The purpose of this blog is to point out that ACE’s, Adverse Childhood Experiences, impacts numerous sectors of society, yet most work related to ACE’s is being tackled uniquely within each sector — usually with less resources than is needed to make a difference. We need to raise awareness of the ubiquitous nature of ACE’s and strive to combine resources to achieve results.
Our initial list includes 14 sectors of society. When our group discussed this list, one individual suggested we get a 10 foot by 10 foot white board, so we can seriously identify the areas impacted by ACE’s. This has not yet happened. Our current list:
- Families are the focal point for ACE’s impacts.
- Homeless people carry ACE’s impact in multiple ways.
- Suicides by children are an extreme result of ACE’s.
- Churches can be both cause and effect of ACE/s
- Healthcare providers deal with patients who have ACE’s.
- Mental Health people see ACE’s as one root cause of mental health issues.
- Child Protection is charged with protecting children from trauma.
- Education has learning disabilities and special education challenges.
- Law Enforcement often has the largest mental health facilities in an area.
- Military trains people to kill and then is faced with cases of PTSD and suicide.
- War on Drugs magnifies ACE’s problems.
- Native Americans have suffered 500 years of trauma.
- Blacks suffer from multiple forms of discrimination.
- Immigrants/Refugees are fleeing danger and/or trauma
Many people in each of these sectors are not even aware of ACE’s, so struggle blindly with issues. Most people in these sectors have tunnel vision and believe they are the only ones with these issues. Most sectors have allocated insufficient resources to counter the impact of ACE’s and are just glad that ‘they are doing something’.
It is our premise that by alerting everyone to the existence of ACE’s that we begin to understand the magnitude of ACE’s impact. Then we can rally to combine resources, talents, and insights to begin to reduce the impact of ACE’s.
