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12 Myths about the science of ACEs

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The two biggest myths about ACEs science are:

MYTH #1 - That it's just about the 10 ACEs in the ACE Study- the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. It's about sooooo much more than that.
MYTH #2 - And that it's just about ACEs...adverse childhood experiences.
These two myths are intertwined. The ACE Study issued the first of its 70+ publications in 1998, and for many people it was the lightning bolt, the grand "aha" moment, the unexpected doorway into a blazing new understanding of the link between childhood adversity and the adult onset of chronic disease, mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence, among many other surprising consequences. Most people don't realize that the original ACE questionnaires had more than 100 questions, and explored many aspects of a person's family history. To make things easier to grasp, one of the people working with Drs. Robert Anda and Vincent Felitti, the co-principal investigators, came up with the suggestion for a shortened version, and the 10 ACEs and the ACE score were born. By the way, Anda and Felitti recognized that there were many other ACEs than those they chose to look at - including racism, bullying, a father being abused, and community violence - but they settled on those ten because they were identified as common in a pilot study of about 300 people; several of the adverse experiences - such as sexual abuse and physical abuse - had been individually well studied.

Since the original ACE Study was done, there have been many other surveys and studies, and many of those have expanded the types of ACEs. Based on the other parts of ACEs science, we now know that any experience that results in toxic stress can be regarded as an ACE. So, we put together this infographic to show the three realms of ACEs:

This infographic expands the types of experiences in the original ACE Study and combines them with the "Pair of ACEs" described by Wendy Ellis, director of Building Community Resilience Collaborative and Networks, and adverse experiences from climate crises, which are sure to increase over the next several decades. The truth of the matter is that the experiences listed in the three areas in the infographic can all cause harm to children's brains and bodies. How they recover - or cope - depends on the supports provided them after the experience.

There's no doubt that the ACE Study is an easy door to go through to begin to explore the mind-bending, world-changing knowledge of ACEs science, but there was so much more going on before, during and after the ACE Study was first published. The story of that evolution is for another time. For this post, it's important to grok that around 2012, give or take a couple of years, among leaders of the ACEs movement, ACEs science jelled into what it is today - an interlocking matrix of five areas of complementary research:

The ACE Study and subsequent ACE surveys that show how many people experience ACEs, at what levels, and the consequences (epidemiology).

How toxic stress from ACEs damages children's developing brains (neurobiology or brain science).

How toxic stress from ACEs affects our short- and long-term health.

How we pass ACEs from generation to generation through our genes (epigenetics).

And how resilience research shows that our brains are plastic and our bodies can heal through implementing protective factors and resilience-building practices based on ACEs science.

The other 10 myths:

MYTH #3 - The ACE Study findings are just about figuring out your ACE score. It's more complicated. And eye-opening.

1. ACEs are surprisingly common - 64% of the 17,000 in the ACE Study had one of the 10 ACEs; 12 percent had four or more.

2. There's an unmistakable link between ACEs and adult onset of chronic disease, mental illness, violence, being a victim of violence, and so much more, including more broken bones (from thrill sports).

3. The more types of childhood adversity, the direr the consequences. An ACE score of 4 increases the risk of alcoholism by 700%, attempted suicide by 1,200%; it doubles heart disease and lung cancer rates.

4. ACEs contribute to most of our health problems, including chronic disease, financial and social health issues.

5. One type of ACE is no more damaging than another. An ACE score of 4 that includes divorce, physical abuse, a family member depressed or in prison has the same statistical outcome as four other types of ACEs. This is why focusing on preventing just one type of trauma (stopping sexual abuse) and/or coping mechanism (stopping smoking) won't ever eliminate that trauma or coping mechanism.

MYTH #4 - If you have ACEs, you're doomed. If you have no ACEs, you're fine. The brain is plastic. The body wants to heal. No matter who has ACEs - kids or adults - it's not too late to heal. Understanding ACEs science is the first step, because that leads to understanding that you weren't born bad, you had no control over your childhood, the way you coped was appropriate because you weren't given healthy alternatives, and you can heal. Recent research shows that if you have protective factors in your childhood along with ACEs, you do much better than people who have ACEs and no protective factors. And here's something interesting: if you have no or low ACEs, that doesn't mean life is a bed of roses. Without protective factors, you do worse than someone with ACEs and protective factors. Those protective factors are crucial to health and well-being.

