Last week, I had the honour of featuring in one of Scotland's ACEs Conversation Series episodes, this one being about the international perspective on ACEs movements, together with Canadian colleague Elizabeth Perry. You can see us being interviewed by the unsurpassable Gary Robinson here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be .
In this episode, we discussed the influence that ACE-awareness movements do or do not yet have on policy making at the national level. We agreed that it is really hard to make substantial progress and that it can be frustrating to endure the feeling that your work does not seem to amount to much. I acknowledged the fact, however, that we may not always know how our writings and efforts influence others who do make a difference in their daily practice because of what they take away from our stories and insights. The ripples we cause may reach far away shores without us being aware of them arriving and creating effects.
And more importantly still, maybe, we can try and see the journey towards more awareness as an integral part of the process of healing: advocating connection, compassion, courage, curiosity and kindness for the sake of creating resilience requires those who are in those movements to practice exactly those values, especially when we encounter resistance, because resistance is usually a sign of fear and pain and trauma. In order to be able to do so, we have to be compassionate towards those who find it difficult to work from a new paradigm, because it possibly triggers much of their own past and present pain. And of course we also need to be compassionate to ourselves by taking care of selfcare in order to remain energetic and inspired to spread the knowledge we have gained through diligent dedication.
The question is, however, how gentle and non-confrontational we can and need to be. Is there a way to not confront people with inconvenient truths and uncomfortable knowledge if we want to create a paradigm shift...? Do we need to dance around the tough stuff or does it need to be mentioned at a certain point, on behalf of voiceless children and advocacy for their rights? Do we then run the risk of alienating exactly those policy makers we want to get on board? This is the issue I somehow struggle with right now.
Short explanation: on behalf of ACE Aware NL, I wrote a statement last year in response to a Dutch national draft guideline regarding the parent-infant relationship. The guideline was not trauma-informed and in many places not respectiful of infant (and parental!) needs. The statement is a strong document, co-signed by relevant professionals of high standing in the Dutch youth healthcare field (but unfortunately written in Dutch and not translated into English yet). A couple of years ago, I wrote a similar document, then in response to a national draft guideline regarding sleep and healthy sleeping practices. That one, you can find here (summary in Dutch, rest in English): https://aceaware.nl/richtlijnn...emenaddendum-200616/
My question for you: how do you experience this document? How does it come across? Would you say it is suitable to add to the resources in the Dutch translation (by me) of James McKenna's 'Safe Infant Sleep', to be published shortly by a Dutch publishing house? I would love to hear your responses in the next few days (as I have to hand in the manuscript soon). The book translation has more added Dutch resources, so as to provide the reader not just with American ones, but also stuff in Dutch and from the Netherlands. James McKenna's makes a plea for informed decision making regarding bedsharing/breastsleeping, based on the importance of neurphysiology for overall development, so squarely in line with ACE-awareness and trauma-informed approaches. He argues strongly against the misleading advice parents often get and against the fear-mongering, all for the sake of child wellbeing. Is this document in line with that goal, you'd say, promoting infant wellbeing?
I really look forward to your thoughts! Those may be added here, but if you prefer a private message, you can send that to info@aceaware.nl . Thank you in advance for your time and consideration! <3
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