ACES — Adverse Childhood Experience Study
Had the honor of attending the Ashland Rotary on Tuesday as Tom Roepke’s guest. The principal of Ashland High School, Mike Riley, presented on the impact of ACES and what his school is thoughtfully doing in response.
It is beyond the scope of this post to detail his staff’s approach to prevent what these measures predict, and it awakened a desire to learn more about ACES, a study I had been exposed to as a student of the Allender Center.
What you can do to learn more:
- Click here and watch a five minute overview video on the topic.
- Click here to observe Oprah discuss this topic on 60-Minutes.
- Click here for the CDC website to learn more.
- Reach out to me if you’d like the presentation Mike gave on Tuesday.
- Reach out to Mike or someone on his staff to get a first hand view of their work. If you are an educator, I would strongly advise this. Their work is making a measurable difference.
Adverse childhood experiences, such having parents who divorced, a parent who abused drugs or alcohol, a parent who abused you verbally or physically, or a parent who abandoned you, can actually predict things like whether you will have a stroke or get cancer; whether you will become an alcoholic, become diabetic, or become obese; or whether you are likely to smoke or even commit suicide.
This study affirmed that these adverse experiences and resulting impacts occur no matter the culture, education, or income level.
Thankfully, there are ways to prevent what these metrics predict.
As an option, consider attending our free one-day event on Saturday, March 31st. We’ve seen hope and life replace the impacts of these adverse childhood experiences for individuals across all socio-economic strata, across cultures, and across genders.