MYTH #5 - Screening should be done everywhere. Not necessarily. When you want to know the burden of ACEs and the promise of protective factors in a community, a school, an organization - and it's extremely useful to know what the ACEs burden is, as well as the level of protective factors - an anonymous ACE and resilience survey is enough. But in healthcare an individual's score is useful for treating and following patients. In both circumstances an ACE questionnaire should never be done without explaining ACEs science. Some people don't think ACEs screening should become common, and often say, "What if insurance companies start screening for ACEs to determine insurance rates?" Well, we're hoping to build enough of a movement so that insurance companies would have to look at the ACEs in their own organization first, before using it in a nefarious manner.

MYTH #6 - Physical and sexual abuse are the worst ACEs. The brain can't distinguish between different types of ACEs - once the experience goes into the brain, it's toxic stress. The ACE Study showed that it doesn't matter what the types of ACEs are. An ACE score of 4 that includes divorce, physical abuse, an incarcerated family member and a depressed family member has the same statistical outcome as an ACE score of 4 that includes living with an alcoholic, verbal abuse, emotional neglect and physical neglect. "We studied a whole range of outcomes - emotional, social, financial, biomedical, etc. If someone had an ACE score of 2 or 4 or 7, it didn't matter how you made the ACE score up. It didn't matter. That was unexpected and a surprise," says Felitti.

MYTH #7 -You don't need to learn about ACEs science if you're becoming trauma-informed. We know organizations that skipped over the ACE Study, included a little bit of brain science, and went right to implementing a trauma-informed approach. But that approach is not going to get an organization to be as successful as it could be if it integrated ACEs science.

MYTH #8 -You can't ask someone about ACEs because you'll traumatize them. When the ACE Study was going through the design and approval process, the institutional review board that decided if the study could be done turned it down at first because they thought that people would have what is known in layperson's terms a "nervous breakdown" if they were asked the questions. To receive approval for the study, a person on the research staff was required to wear a pager 24-7 for the dozens, perhaps hundreds of people the review board thought would be needing emergency care. Not one person called this hotline. However, although anyone can do the 10-question ACE survey online - it's in lots of places (e.g., NPR, here) - it's NOT a good idea to introduce ACEs science in a staff meeting by requiring everyone to take the survey first. The trauma-informed approach is to educate people about ACEs science, make time for questions and discussion, then do the survey anonymously. And always have someone there available to talk with people who have their lives suddenly altered by the knowledge and want to talk about how it's affecting them. It happens. Some therapists have been reluctant to ask their patients about ACEs. But what better place to address ACEs than with a therapist?

MYTH #9 - For physicians to start asking about ACEs, they need to have a therapist on staff. When Felitti realized the power of the ACE survey, he integrated it into the Health Appraisal Center at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. Over the next few years, more than 440,000 patients who came through the center took the survey. He didn't have a therapist on staff. For a while, a therapist had a temporary office in his clinic, and the nurse-practitioners called on him when necessary. It turns out that just the act of listening and acknowledging can make a difference - in the only study that's been done on this, of 125,000 people who went through his center, there was a 35% drop in doctor visits and an 11% in visits to emergency rooms.

Felitti wrote:
It turned out that asking, listening, and accepting are a powerful form of doing that appears to provide great relief to patients. A common interchange was for the examiner to remark, "I see on the questionnaire that ...... (your father killed himself / you were raped / you were frequently beaten as a kid). Can you tell me how that has affected you later in your life?" It took patients only a minute or two to describe how their childhood trauma affected them later in life. Their responses were to the point and usually helpful to understand what might be done.
MYTH #10 - There's no difference in being trauma-informed or ACEs-science informed. Being ACEs-science informed is the bedrock, the foundation of becoming trauma-informed. You need both. ACEs science is the WHAT and WHY. Trauma-informed is the HOW. If we do only the how, becoming trauma-informed risks becoming a fad, especially if implementing trauma-informed practices without ACEs science shows only slight improvement.

MYTH #11 - Since ACEs only happen during childhood, we only have to focus all our resources on kids and we'll solve our problems. Research shows that parents pass their ACEs on to kids, so you have to involve parents. If parents address their ACEs, learn about ACEs science, and get help, they get healthier, and, as a result, their kids get healthier. What causes ACEs? Toxic stress. And since toxic stress appears in the community and the environment, parents won't get as healthy as their kids need them to be until the organizations and systems they work for and interact with, the communities they live in, and the nations they're part of stop traumatizing already traumatized people, and start healing. The early ACEs science pioneers have shown that we can solve our most intractable problems, but we won't solve our most intractable problems unless all organizations, systems in all sectors, all communities and nations integrate trauma-informed practices based on ACEs science.

