An adverse childhood experience (ACE) describes a traumatic experience in a person’s life occurring before the age of 18 that the person remembers as an adult.
The nine ACEs are:
- physical abuse
- sexual abuse
- emotional abuse
- mental illness of a household member
- problematic drinking or alcoholism of a household member
- illegal street or prescription drug use by a household member
- divorce or separation of a parent
- domestic violence towards a parent
- incarceration of a household member
The ACE score is a measure of cumulative exposure to adverse childhood conditions. Exposure to any single ACE condition is counted as one point. If a person experienced none of the conditions in childhood, the ACE score is zero. Points are then totaled for a final ACE score. It is important to note that the ACE score does not capture the frequency or severity of any given ACE in a person’s life, focusing instead on the number of ACE conditions experienced. In addition, the ACE conditions used in the ACE survey reflect only a select list of experiences.
RESOURCES
ACEs Connection
Connect with people using trauma-informed/resilience-building practices. Stay current with news, research, events.
acesconnection.com/
MN Department of Health
health.state.mn.us/communities/ace/index.html
Building Community Resilience
Learn about the Pair of ACEs and how you can start your own Resilience Community. Free Resources.
publichealth.gwu.edu/departments/redstone-center/resilient-communities
More Resilient Minnesota
More Resilient Minnesota seeks to improve the health and resilience of current and future generations. Resilience includes individuals’ inherent strengths and nurtured capacities as well as the resources and supports of their families, communities, and cultures.
familywiseservices.org/child-abuse-prevention/adverse-childhood-experiences/
FILMS TO WATCH
Whole People 101: Childhood Trauma
TPT MN presents a documentary series on ACES.
RESILIENCE-The biology of stress and the science of hope. KPJR Films
Resilience is a one-hour documentary that delves into the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the birth of a new movement to treat and prevent toxic stress. Now understood to be one of the leading causes of everything from heart disease and cancer to substance abuse and depression, extremely stressful experiences in childhood can alter brain development and have lifelong effects on health and behavior.
Film may be available at your local library
PAPER TIGERS- One high school’s unlikely success story. KPJR Films
Following six students over the course of a school year, we see Lincoln’s staff try a new approach to discipline: one based on understanding and treatment rather than judgment and suspension. Using a combination of verite and revealing diary cam footage, a testament to what the latest development science is showing: that just one caring adult can help break the cycle of adversity in a young person’s life.
Film may be available at your local library