tracie

Tracie, thank you! The little things like that can really throw people off, so I went and put in a few extra spaces between the pictures and the text. I would love to have the time and the talent to put some infographics together myself, but alas, I do not right now haha. If you know of any other good visuals, please send them my way!

I have a parenting support group that is well received and has been for over 15 years. The facebook page is Year Round Parenting from the Heart. You can find basic brain development video's. One is at the top. I believe that keeping focus on positive, but acknowledging wounds from the past. Feel free to draw from the resources on the page if you choose. Best wishes.