Childhood Trauma – Breaking The Cycles
Childhood trauma has a profound impact on the neural circuitry of a child’s brain (meaning how or if brain cells “talk” to one another). It includes verbal, physical and emotional abuse; ongoing exposure to secondhand drinking or secondhand drugging, such as that which occurs in a family with untreated or unhealthily discussed addiction or substance misuse; domestic violence in the home; neglect and sexual abuse, as examples.
Childhood trauma can actually impair the brain’s physical development and function. This in turn has a profound impact on how a child copes. Meaning: how they express anger, fear, powerlessness; how they interpret and respond to other people’s words and actions; how or if they trust; how they learn. It can even lead to mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depression, or other behavioral problems, such as cutting, eating disorders, bullying or lashing out in anger at the slightest provocation.
These brain changes can have an impact on whether that child’s brain will seek drugs or alcohol for their brain-soothing qualities. They can also have an impact on how that child’s brain will interact with drugs and alcohol if they use, and it’s known as one of the five key risk factors for developing addiction. But it’s not just this that’s of concern — it’s the very quality of a child’s life that’s at stake. AND, it’s the potential for that child to grow up with a host of unhealthy coping skills, which they in turn pass along to the next generation and the childhood trauma cycle continues.
But there are some big, big changes thanks to the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, a collaboration of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Kaiser Permanente’s Health Appraisal Clinic in San Diego involving over 17,000 Kaiser patients, and the incredible work of an organization called ACEs Too High. There are 10 types of childhood trauma measured in the ACE Study and there is a 10-question quiz to help you determine your ACEs score. Check out this post, “Got Your ACE Score?” for details.
But the exciting news is there’s significant movement to break the cycles!
Efforts to Break the Cycles of Childhood Trauma
The remainder of this post will share some of the amazing efforts that are going on, now, with trauma-informed courts, schools and communities.
Trauma Informed Communities
One example of the tremendous work being done to break the cycles of Childhood Trauma!
The Community Resilience Cookbook writes on its website, “When people learn about the ACE Study, they have a range of reactions, from sorrow to outrage to relief at having a framework—finally—that explains their own or others’ behavior. Then they ask, ‘What can I do?'” This cookbook aims to answer that question. Whether you are the director of a YMCA, the head of a county health department, a sheriff, a school principal, a pediatrician or a parent, it will offer you context, definitions and questions to help you think about building resilience where you live. It will describe how communities in the United States and Canada are putting the theories of ACEs and resilience into practice.”
Trauma Informed Courts
Ed Finkle’s article, Trauma Informed Judges Take Gentler Approach, Administer Problems-Solving Justice to Break the Cycle of ACEs, will leave you heartened about where this ACEs research can take us societally and how it can truly benefit a child. Quoting from his article, “[Judge Lynn] Tepper, a veteran of 37 years on the bench, realized that childhood trauma experienced by the people who ended up in her courtroom was much worse than their paperwork showed. ‘When you dig down deeper, you wonder how these people get up in the morning,’ she says. ‘I remember thinking at one point, ‘Oh boy, did we blow it all these years on these delinquents.’”
And wait until you see the image of Judge Tepper hugging 11-year old Taylor at his final adoption hearing. Taylor had been through three families before his permanent home.
Trauma Informed Schools
Jane Ellen Stevens article, “San Francisco’s El Dorado Elementary Uses Trauma-informed & Restorative Practices; Suspensions Drop 89%,” shares a remarkable example of what trauma informed schools can do.
Trauma Training
The Institute on Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care (ITTIC) “provides research and training for organizations regarding trauma and trauma-informed care through evaluation, trauma-specific treatment interventions, training, technical assistance, research and consultation.”
Bottom Line
Please do what you can to spread the word. We can change a child’s life. We can break this cycle. And from there, we can break many of the other cycles childhood trauma feeds.
© 2014 Lisa Frederiksen
Lisa Frederiksen
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