Why It Matters

Childhood trauma impacts our communities.

In 2010, a Brig­gs & Gowan’s study found that, by the age of four, one in four chil­dren expe­ri­enced or wit­nessed a trau­mat­ic event. When chil­dren expe­ri­ence trau­ma it can change the tra­jec­to­ry of their lives.

Kaiser Per­ma­nente and the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Prevention’s ongo­ing Adverse Child­hood Expe­ri­ence study, involv­ing over 17,000 patients, has clear­ly shown that trau­ma expe­ri­enced in child­hood is linked to neg­a­tive health, social, and eco­nom­ic out­comes. Adults with six or more adverse child­hood expe­ri­ences have a life expectan­cy that is twen­ty years short­er than average

Adverse Child­hood Expe­ri­ences (ACEs) are poten­tial­ly trau­mat­ic events that hap­pen dur­ing child­hood. ACEs can include wit­ness­ing or expe­ri­enc­ing vio­lence, phys­i­cal or emo­tion­al neglect, or grow­ing up in an envi­ron­ment where sub­stance abuse or men­tal health prob­lems occur. Research has shown that ACEs are extreme­ly com­mon and can put indi­vid­u­als at risk for chron­ic health prob­lems, sub­stance issues, or men­tal illness.

Resilience – it takes one adult.

The sin­gle great­est fac­tor for chil­dren who devel­op resilience is one gen­uine rela­tion­ship with a sup­port­ive care­giv­er. It takes only one adult to cre­ate safe­ty, trust, and respect in a rela­tion­ship with a child, pro­vid­ing the pro­tec­tion need­ed to buffer them from adver­si­ty and trau­ma. Sup­port­ive, car­ing rela­tion­ships with a care­giv­er also build the capac­i­ty to reg­u­late behav­ior, grow exec­u­tive func­tions, and devel­op a healthy sense of self. The com­bi­na­tion of sup­port­ive rela­tion­ships, skill build­ing, and healthy self-devel­op­ment cre­ates a foun­da­tion for resilience to grow.

We can make a difference.

It takes a com­pre­hen­sive com­mu­ni­ty response to pro­mote health and resilience to address the poten­tial impact of trau­ma and adver­si­ty. Watch the video below to learn more.