A local initiative is bringing awareness to research that shows traumatic childhood experiences such as poverty, sexual abuse and drug addiction can lead to lifelong challenges in mental, social and physical health.
Representatives of the school district, borough and police department, as well as several other organizations, have come together to form the Pottstown Trauma Informed Community Connection. The steering committee was created to decrease some of the violent and chronic health issues in Pottstown that result from trauma experienced before the age of 18.
An acronym that is becoming well known in the public health sector is “ACEs” which stands for adverse childhood experiences. These experiences can be hunger, emotional neglect, witnessing domestic violence, physical abuse, having a parent that’s incarcerated and so much more.
Dave Kraybill, Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation executive director, said early learning programs in Pottstown are digging deep to find true ways to help young children in the area. Kraybill said traumatic childhood experiences are a key predictor of future challenges in children and adults. He said now that there’s more research on the topic, it was important to make Pottstown a more trauma-informed community.
[For more of this story, written by Michilea Patterson, go to http://www.pottsmerc.com/artic...60702/NEWS/160709945]
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