Feb 20, 2019
Barb Green, Parish Nurse
Milton, WI
ACEs are serious childhood traumas that result in toxic stress that can harm a child’s brain. Toxic stress may prevent a child from learning or from playing in a healthy way with other children, which can result in long-term health problems.
Examples of adverse childhood experiences can include: emotional, physical or sexual abuse, emotional or physical neglect, mother treated violently, household substance abuse, household mental illness, parental separation or divorce, household member in prison, bullying (by another child or adult), witnessing violence outside the home, witnessing a brother or sister being abused, racism, sexism or any other form of discrimination, being homeless, natural disasters or war.
These exposures may increase the risk of: adolescent pregnancy, alcoholism and alcohol abuse, depression, illicit drug use, heart disease, liver disease, multiple sexual partners, intimate partner violence, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), smoking, suicide attempts, or unintended pregnancies.
ACEs affect health through stress. Frequent or prolonged exposure to ACEs can create toxic stress which can damage the developing brain of a child and affect overall health. The hormones triggered during extreme stress can damage the brain and body when levels stay high over long periods of time.
Toxic stress reduces the ability to respond, learn or figure things out, which can result in problems in school. It increases difficulty in making friends and maintaining relationships, and increases stress hormones which affect the body’s ability to fight infection. Other results are a lowered tolerance for stress which can result in behaviors such as fighting, checking out, defiance, increased problems with learning and memory which can become permanent and lasting health problems.
According to Dr. Bessel van der Kolk in his book The Body Keeps the Score, the most costly health issue in the United States is child abuse. Its overall costs exceed those of cancer and heart disease combined. Eradicating it would decrease the overall rate of depression by half, alcoholism by 2/3, and suicide, IV drug use, and domestic violence by 3/4. Safe and protective early relationships are critical to protect children from long-term problems. Social support is a biological necessity, not an option.
A survival mode response to toxic stress increases a child’s heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and muscle tension. Their thinking brain is knocked off-line. Self-protection is their priority. In other words: “I can’t hear you! I can’t respond to you! I am just trying to be safe.”
The good news is resilience can bring back health and hope. Resilience is the ability to return to being healthy and hopeful after bad things happen. Research shows that if parents provide a safe environment for their children and teach them how to be resilient, the effects of ACEs can be reduced. Parents, teachers, and caregivers can help children by: gaining an understanding of ACEs, helping children identify feelings and manage emotions, and creating safe physical and emotional environments at home, in school and in neighborhoods.
But what about children who don’t have supportive parents, parents who were never parented themselves? Is there a way to help them? Most of us don’t know the things children we have contact with are experiencing at home. If each of us would reach out to the children we have contact with, be supportive, listen to them, and help them feel safe, we may unknowingly help them become resilient.
For many, having just one supportive adult in their life that they feel safe with can make a world of difference. This may be a teacher, an AWANA or Youth leader, a Sabbath School teacher or a neighbor who opens their home. Being that safe person to just one child may change their life.
(Source: Janesville Mobilizing for Change)