I’ve been following this post and all responses with a pit in my stomach for the most part. Several responses seem to point to “leave it to the professionals”. Unfortunately, if we do that the majority of people will never get help- that is why public awareness is vital. There are a few posts that suggested we should just educate teachers to look for certain behaviors and letting that be our basis as to which students need help. I agree, we do need to educate teachers but the problem with this strategy is that there are a lot of really resilient students that have learned survival tactics that prevent them from displaying the behaviors we are telling these teachers to look for and because it makes us rely on the teacher’s human judgment.
I have an ACE score of 9. My safe haven was school- it was also my coping strategy/survival tactic to keep myself busy and active, to overachieve and chase perfectionism. I graduated highest honors, was the captain of the step team, the school news anchor, on prom court, etc I didn’t display any obvious signs of trauma or toxic stress, so it never crossed anyone’s mind that I needed help. I have met a great deal of people that have similar stories. As a result, we are well functioning average Americans with great jobs and healthcare (sound familiar? It should because that is the 17K+ people in the original ACE study) who fly under the radar until it is too late- our bodies (and our relationships) are breaking down from years of a dysregulated stress response system. We are having babies of our own, never knowing that we have developed self-sabotaging habits and behaviors that are going to cause ACEs in our new families. To make matters worse, based on this thread, it sounds like there are plenty of people that could have helped, but didn't because they didn't want to intrude or make us feel bad. That is heart breaking to me. There are hundreds of thousands of teenagers who are longing for this kind of information but don't know it exists until someone is brave enough to tell them. I really believe if someone had handed me an ACE questionnaire as a teenager I would have felt the same validation and freedom I felt when I finally stumbled on it while still desperately seeking answers at 25. I still don't see an issue with giving them the option to anonymously take it for informative purposes, especially if you are also letting them know who to reach out to for help, giving them resources, and informing them that they are not alone. That would have been a gold mine for me. My heart breaks for these students, like me, who are flying under the radar because adults made the decision that either 1)they don’t display the behaviors so they don’t need help or 2) informing them was going to harm them more than their reckless or dysfunctional home life already has. I’m of the opinion we should do everything in our power to compassionately inform everyone, even the 0s- because they undoubtedly have friends with ACEs. One of the things I appreciate about the questionnaire is that it gives specific examples instead of broadly stating "Have you experienced abuse, neglect or dysfunction?" If you ask that question people mostly are going to say no because they don't consider their parent humiliating or criticizing them often or a parent with mental illness as one of those three categories. That's why the questionnaire is so eye-opening in my opinion. I also want to highlight the original question that Mary just reiterated- are there any resources that can help us understand why we wouldn’t use it? Not opinions, but scientifically proven data that suggests we shouldn’t? I'm fairly certain Nadine Burke Harris mentioned in her book that they encourage teenagers to self screen instead of having a parent complete the questionnaire on their behalf. I'm curious as to what age they start the self screening process. Has anyone seen that questionnaire? I assume it somewhat differs, but I am not sure how.