MYTH #12 - We need to address ACEs only in poor people of color who live in urban areas, because they're the demographic with the highest burden of ACEs. This just further exacerbates the them-us culture we're all living in now, and is remarkably short-sighted. ACEs are everywhere, in all demographics. And people with ACEs in power - which in the United States are mostly white men who come from middle-class and upper middle-class backgrounds - can and do act out their ACEs by abusing people individually and by the policies that they create, either in the organizations they lead or the positions they hold in public service. You can find many examples of leaders in the business, faith-based, healthcare, entertainment, political and other arenas who have done so, and are doing so, due to their own ACEs. So it's just as important to educate kids and their parents in Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto, CA., about ACEs science as it is kids and their parents in McClymonds High School in Oakland, CA.

ACEs are everywhere, but, generally speaking the people with the least burden of ACEs are those who have the most power, because they have the most resources. Those with the greatest burden of ACEs are those with the least power and the fewest resources, no matter what country you're talking about. Traditionally, the people in power create a social structure that keeps those without the power as powerless as possible by instituting racism, sexism, classism, etc.

The promise of ACEs science is that we humans finally understand that these "isms" harm everyone - the powerful and the powerless - and that it's better for everyone to institutionalize sharing. Yeah, I know - much easier said than done. But now we have - and are accumulating more - scientific evidence, and, just like the increasing evidence for climate disruption, that genie won't be put back in the bottle.

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Gail Kennedy of our ACEs Connection team came up with the idea for the 3 realms of ACEs while talking with Elaine Miller-Karas of the Trauma Resource Institute and Bob Doppelt of the Resource Innovation Group. She brought in the rest of our ACEs Connection team to come up with the approach and content, and handed it over to graphic designer Mindy Atwood to make it look gorgeous. Thank you all for creating this very useful infographic! A two-sided PDF is attached: infographic on one side, facts about ACEs on the other. For more information about ACEs science, go to ACEs Science 101.

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The two biggest myths about ACEs science are: MYTH #1 - That it's just about the 10 ACEs in the ACE Study - the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study . It's about sooooo much more than that. MYTH #2 - And that it's just about ACEs...adverse childhood experiences.

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De-stressing an environment - case studies

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Today 10/10 is World Mental Health Day! If we want to change the world we have to change how it works! Now more than ever is the time for connection, kindness, and action. We are all in this together and together #WeHealUS ! #menatlhealth #mentalhealthawareness #bekind #connectedworld #changetheworld Film Directed by Laurent Witz (director & producer of Mr Hublot Short movie) Read More...

Hello Friends, I am wondering if any of you can direct me to curriculum for trauma-infomred parenting classes. I have received a number of requests and I cannot find anything online. I know in my home state of Wisconsin that type of training was going on via the Wisconsin Trauma Project, but the fuding for that ended along with the classes. Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide. Scott Webb Read More...

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Today 10/10 is World Mental Health Day! If we want to change the world we have to change how it works! Now more than ever is the time for connection, kindness, and action. We are all in this together and together #WeHealUS !

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Why getting Parliamentary support matters

Many of us care about child abuse and neglect and understand instinctively why prevention is better than cure. We can prevent abuse and neglect. But most feel powerless to make such a big change happen across the country. In the past politicians have not seemed to do much about this - so we started the 70/30 campaign.

Our expertise gives us the message, but an MP, MSP, AM or MLA is first and foremost elected to engage with their local community. That's you. When politicians hear from or meet constituents who care passionately about the subject, they pay attention. When those constituents can also offer well-thought-out solutions to what had seemed to be intractable problems, they are really interested.

If the government and local government make the right evidence-based, brave decisions, we make the 70/30 goal become a reality. You can bring this change to your community. We don't have to let the next generation of child abuse and neglect happen. We can be surprisingly powerful.

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70/30 Campaign | Actively campaigning for a 70% reduction in child maltreatment by 2030.

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Why getting Parliamentary support matters Many of us care about child abuse and neglect and understand instinctively why prevention is better than cure. We can prevent abuse and neglect. But most feel powerless to make such a big change happen across the country.

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The Repair of Early Trauma: A Bottom Up Approach

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The Repair of Early Trauma: A Bottom Up Approach

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The Repair of Early Trauma: A Bottom Up Approach

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Screening for ACE's: Cautions and Suggestions

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Screening for ACE's: Cautions and Suggestions

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Screening for ACES Cautions and Suggestions

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The theme of Mental Health Awareness Week 2023 was anxiety.

Anxiety is a normal emotion in us all, but sometimes it can get out of control and become a mental health problem.

