One of the greatest and most rewarding things about my position as Prevention and Education Specialist at Safe and Sound Child Advocacy Center is that it allows me to continue my journey of being a lifelong learner. Yesterday I was able to join the largest statewide gathering focused on the ACE Initiative in history. It was humbling to sit next to social workers, nurses, teachers, administrators, health care workers and community leaders and take on the daunting task of helping develop trauma informed, healing communities, and begin moving towards prevention. It’s a big mission and Michigan is the first place to try and do it statewide. I’m excited to be apart of something that many hope will develop into an example for the rest of the country. Let’s hear it for the mitten state !!
As many of you probably know, when attending a conference there are a few things that can ruin your experience:
- Forgetting a good pen (Curse this crappy BIC with no glide or slide or anything nice)
- Bad food
- A boring Keynote Speaker
Lucky for me, I only experienced one of those adverse conference experiences (I still managed to take sloppy notes with my sub par writing utensil). Our keynote speaker absolutely blew me away. Dr. Christina Bethell, PhD, MBA, MPH, is a prominent researcher and author on child adolescent issues and serves as the Director of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. She was impressive not only because of all the letters listed after her name but because of her ability to relay information that inspired you to delve deeper, personally and professionally. She had the wheels in my head turning the whole ride home from the conference. I didn’t even play any music which normally I would associate with psychopathic behavior. She started with the notion that healing developmental trauma is a matter of public health. The absence of positive mental health (Flourishing) increases the probability of all-cause mortality. Death rates are increasing in America and we are dying of “diseases of despair” related to the toxic stress we are experiencing.
I felt that. The pressure is insurmountable these days and families and individuals are legitimately struggling to keep treading water, one miss-step away from disaster. I see it every single day at work and I deal with it personally at home. We all struggle. Most of us can admit we need to do more to take care of ourselves but we often fall short. We diminish our fears but saying “at least we’re better off than….”. Dr. Bethell touched on the need to re-imagine health and redefine “better off”. We are so focused on basic survival, we’re not giving attention to the crucial need to “flourish”. We need to proactively promote positive health, physically and mentally, if we want to continue to develop resiliency in our children and families. As Dr. Bethell stated in her presentation, a cultural shift needs to occur where we value children,, their health and their ability to flourish. We need to not just SAY we value children and their health and safety but we need to, as many like to put it “Put our money where our mouth is”. It’s time to start funding research, implementation efforts, and community led prevention and healing programs. It’s time to start enacting trauma informed policies in schools, local and state wide governments and youth serving organizations. We need healing, and healing is prevention.
WE ARE THE MEDICINE.
I bet a lot of you are like okay great sounds cool for your job and all but what about me? How does this effect me? Well ACE’s (Adverse Childhood Experiences) affect us all, whether we are ACEs aware or not. Take a moment and think about three children you care deeply about. The original ACE study showed that 2/3 of the Michigan population had 2 or more Adverse Childhood Experiences, meaning their ACE load (number of ACES a person has) would be 2. ACE loads are strongly associated with health outcomes. As your number of ACEs increase so does the prevalence of negative health outcomes. Dr. Bethell stated that the relative risk for depression was 2.5 X greater for those reporting ACEs. 44% of Michigan adults with 4 or more ACEs have been diagnosed with depression. Adverse Childhood Experiences can make you physically and mentally sick. We may not be able to prevent those 3 children we love from having adverse experiences but we can help them develop resilience. Trauma Interrupted. It is time to aspire to rewire, the brain can grow and change and so can we all. We are not our ACE’s, they do not define us, and it is possible to move from victim —> surviving—>thriving.
How do we activate the will to be well? How do we encourage this healing journey? How do we begin to promote positive health and flourishing and diminish the effect of inter-generational trauma?
- Inspire Self-Care: remind those that you work with, those that you live with, those that you like, love, and tolerate, that the most important thing they can do is invest in themselves and their health. Truly invest in creating a healthier and better version of yourself. Develop and utilize the trans formative power of a growth mindset.
- Reduce Shame: End the shame associated with trauma and adverse childhood experiences. We are not what has happened to us. We are not shackled by our past and we can move forward from every experience. It is healthy to talk about your experiences and seek help. It’s okay to not be well.
- Learning Mindfulness: Take moments to truly breathe, meditate, and grow. Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us. This is something I’ve only had a brief training on but definitely want to look further into. The idea that a healthy mind is a healthy life. Check out more at https://www.mindful.org/meditation/mindfulness-getting-started/
- Increase and Promote Positive Childhood Experiences(PCEs): The data is showing us that millions of children will experience one if not more Adverse Childhood Experience’s in their life. Let us accept our truth, that we are not perfect parents or people. It is time commit to doing our best to combat ACEs by increasing PCEs. Let’s commit to making our family our priority. Let’s commit to taking more trips to the park, reading more books, family dinners, spending more intentional time with our children and the children that we love. You don’t have to be a parent to make a difference in a child’s life. Let’s commit to stop accepting “good enough” and start striving to FLOURISH. As children flourish, families become more resilient, more able to handle the stresses of life.
- Love as a Public Health Intervention: Everything you say and do creates an impact. The human connection, a compassionate connection, helps build resilience from burnout. Not only does compassionate connection positively influence those around you, it enhances our own well being as well. Connection energizes healing. It’s protective to cultivate meaningful relationships. Be kind. Think about how much easier it is to handle the ups and downs of life when you’ve had a good day, a pleasant encounter, a moment with friends.
This information left me feeling energized. Energized to do more at my work, energized to more in my community, and energized to do more at home with my child and family. Life is hard on us all, and we all carry a different story, a different ACE load, but we were able to overcome those challenges and become who we are today. Now is the time for us to help our children become the BEST versions of themselves possible, diminishing the toxic stress many are dealing with and increasing positive childhood experiences. This change needs to start now. Sound like a lot? It is but at the very least please support your local agencies that are doing the work for you. Our children are our future. WE are our future. We owe it them and ourselves to FLOURISH in this life, to seek purpose, meaning, and a sense that you have contributed. We must communicate, collaborate, and connect to create community wide healing. #BeTheOne to make an impact in a child’s life, in a persons life, in your life. Everything you say and do creates an impact.
Healthy YOU = Healthy YOUTH.
More information about ACEs and an ACE Score Quiz can be found https://mahp.org/ace-grant-blog/five-resources-help-understand-aces
Disclaimer: This is all information I gathered from a presentation and scribbled into my notebook. Once the presentation slides are released I will be able to provide sources used by Dr. Bethell. I just felt so energized and inspired by this information and I wanted to share glimpse of the reason I do what I do on the daily.
There was a graphic artist making notes as the presentations went on and they are posted below!
Find more information about the two films discussed on the KPJR website.
