It is easy to be pessimistic about ACEs and just accept the fact that they will occur, but this isn’t how we will effectively progress as a society. We need to understand that there are things we can do in our own communities to encourage positive changes and prevent these issues from occurring.
What Can Be Done?
It should be noted that ACEs and the associated problems with them are preventable. Essentially, by creating an environment that is safe, stable, and nurturing, it will go a long way toward preventing and overcoming these problematic childhood experiences.
Here are a few specific things that you can do to prevent these things:
Promote Social Norms That Oppose Violence
Norms are general beliefs and expectations about how people should behave. It is important that social norms do not accept or allow indifference to violence. Some things that you can actively do to influence these norms in a positive way would be to promote community norms around a shared responsibility for the health and well-being of children; support parents and positive parenting methods; foster positive thoughts and norms around gender, masculinity, and violence. Participating in public education campaigns can be effective in shifting and reframing social norms to help people think and talk more about ACEs and help prevent them.
Help Children Start Strong
It is important that during childhood, children will be exposed to others, both in and out of the family, that are there to play a role in healthy brain development as well as in the development of certain physical, social, emotional, and intellectual capabilities. At times, parents can at times fail or struggle to provide the necessary care for children to develop these capacities and thrive for a number of reasons including health, substance abuse, mental health, finances, and more. However, things like early childhood home visitation, high-quality childcare, and preschool enrichment programs, can all help build a strong foundation for learning and improve their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development.
Promote Learning
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, skill-based learning is an important aspect of preventing ACEs. There is evidence that social-emotional learning is effective in significantly reducing peer violence across grade levels, school environments, and demographic groups. Skills that should be learned to help prevent certain ACEs include communication, problem-solving, alcohol and drug resistance, coping, empathy, and more.
Get Connected
Relationships with adults who can be positive role models and connecting youth with activities will help them stay grounded and improve their engagement in community and in school. Mentoring and after-school programs are great ways to connect youth to caring adults and activities that they can throw themselves into. Mentoring programs like Big Brothers, Big Sisters will pair youth with an adult volunteer with the goal of promoting a relationship that will improve a child’s skill development.
Many of us realize how problematic ACEs can be and how they can impact people down the road, leading them to issues with things like depression and substance abuse. While there are treatment opportunities out there both nationally and locally, things like drug rehab in Louisville, KY, online support groups, and family counseling, that can all help, if we are able to work together and prevent these issues in the first place, it can make a huge difference.
There are a number of other things that we can do as a community to improve. If you have other thoughts and ideas on how to improve our communities and prevent ACEs from occurring, please comment below.
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