Trapped in a culture of blame, shame and punishment, too many people are thrown in jail, suspended from school and re-traumatized in caregiving situations when what they need is understanding what’s happened to them, nurturing safety and a chance to heal themselves.
“Lots of people have their own idea of what trauma is, and it stops at car accidents. Not so many think verbal abuse can cause long-term damage in the brain,” said Jane Stevens, founder and editor of ACES Connection Network and the ACEStoohigh.com website showcasing schools, law enforcement agencies and others helping build resilience.
“The end of punishment is in our grasp,” Stevens told about 300 gathered at the Changemakers event hosted by Social Venture Partners and Portland State University’s Impact Entrepreneurs.
Two-thirds of participants in studies conducted in 29 states including Oregon experienced childhood abuse, family dysfunction and neglect – adverse childhood experiences known as ACEs. Research shows a direct link between ACEs and illness, unemployment and disability.
“Lives are shortened by 20 years,” Stevens said of those with ACE scores of six or higher.
Toxic stress affects the development of young brains. Stevens said a child who cannot sit still in school and doesn’t trust adults is more likely to grow up choosing unhealthy coping mechanisms like smoking, drinking and thrill sports.
“Toxic stress embeds in your body,” Stevens said, creating a red alert for every organ system. But the road to resilience begins when we “stop traumatizing the already traumatized.”
Stevens cited two Portland entities doing especially good work – The Children’s Clinic and Trauma Informed Oregon.
Two years ago The Children’s Clinic began screening the parents of children seen by the clinic, asking about their adverse childhood experiences. “The complication of screening kids is that if something has happened to the child, we’re mandatory reporters,” said pediatrician Dr. Teri Pettersen, who worried about re-traumatizing all involved if the child was taken from the parents.
The clinic focused instead on breaking the cycle. “When we asked high ACE score parents ‘what do you want most for your kids?’ they said ‘not to do what happened to me,” Pettersen said. Pettersen said many doctors haven’t heard of the 1998 ACE study and for those that have, “it can be threatening. They say ‘I’ve had 10 or more years of medical school and now you say social and emotional determinants are more important?’”
But at her clinic, eight pediatricians agreed to screen the first year, then 14 in year two. Now 27 out of 28 pediatricians are screening parents for their ACEs.
“The pediatricians say they would never go back to not asking these questions,” said Stevens. “Just asking the question is therapeutic. Stevens said the Metropolitan Pediatric Clinic also plans to screen parents for ACEs.
“It’s superficial but meaningful,” Pettersen said. “You do not need to be a therapist to be therapeutic.”
Mandy Davis, co-director of Trauma Informed Oregon, has seen more requests for trauma-informed healthcare trainings, which help clinics develop policies and procedures without re-traumatizing anyone – including staff.
“We hear medical people say ‘all of your training goes against my training because a doctor is trained to get a UTI rather than go to the bathroom,’” Davis said.
“Everybody in the caring professions is completely stressed,” Stevens said. “It’s important to learn about this, to understand how it fits into your personal, work and family life.”
Jan can be reached at [email protected]
