In Jeremy Wilson’s line of work, it does well to remember that people who act abusively have probably suffered abuse themselves. He offered an example of a schoolyard bully.
“When someone is displaying disruptive behaviors,” he said, “you can respond in that authoritarian, knock-if-off way, or you can say, ‘OK, there’s a reason this sixth-grader is pushing other kids down on the playground.’ Most likely, it’s not because the sixth-grader was born a mean, awful kid, but because they’ve experienced some level of trauma at home.”
Wilson, program manager for Butte County Behavioral Health, says severe trauma affects everyone differently, depending on factors such as mental health, family history and genetics. For pretty much everyone, however, traumatic experiences are more devastating earlier in life.
A growing body of research suggests early trauma can reverberate throughout adulthood. There’s even a term for it: ACE, which stands for Adverse Childhood Experience. Researchers say ACEs represent risk factors for addiction, violence, criminal behavior and chronic health conditions later in life. It’s a public health issue that impacts nearly everyone at least indirectly, said Matthew Reddam, a licensed marriage and family therapist.
Wilson and Reddam are both members of Butte County ACEs Connection, a coalition that formed about a year ago in response to a startling 2015 report from the Center for Youth Wellness. It shows that Butte County is the worst in California in terms of prevalence: 76.5 percent of residents have at least one ACE. The state average is 62 percent.
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