Lots of things can lead to feelings of anxiety, including exam pressures, relationships, starting a new job (or losing one) or other big life events. We can also get anxious when it comes to things to do with money and not being able to meet our basic needs, like heating our home or buying food. But anxiety can be made easier to manage.

Focusing on anxiety for this year's Mental Health Awareness Week will increase people's awareness and understanding of anxiety by providing information on the things that can help prevent it from becoming a problem. At the same time, we are keeping up the pressure to demand change - making sure that improving mental health is a key priority for the government and society as a whole.

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The Mental Health Foundation is the home of Mental Health Awareness Week. Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 is taking place 13 to 19 May. Mental Health Awareness Week is an annual event where there is an opportunity for the whole of the UK to focus on achieving good mental health.

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It's Mental Health Awareness Week - and what better time to show your support for better mental health.

Mental health problems can affect anyone, any day of the year, and we're always on hand to provide information and support for anyone that needs it. But this week is a great time to have a chat with a friend, family member or colleague and have think about your own wellbeing too. You could even join one of our campaigns to help make sure no one experiences a mental health

We have lots of resources to help you on your way. Take a look at some of them below.

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It's Mental Health Awareness Week - and what better time to show your support for better mental health. Mental health problems can affect anyone, any day of the year, and we're always on hand to provide information and support for anyone that needs it.

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This year, Place2Be's official Children's Mental Health Week will take place from 5-11 February 2024. Our theme is 'My Voice Matters'.

We have free resources available to download so that everyone can take part in Children's Mental Health Week. Take a look and see what's available for schools, families and how you can take part and raise vital funds for children's mental health.

Get your own digital or physical copy of our pack, which is bursting with resources to help you take part - from class activities and assembly guides, to lots of creative arts and crafts and fun photobooth props!

Get a resource pack

Our free resources for families, parents and carers can help you get involved with Place2Be's Children's Mental Health Week at home.

Families

Find out more

Learn about how Children's Mental Health Week started and find out about this year's theme, 'My Voice Matters'.

Learn about the week

Download resources

Use our free resources for primary schools and secondary or high schools to take part in Children's Mental Health Week.

Schools

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Find out how you can take part in the week, spread the word and raise vital funds to get us closer to reaching our goal that no child or young person has to face mental health problems alone.

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Raise money

Help us reach our mission our goal that no child or young person has to face a mental health problem alone.

Fundraise for us

Add yourself to our map!

We'd love for you to add your school or organisation to our map! You can see who else is taking part in Children's Mental Health Week across the UK.

However you're planning on taking part in giving a voice to children and young people, we'd love to hear it.
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Sign up for Place2Be's Children's Mental Health Week email alerts to be the first to hear about new updates.

How we made a difference in 2023

Schools, families and organisations across the UK (and the world!) took part in Children's Mental Health Week 2023. Whether you downloaded a resource to use in class, held an assembly, organised a fundraiser, made a donation, or tweeted about the week - your support helped Place2Be to reach more children, young people and families.

114330

raised for Place2Be

197000

downloads of our resources

516463

children and young people supporting the week

News and blogs

Keep up with the latest news and views about Children's Mental Health Week.

Children's Mental Health Week 2024: resources available now

With just over 3 months until the week, we're excited to release our free resources to help everyone get involved.

Read more

Place2Be announces theme for Children's Mental Health Week 2024

Place2Be wants all children and young people to be able to say - and believe - "My Voice Matters".

Read more

Young Voices to support Place2Be's Children's Mental Health Week 2024

Young Voices has selected Place2Be as its charity partner for another year, following two successful years of partnership.

Read more

Would you like to become a supporter for Children's Mental Health Week? Get in touch to find out more.

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Place2Be's Official Children's Mental Health Week shines a spotlight on the importance of children's and young people's mental health.

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ACE's

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Adverse childhood experiences & trauma informed communities

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How do you tackle the problem of young people falling into a life of crime? One of the approaches being adopted across the UK has been more awareness of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
In Wales, more than 5,000 front-line officers and police staff have been trained in responding to crimes involving children to enable them to recognise whether they may be experiencing ACEs.

The programme, which has been backed by more than £6.5m of Home Office funding, is being used as a pilot which could, potentially, be repeated in other parts of the country.

ACEs are traumatic experiences that occur before the age of 18 and are remembered throughout adulthood.

Help for trauma in childhood 'fragmented'

Bangor Uni: Childhood trauma 'doubles A&E visit risk'

How parents' arguments really affect their children

They range from suffering verbal, mental, sexual and physical abuse, to being raised in a household where domestic violence, alcohol or drug addiction, parental incarceration or separation are present.

