Bringing community awareness to the prevalence and impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
As Childhood Abuse Prevention month begins, OMNI aims to bring community awareness to the prevalence and impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). ACEs encompass all types of abuse, neglect, and other potentially traumatic experiences such as violence or instability in the home that occur in childhood (under age 18). Although ACEs are experienced in childhood, they have wide-reaching effects and lasting impacts into adulthood.
ACEs are widespread; in the United States, 64% of adults have experienced at least one ACE before the age of 18. ACEs cause children to experience toxic stress, or increased activation of the stress response system. Toxic stress in children can negatively impact the developing brain, immune system, metabolic regulatory system, and the cardiovascular system. In youth, higher ACEs have been linked to childhood obesity, learning and behavioral difficulties, and medical issues, such as asthma or frequent infections. Toxic stress can also have long-term consequences for learning, behavior, and physical and mental health. In adults, higher ACE scores have been linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, substance misuse, and a lifetime history of depression.
Preventing ACEs could significantly reduce the number of people with chronic conditions, such as depression or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), as well as the number of adults who engage in risky substance use.
To provide critical ACEs information to professionals in the education and healthcare sectors, and to equip our partners to make data-informed changes to their community, OMNI, in partnership with the Virginia State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup (SEOW)*, created an ACEs brief. The brief explores national and statewide data resources and identifies ways local stakeholder groups can help prevent ACEs in the community.
The document is currently being used by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services’ Office of Behavioral Health Wellness (OBHW) and their ACE Interface Trainings as a resource for their ACEs community training. The brief is given out to all their ACEs trainers to distribute at ACEs trainings across the state. OMNI is excited to provide the ACEs brief as a resource for community partners and, based on available ACEs data, can adapt this document to include specific State-level statistics.
If your organization needs help understanding and visualizing data like those found in the ACEs brief, OMNI can help! Click here to contact us.
*The SEOW, which originated under a SAMHSA Partnerships for Success grant and is facilitated by OMNI, brings together representatives from a variety of traditional and nontraditional sectors to share data and expertise. SEOW members include representatives from the Virginia Departments of Criminal Justice Services, Juvenile Justice, Social Services, and Forensic Science; the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner; and traditional public health partners including the Virginia Department of Health. While the original intent of the group was substance use prevention and behavioral health, the group’s focus has grown over time to include the role of social determinants, such as ACEs, in behavioral health.