Unless you’ve personally experienced ACEs – Adverse Childhood Experiences (which are extremely stressful or traumatic events before age 18) – it is hard to imagine what they are, let alone what experiencing them does to a child, let alone what those outcomes do to that child’s brain and lifetime health. [This article, Secondhand Drinking – Why We Must Prevent It, gives you some idea of what I’m talking about.]

One of the 10 ACEs measured in the CDC-Kaiser ACE study is having a parent with a substance use disorder. That one ACE can result in a child experiencing several more of the 10 ACEs, including those related to abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. And this experiencing of several more ACEs can result in a child developing a substance use disorder themselves. This short video, ACEs Primer, explains what this is about.

So when Jennifer Hunt approached me about sharing information about her new memoir, Smoke Rings Rising: Triumph of a Drug-Endangered Daughter, I was interested!

Quoting from the book’s excerpt,

In Smoke Rings Rising the once drug-endangered daughter, Jennifer Hunt, lays out with grit and grace how she turns haunting truths into inspiring triumph. In doing so, Jenny finds the true meaning of love, living, forgiving, and letting go. 

I’ve invited Jennifer to introduce her book and share a PDF sample chapter below. And to further peak your interest, here is a Kirkus Review of it, as well:

In well-crafted, often poignant, prose, she offers a jaw-dropping, insider’s view of substance abuse throughout three generations. This alternately disturbing and uplifting memoir… ultimately, [is] a testament to Hunt’s resilience in the face of unfavorable odds. An inspiring tale that’s told with honesty and love. —KIRKUS REVIEWS

I SUFFERED ACEs…WHEN ACEs WASN’T A TOOL by Jennifer Hunt

Author Jennifer Hunt Introduces her new Memoir, “Smoke Rings Rising: Triumph of a Drug-Endangered Daughter”

Pardon my tweak of Barbara Mandrell’s 1981 hit song, “I Was Country…When Country Wasn’t Cool,” but this morning it sounded spot-on to write about how I’d suffered Adverse Childhood Experiences…when Adverse Childhood Experiences wasn’t a tool…

It’s a bit corny I know, but true.

I’ll never forget the day I became aware of the National Alliance for Drug-Endangered Children, an organization that originated in no other than my county, Butte, CA, way back in 1993, not quite a decade after my family had moved there from San Joaquin County, CA. I was 13 at the time we relocated and 37 when I became aware of the NADEC. A court reporter, I had spent the day reporting the swearing-in ceremony for a newly appointed judge who’d helped conceive the much-needed (Butte County was well known for its meth problem) operation. A once drug-endangered child myself, upon further investigation into the effects of children raised in abusive, neglectful, and/or drug-filled environments—namely, as adults they often wind up in abusive relationships—my life’s early challenges, for the first time, made perfect sense to me.

At 41, however, after picking up my great-nephews from Child Protective Service’s emergency shelter, I found myself scrambling for answers, again. How could my niece and her husband, for drugs, abandon their boys when they loved their children so much?  How am I going to explain to my great-nephews that their parents really do love them, even though they’re nowhere to be found? Above all, how am I going to survive this, the most heartbreaking of my life’s challenges?

Smoke Rings Rising: Triumph of a Drug-Endangered Daughter, a memoir, is my story of the struggles I’ve faced in growing up, through generations, with a family of substance users. Though somewhat explicit at times, I wrote the book specifically for young/new adults, as well as social workers, those who work in the juvenile/adult criminal justice system, mental health practitioners, medical professionals, ACEs studies, recovery advocates, and anyone else who enjoys an inspiring, true story.

Smoke Rings Rising | Memoir of What Can Happen When ACEs Happen

I invite you to read a sample chapter, “Of Tweakers and Zombies,” which I’ve attached here, JenniferHunt_ExcerptSmokeRingsRising, as a PDF. Jennifer can be reached via email at jhunt23@gmail.com.

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