Education for Empowerment

Imagine the familiar messages that we hear everyday when we hear of children in difficult circumstances.

Children are tough.

Children are naturally resilient.

Children are able to overcome adversity because of their lack of experience of the wider world.

What if we learned that this wasn’t the case? What if we were told that being exposed to prolonged and toxic stress actually affected the potential future health and well-being of a person? That unaddressed toxic stress “can negatively affect a developing body and brain by disrupting learning, behaviour, immunity, growth, and even the way DNA is read and transcribed.” Centre for Youth Wellness

When I first heard this, I thought that it sounded like common sense.  Difficulties in upbringing can lead to difficulties in later life.  But it’s actually much more profound than that.  Significant difficulties in a human being’s early years can have a lasting impact on a person’s life including a higher risk of chronic disease and potentially early death.

So, what do we mean by significant difficulties?  Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are stressful or traumatic events that may be experienced before 18 years of age.  They may involve witnessing or suffering domestic violence, neglect, abuse, a family member who suffers from mental illness, addiction or who has been to prison, or losing a parent through separation, divorce or bereavement.

An initial study from the late 1990’s in America produced startling correlations between childhood experiences and a person’s current health status and their behaviours.  ACEs were found to be common across all populations and the more ACEs that a young person recorded, the greater the risk for negative outcomes later in life. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

The first questionnaire used to identify potential ACEs, looked at 10 areas of trauma although this could now be broadened to include any experience that could be defined as causing toxic or chronic stress.

Dr Nadine Burke Harris, California Surgeon General, offered this TEDMED talk that explains how she first came across the shocking statistics behind ACEs and how this has spurred her to champion the identification of preventative measures and services that could be utilised to help people recover and regain positive outcomes.  She describes this knowledge as something of fundamental importance to healthcare, education and social service providers to enable society to get a grip on what otherwise would be the single biggest threat to public health.  Nadine Burke Harris

The original study found that of the 17000 people questioned around two-thirds had reported at least one ACE and just over 10% had experienced four or more ACEs and these numbers have been seen in further studies both in England and elsewhere.

This Public Health report from Cumbria helps to identify what ACEs are, the potential consequences for individuals and an approach that can aim to identify ways to tackle the wider problem. Cumbria Public Health Report 2018

“Giving every child the best start in life is crucial to reducing health inequalities across the life course. The foundations for virtually every aspect of human development – physical, intellectual and emotional – are laid in early childhood.” 

To put some context to the numbers, reporting at least 4 ACEs made an individual twice as likely to die prematurely or develop cancer, three times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and four times more likely to develop lung disease.  Feeling suicidal or potentially self-harming was nine times more likely.

Similarly, compared to people with no ACEs, those with four or more were twice as likely to binge drink, three times more likely to smoke, eight times more likely to have been involved in violence in the previous twelve months and eleven times more likely to have been to prison.

An exposure to ACEs does not necessarily mean that someone will develop mental or physical health problems as a result, but without supportive and protective relationships we can see that this is more likely and also means there are potential negative impacts to be felt across society as a whole. Adults who have experienced ACEs themselves are also potentially likely to expose their own children to them too creating a cycle of adversity and poor health outcomes. Public Health Wales

What this has made me realise first and foremost is the constant need to empathise and understand the potential story of an individual’s life.  Poor behaviour and choices is never excused but the underlying reasons will always be there and this is what must be identified and addressed. How to do this is complex, requiring patience, expertise and potentially a range of resources and services to provide the necessary support and guidance to either overcome trauma or prevent it from taking place.

Sharing understanding of ACEs becomes a moral responsibility and for an educator a key factor in enabling positive outcomes in all areas for the young people that we come across.

The training provided by College of Life was outstanding and helped to provide a valuable insight into both a personal viewpoint on ACEs and the wider implications for society.