The Journal Of The Blue Cross NC Institute For Health & Human Services, Volume 2: Adverse Childhood Experiences

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are traumatic experiences that occur during childhood—0 to 17 years of age. In this issue, our authors lay out the basic framework for what constitutes an adverse childhood experience; and they report current knowledge regarding the impacts of ACEs on individuals, families, and communities. The effects are far-reaching, and research documenting all of the negative outcomes associated with ACEs has been accumulating. Not only can ACEs affect an individual’s health and well-being for decades and increase a variety of risks to health and life, they can degrade the health and wellness of entire communities. Longitudinal research is necessary to truly understand these implications, and we are still in the early stages of learning. One thing we do know is that resilience is critical for living a healthy, fulfilled life in the wake of ACEs; and resilience can, and should be, built at a community level. Communities must become trauma-informed in order to understand this and to begin the process of creating support systems that will work across organizations that grapple with the various impacts of ACEs on their community members