Find programs, funding to address childhood trauma

If one could wave a magic wand and reduce the number of tobacco smokers by more than 10 percent, the percentage of adult alcoholics by 12 percent, the percentage of those suffering from chronic depression by more than half, most people would do so.

Although no magic wand exists, finally society is getting a grip on understanding the core causes of adult dysfunction.

From 1995 to 1997, the HMO, Kaiser Permanente, surveyed 17,000 of its members to determine the number of “adverse childhood experiences” (ACEs) that they had growing up, Then, they looked at the correlation between the number of these experiences and the health issues that occurred throughout their adult lives. The link was direct and significant.

What are ACEs? The HMO study categorized them as verbal, physical and sexual abuse, the separation or divorce of one’s parents, domestic violence in the home and having family members who suffered from mental illness, were drug abusers or alcoholics or were incarcerated.

In 2011, the state of Minnesota completed its first ACE survey of 13,520 residents. The results were similar. Fifty-five percent of adult Minnesotans experienced one or more ACE in their childhood. Of those, 60 percent experienced two or more and 15 percent experienced five or more.

http://hometownargus.com/2014/07/22/find-programs-funding-to-address-childhood-trauma/