Research has found that in Wales 14% of people have experienced four or more ACEs by the time they are 18, and 47% have experienced more than one ACE, such as physical abuse and domestic violence.

Someone who has experienced four or more ACEs is 15 times more likely to have committed violence against another person in the past year, 14 times more likely to have been a victim of violence, and 20 times more likely to spend time in prison.

Work is being carried out by different agencies, including the police, health and education authorities to see how best to mitigate the effects of ACEs.

"We need to start intervening at an earlier stage before things reach crisis point," said Supt Chris Truscott, of South Wales Police.

"This isn't about turning police officers into social workers, but most problems start in local communities and we need to look at an incident through an ACE lens.

"If there is no food in the cupboards or kids are not dressed, we can see that things are not quite right in a family.

"They may need help and support which we can connect them to."

Police are meeting problems head on at an estate in Maesteg, near Bridgend, which has had problems with anti-social behaviour.

Officers run weekly football and rugby sessions for children which, they say, has helped them to build positive relationships with young people and families.

Billy, 12, and his mother, Sarah, have welcomed the support from police community support officers (PCSOs)

Sarah said: "It's only since the PCSOs have been taking an interest in the children and helping them that they've improved.

"We don't have any trouble up here now and it's lovely.

"They look forward to the police coming up here. They know if they don't behave they don't play on a Sunday."

Katey Jo Pilling wishes that more had been understood about adverse childhood experiences when she was young.

She said both her parents were addicts, she was neglected and often left with no food to eat.

Her upbringing later affected her own behaviour and led her to self-harm.

She said: "I put myself in dangerous situations when I was older.

"I had an affinity with people with addictions.

"I didn't know how to cope with the hurt I'd had growing up."

With support, she said she had put her past behind her and has been sharing her experiences with police as part of their training on how to identify ACEs.

She believes that generational cycles of behaviour can be broken.

"If we can give more support to young people who've gone through situations like I did, then perhaps they won't be making the same mistakes that I did, and leading themselves down a path that just repeats what they've seen growing up," she said.

The support project goes further than policing.

Public health, education, housing, social care and charities are joining forces in the Early Action Together Project.

Janine Roderick, who runs the programme, said, in the past, services have often focused on treating symptoms rather than preventing causes.

"Every perpetrator was once a child," she said.

"They would have been that child who had a tough time at home, who was excluded from school when they were five.

"These are the kids that need our help and are telling us there is something wrong and yet we often just treat them with punity.

"But to prevent that escalation we need to be intervening right at the very beginning of that cycle."

The impact of the work carried out in Wales is still being assessed but early evidence suggests that, by taking preventative action, police and others can play a part in supporting vulnerable people before problems escalate.

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How do you tackle the problem of young people falling into a life of crime? One of the approaches being adopted across the UK has been more awareness of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). In Wales, more than 5,000 front-line officers and police staff have been trained in responding to crimes involving children to enable them to recognise whether they may be experiencing ACEs.

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10 practical ways to look after your mental health 

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10 practical ways to look after your mental health 

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What works: protect your mental health and prevent problems
Protecting our mental health is easier than you might think. We can all do it every day, and with simple activities that help us feel OK, we're better able to cope with life.
It's a bit like brushing your teeth daily - important in preventing problems. It's the same for our mental health. It can also be fun!

Each of our tips has been created to help us look after our mental health, and, importantly, each is backed up by evidence from research, including the Mental Health Foundation's ground-breaking study.

Our tips will be easier for some and harder for others. Why not give them a try and see which ones suit you best?

Trying new things can sometimes feel uncomfortable, but they usually get easier the more we practise them.

One thing to remember: none of us is perfect. We all have our limits. What's good enough for you is great.

Get closer to nature
We all live with worries and fears, uncertainties, losses that leave us sad and pressures that make us feel stressed.
Nature can have a really calming effect on us. We have been living around other animals and plants for thousands of years. Some people say nature helps them feel calmer, more hopeful and less alone. Our research found that going for a walk was the UK adults' favourite way of coping with stress during the pandemic in 2020.

In Japan, some people use "forest bathing", which may improve their mental health. So going to a forest or wood and experiencing the different smells, sounds and textures may really help. To get the best out of nature's healing effects, try tuning your senses to what's around you - the trees, plants, birds and animals, for instance, and water such as ponds or the seashore. Take a deep breath and see how you feel. The idea is to get connected with your natural surroundings.

For more information and ideas, see our guide Thriving With Nature, produced by the Mental Health Foundation and wildlife charity WWF.

