This FREE workshop for caring adults is centered around growing awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), with a special focus on youth in Bartholomew County. 

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are a powerful determinant of the public’s health. The ACE Study, a partnership between Kaiser Permanente in San Diego and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, takes a broad public health perspective of the effects of multiple forms of childhood adversity on population health. It considers the effects of childhood adversity on population health and well-being. The ACE study is the largest of its kind, with over 17,000 participants.  

The ACE Study considers ten types of childhood adversity across three categories: household dysfunction, neglect, and abuse. Study findings include:

1. ACEs are common across all socioeconomic and culture/ethnicity lines.

2. ACEs are interrelated.

3. ACE accumulation has a powerful impact on public health.

4. ACEs tend to be held in the body, leading to mental, physical, and behavioral health problems throughout life.

ACE Prevention is the greatest opportunity for improving the well-being of human populations. ACEs are considered one of the most powerful determinants of the public’s health because of the breadth of impacts– from heart disease to homelessness, from depression to violence– and because of the large percentage of each of these problems that are attributable to ACEs.

This workshop will introduce the ACE study findings and implications and will supply ideas on how each of us can shift the dynamics that lead to high ACE scores in Bartholomew County. By the end of the workshop, you will better understand: 

• the ACE research findings and implications 

• basic information about how ACEs impact brain development and function

• the impact of historical trauma on the ACE scores of marginalized populations

• the correlation between high ACE scores and negative health outcomes

• ways to shift the dynamics that lead to high ACE scores

• what our community’s youth are telling us through recent data

• what local, regional, and national resources are available to address ACEs in our community.  

Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Community Workshop has been adapted from the ACE Interface Train the Master Trainer framework. Council for Youth Development is part of the ACEs Indiana Coalition, and the facilitators for this workshop have been trained by the ACEs Indiana Coalition to present ACE Interface framework.