We’ve all had that moment—where the impact of childhood adversity suddenly really hits home. In our second virtual discussion as part of a national movement to prevent trauma and promote resiliency—the National Collaborative on Adversity and Resilience (NCAR)—we asked ACEs members, “What was your "light bulb" moment for understanding the impact of ACEs research? And how have you created "light bulb" moments for others?”
ACEs Connection members wrote in with some great “light bulb” moments and advice for creating “light bulb” moments. The most famous “light bulb” moment is, of course, Dr. Vincent Felitti’s. His story is how all of us came to know about ACEs!
In the early to mid-1980s, two nurses in our Obesity Program, LaVerne Shedoudy and Carol Winfree, were providing me little bits of occasional information about patients that was both counterintuitive and not fitting with conventional knowledge about obesity. About 1986 I ran across a book review in the Wall Street Journal (of all places!) of a book titled "Weight, Sex, and Marriage". The title seemed to bring together the various bits of information I was being provided, somehow leading a few weeks later to my uncovering an incest history in an obese patient I was interviewing. The last such case I'd been introduced to was 23 years earlier, as an intern. I had no idea what to do with the information and let it quietly pass.
About ten days later I somehow ran into another such history in another obese woman patient and at least had the wit to realize that I wasn't likely starting the third 23-year cycle within ten days. That prompted me to start inquiring about childhood sexual abuse in all the Obesity Program patients I was interviewing. The answers were staggering. It seemed every other patient I was asking was acknowledging a history of childhood sexual abuse, if only asked. Initially, I doubted this could be true: surely people would KNOW if this were true. Someone would have told me! Wasn't that what medical school was for?
I then spent several months cross-checking patient histories with siblings or other relatives, once even calling the Sheriff's Office in a small town in rural Mississippi to check a story. Asking five colleagues to interview the next 100 patients, they got the same histories. Slowly it was obvious that we had stumbled into a truth that no one wanted to know.
After hearing from Dr. Felitti, other ACEs Connection members had their light bulb moments. Jeannette Pai-Espinosa, who works with The National Crittenton Foundation, wrote:
“For more than a century we [at the National Crittenton Foundation] struggled to find an effective way to define the population for which we advocate. […] The day we heard Dr. Felitti speak at a federal roundtable on trauma and women it all became clear.”
Other people also learned about ACEs in their course of their work, and after learning about them, everything clicked.
Kasey Kaepernick, a case manager and home visitor explained:
My ACE score is 0, so going into homes and doing parent education placed me in a variety of environments that I did not know were out there. […] I felt it in my stomach that my families were struggling with more than financial pain, but what was it? That ACEs training gave me an understanding of where my families come from and what their history maybe. Using the ACEs information and being able to talk about how this impacts families has become the cornerstone to how our home visitation practices.
Mary Holden, a writer and editor tells her story:
My "light bulb moment" was during a visit with social worker Marcia Stanton at Phoenix Children's Hospital when she told me how she'd discovered the paper written by Dr. Felitti that had been published in a German medical journal. The title of the article was "Turning Gold into Lead." I was doing research for a magazine article for Raising Arizona Kids (April 2010) and when I learned that childhood trauma "sticks" and causes health-related problems for life, I was hooked into a mission that continues today--and there is no end in sight.
Krys Cooper, a social worker, realized the impact of childhood adversity when working in substance abuse program with the NY State Board of Parole:
As I listened to [the parolees’] stories, one thing became clear immediately: ALL of these men had trauma histories, disrupted attachments, drug & alcohol abuse, and violent home experiences (hello, ACES!). As I reflected with them on the complexity of their histories, many of these men broke down weeping, wondering what their lives might have been if these experiences had been processed, put into perspective, and supported in healing. It was then that I decided to work with children, where I felt the impact of advocacy and support might be that much greater.
Jim Sporleder was working at Lincoln High School, when he realized the importance of ACEs and being trauma-informed. It happened soon after he decided to stop using out-of-school suspensions:
My "light bulb" experience was when I had my first student referred to me for telling a teacher to F--- Off, and I was not going to suspend or give a lesson that most students in the red were not able to connect. I remember my stomach turning and questioning myself if not suspending for such defiance...was I going to hold kids accountable or let them off the hook. Instead of me telling the student what he had done wrong...I asked him what was going on inside that would cause him to tell the teacher to F--- Off? I'll never forget that moment...tears started to roll down his cheeks and he said, "Sporleder, my dad is a drunk and he has let me down my whole life. He never keeps his word and he breaks all of his promises. Today is my 16th birthday and my father promised me he was going to buy me a car. This time I believed him, and Sporleder, he let me down again and I am so angry." The young man then shared that it had nothing to do with the teacher, it was not their fault and he should not have taken it out on them. He looked at me and said, "Thank you for listening, I feel so much better. I would like to have the opportunity to apologize to my teacher." I held this young man accountable, but he stayed in school and I was so proud of him I shortened his in school consequence. On his own he went to the teacher after school and apologized. I never looked back after that first experience and it only got better.
Some people’s “light bulb” moments arrive when suddenly their own personal history makes sense, and they realize that many other people have experienced childhood adversity and been affected by it. This is a method Kathy Brous plans to use in a book she working on. “Individuals reading [my book,] who are suffering with this -- at least 45% if not 58% of us -- will realize what's really "eating" them, and also realize: You Are Not A Freak.”
Dr. Felitti suggests a similar approach. He has groups to whom he speaks fill out ACE questionnaires anonymously, then has someone pool their responses. He then announces the average ACE score of those in the audience to the group. Seeing the results in this way, individuals suddenly realize that they are not “the only one.”
These are just some of the many “light bulb” moments either experienced by ACEs Connection members or used to create “light bulb” moments for others. Some of ACEs Connection members and staff have previously spoken about the moments that inspired them to work on ACEs. Read some more of them here: Peter Pollard, Joanna Weill, Tina Marie Hahn, Louise Godbold, and Rebecca Ruiz.
Thank you again to all the members who participated in this discussion. Please feel free to continue the discussion in the comments below.
Also, read the summary of our first NCAR Virtual Summit on convincing the average person to care about ACEs.
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