Learn to understand and manage your feelings
Feeling very upset can interfere with our lives, making it hard to think clearly or work, relax, study, sleep or deal with other people.
Many of us will know when we're upset but not be sure what we're feeling. Is it sadness, fear, shame, loneliness, anger or something else? We don't always know why we're feeling that way.

It often helps to give our feelings our attention without judging them, without telling ourselves we're stupid or weak to feel the way we do. It may seem strange and uncomfortable to do this. But practice and patience with ourselves will help.

Naming what we're feeling is also likely to help. So, we can say to ourselves: "I'm feeling really irritable today but also sad." Another helpful step can be to work out what has led to us feeling this way - might it be a disagreement or disappointment that you've had? Some women might find that their periods sometimes (or always) affect their moods.

Talking kindly to ourselves, in the same way, we might reassure a small child we care about, is also important. It can be very comforting. You might feel uncomfortable initially, but give it a go - it might just help.

Some people feel better if they write down their feelings in a notebook or on their phone. You might want to think about how to protect your privacy before doing this.

You could try repeating something positive about yourself a few times each day. (This is sometimes called a "mantra". "I am on a journey, growing and developing", for example.) Research shows this reduces negative thoughts and feelings.

Some people also feel that an activity called " mindfulness " is helpful. Talking with someone else can also be helpful - and that's our next suggestion...

Talk to someone you trust for support
Many of us have learned to bottle things up inside us and try to ignore painful feelings. It can take a lot of courage to tell someone else how we're feeling or what we're finding hard, especially if we don't usually do that kind of thing.
Just talking things through with a person we trust can help and feel like a relief.

Use your own words. It'll make you feel safer and less alone, and that will help protect your mental health and prevent problems.

Talking may also change how you see and feel about the situation in ways you find helpful.

Another possible benefit is that talking may strengthen your relationship with the person you speak with. This will benefit both of you and make it easier for them to turn to you when they need support themselves.
Information about talking with friends about your mental health Information about talking with a health professional about how you're feeling
Be aware of using drugs and/or alcohol to cope with difficult feelings
Many of us sometimes use drugs to block out "difficult" feelings such as sadness, fear or shame.
No one wants to feel bad; for some people, drugs and/or alcohol offer temporary relief.

Unfortunately, they don't stop the feelings from returning and may make things worse or create other problems, including damage to mental and physical health, relationships, work, or study.

If you think you may be using drugs or alcohol to cope with difficult feelings, it may help to notice it without beating yourself up about it. Being understanding and kind to yourself is good for your mental health.

A possible next step could be to talk with someone you trust or one of the charities that offer confidential, free information and advice, including how to reduce the harmfulness of using drugs. Have a look at Talk To Frank, for example.

You could also look for other ways of coping with painful feelings, such as getting help with the situation causing them, if possible, and finding a trusted person to talk with. This could be a friend or relative, a colleague, a person working for a charity helpline, your GP or a counsellor.

Many charities around the country offer low-cost or free therapy. Find more detailed information about getting help with your mental health from many potential sources.

Some people find it helps to go to "anonymous" meetings, such as Narcotics Anonymous, to share with others who have/had similar experiences. Some of these meetings are also now online.

Try to make the most of your money and get help with debt problems
Money problems can be unavoidable, and we may have no choice about being in debt.
Fears about paying debts, bills and essentials such as food and electricity can be very stressful. If we feel responsible for sending money back home or are the only earner in our household, we may feel burdened and isolated.

Feelings like this can make it harder to cope with everything, including the money problems themselves.

There are things we can do to help prevent financial problems causing issues with our mental health.

We might feel ashamed of what we're going through, which may make it harder to tell anyone, leaving us feeling alone with it.

The truth is, we're never alone with money problems. Research shows they are one of the most common and serious sources of stress for many people.

Even if our finances are impossible to change, sharing our fears with another person who's not involved and who you trust is likely to help us feel less alone and overwhelmed. This may help us to see new ways forward.

If we are struggling financially, including with debt, it can be helpful to talk about it with an expert at a charity that offers free money advice. They are very experienced with what can go wrong with people's finances and what may help.

It can be really helpful to ask for help before any debt becomes unmanageable. But getting help will benefit everyone.

Here is a list of organisations that offer free advice about financial problems, created by the charity Money and Mental Health.

Talking with one of these free, expert advisers could also lead to you finding out about new possibilities, such as benefits you're entitled to, your legal rights, ways to reduce the size of your debt repayments and other ways to save money.

Get more from your sleep
Anyone who has struggled with sleep will know what a difference it makes to our bodies, minds and ability to cope with life.
We all have times when we sleep badly, and some of us live in situations that make a good night's sleep impossible.

For many people, sleep is often the first thing that suffers when we're struggling with our mental health.

Adults need between 7 and 9 hours' sleep a night, including enough dreaming sleep and enough deeper sleep.

If you're struggling with your sleep, think about making a few simple changes.

For example:

Develop a relaxing bedtime routine to help you start winding down before you actually go to sleep

Avoid TV and mobile screens, alcohol and caffeine before bed. This will help you fall asleep and stay asleep. You could also avoid vigorous exercise before bed.

Go to bed and get up at around the same time every day, including weekends.

For more suggestions, try this guide to sleep and mental health. It includes information about potentially helpful apps and getting professional help if self-help isn't working for you.

Be kind and help create a better world
If you have ever felt lonely, you will know how much it helps to have even a small connection with someone else.
Exchanging a smile or friendly words can be comforting and lift our mood.

Research shows that being kind is good for both sides. Being kind can boost our mood, help us feel more capable, strengthen our connections with others and even make us cope better with stress.

If you don't know where to start, you could try small but meaningful acts of kindness, such as offering a smile or a few kind words to another person. You could make their day but also feel better for it - friendly connections with others are vital for our mental health.
More inspiration about acts of kindness
We can also help others by doing volunteer work and getting together with other people to work for good causes. These things can help us feel connected with others and the world around us. It can give us the sense that we can make a difference. All of this is good for our mental health.

Keep moving
Our bodies and minds are connected, so looking after ourselves physically also helps us prevent problems with our mental health (it works the other way around, too).
Moving our bodies - with sport, gardening, dancing, cycling, walking the dog, cleaning or going to the gym, for example - are great ways to improve our mental and physical health.

Exercise releases "feel good" hormones that reduce feelings of stress and anger. It also helps us feel better about our bodies. It can improve our sleep too. If it involves other people, like being part of a team, a class or a group we see regularly, that can also boost our mental health.

We don't have to be professional athletes, or sporty, to get the benefits of being physically active. From walking to dancing and basketball to the gym, the best exercise is simply the one we enjoy.

Eat healthy food
Food and drink affect our bodies, brains and mood - for good or bad.
Sugary snacks and drinks can give us a temporary "high" or sense of comfort that can feel irresistible. But they soon leave us feeling exhausted or jittery. Caffeine in coffee, tea, or so-called energy drinks can also have this effect.

A balanced diet with lots of vegetables and fruit is essential for good physical and mental health.

How we eat is also important. Having meals with other people can help to grow relationships - with family, friends, partners, and colleagues. This is really important in protecting everyone's mental health and preventing problems.

Food can also get mixed up with our feelings. Some people over-eat or under-eat when they are upset. It may help to talk to someone we trust and get professional support if we need it.

Be curious and open-minded to new experiences
We can all get stuck in familiar ways, like how we spend our time and what we think about ourselves and the world.
This can be self-fulfilling, with our expectations influencing what actually happens, for good or bad. For example, we might say to ourselves: "Things never get better" or "I'm useless" as a response to what others have said to us.

It can help to notice these thoughts and try out new ones, such as "I can change things for the better" and "there is so much I can do".

Life can feel more interesting, lively and rewarding when we are open to trying new experiences and experimenting with how we do things.

It could be as simple as what we have for breakfast or the route we walk with the dog. It could also need some planning, like an adventure holiday. We might find a new place that it turns out we love, discover a talent we didn't know we had or meet someone new and important.

Plan things to look forward to
Life throws all sorts at us, and during hard times, we may feel hopeless and not have the energy to plan for the future.
Things to look forward to, including fun activities, can help us cope with difficult situations.

Making plans for things we enjoy can increase our sense of hope, which is important for our mental health. Our plan could be for anything from small pleasures, like a cup of tea or your favourite TV programme or dance class, to a trip with family or friends, or seeing your favourite film, sports team or singer.

Whether it's a small or a big one, the important thing is to plan it.

Decide what you'll do, when and with who and, if needed, book it. It's important to follow your plan - and repeat...

Support and information

Confidential help and support

Counselling

General health information

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Our best mental health tips - backed by research

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Protecting our mental health is easier than you might think. We can all do it every day, and with simple activities that help us feel OK, we're better able to cope with life. It's a bit like brushing your teeth daily - important in preventing problems. It's the same for our mental health.

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Dr  Bruce Perry   The Impact of Stress On the Body

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Beaconhouse, Scotland

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Welcome to Beacon House

Beacon House is a specialist, innovative and creative therapeutic service for young people, families and adults. With a special interest in working with individuals of all ages who have experienced trauma and loss, we are passionate about offering safe and effective therapies in a way that enables people to re-build their lives following stress and adversity. We also take pride in supporting individuals and teams to develop their trauma informed practice through training, supervision and consultation.

Our Cuckfield Clinic periodically closes to new child and adult referrals to prevent long waiting times. Please do get in touch with us to find out if we have spaces currently.

We have some specific capacity for child and family referrals at our Chichester Clinic. Please do get in touch with us to find out if we are able to allocate your referral at this time.

Find out more about us

Our Services

How can Beacon House help you?

Educational Psychology

Get In Touch

Get in touch today to find out more.

We have clinics in Cuckfield and in Chichester.

Please note: We are not able to accept any walk-ins. All meetings are by appointment only. Office hours are: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

To ask any questions, please contact us on admin@beaconhouse.org.uk

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Beacon House | Chartered Clinical Psychologist Trauma Specialist

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Parenthood and Relationships Education Project

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Parenthood and Relationships Education Project

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Conception to age 2 - the Age of Opportunity

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Conception to age 2 - the Age of Opportunity

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A good summary interview/article to share.

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Dr Gabor Maté, an expert on childhood trauma, says adverse childhood experiences can distort development in multiple ways.
Speaking to Scotland Tonight ahead of a childhood adversity conference in Glasgow, he said "the effects can be lifelong and can lead to physiological and mental illness".

Awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) has become a national public health priority in Scotland.

The concept has been adopted by - among others - the Scottish Government, teachers and the police.

Dr Maté's personal traumatic childhood experiences have impacted his research, work and self development.
Here is an edited transcript of the interview.
He was a Jewish child in Nazi occupied Budapest where he said his mother lived in daily fear for their lives. His grandparents were killed in Auschwitz.

Rona Dougall: So, childhood trauma can be emotional, physical, psychological, but what is the lifelong impact of having a childhood trauma?

Dr Gabor Maté: Trauma affects how you feel about yourself. Generally the child takes things personally. When bad things happen to the child they believe it was their bad, so they have a lifelong sense of shame. Trauma affects brain development. So the brain circuits that regulate emotions, stress, body modulation, social relationships, insight, self-regulation, impulse control. These circuits physiologically are distorted in their development under conditions of trauma. And trauma also gives a person a sense of a world where they don't not belong, where they're not safe, where they're not going to find help. And where they have difficulty trusting other people or on the other hand they trust some people too much when they shouldn't. So it distorts development in multiple ways. And these effects can be lifelong and they can lead to physiological and mental illness.

Rona: Is it inevitable, though, that someone who has suffered childhood trauma will go on to have problems? I mean, presumably some of them don't.

Gabor: It's not inevitable, but the more trauma or the more difficulty you experience, the greater risk of these problems accruing and then cropping up in adult life. Now, if a child has a traumatic experience but has a nurturing adult or a trustworthy mentor, that can mitigate the trauma and promote resilience. But what we can say is that the more negative experiences a child has, or the less positive experiences they have, the greater the risk as adults along the whole range of health concerns.

Rona: And it can happen at a really early age, can't it? As babies in the womb even.

Gabor: We know now from multiple studies internationally that when women are stressed during pregnancy, that has a negative effect on the child's brain development. It makes the child more at risk for addiction, mental health issues, behaviour problems and so on. So really the prevention of mental health problems needs to begin at the first prenatal visit, when dealing with the stresses on the woman. We know this from multiple human studies and animal studies in the laboratory.

Rona: And you bring your experiences to your work, don't you? Because you suffered trauma as a baby.

Gabor: I was an infant, a Jewish infant, under the Nazi occupation in Hungary, in Budapest. My parents were killed in Auschwitz and I lived my first year with a mother who was deprived of her husband, had lost her parents and who was in daily fear for our lives. So that had a huge impact on my own development and that showed up in my adult life, in my relationship, in my work. And very much in my relationship to myself.

Rona: And when you were a baby, your mum took you to a doctor and the doctor said something very interesting about babies like you?

Gabor: The Germans occupied Hungary when I was two months old. I think it was 15 March 1944. And the day after the Germans marched into Budapest, my mother phoned the paediatrician to say "Would you please come and see Gabor because he is crying all the time?" And the paediatrician said "Of course I will see him but I should tell you all my Jewish babies are crying." This simply indicates the exquisite sensitivity of infants to the nurturing adults' emotional states. So that the child's health really depends on the emotional health and social support that the parent has. So in a society, or in a situation, where there is less support, more isolation and more stress on parents, you're going to get more and more troubled children, which is what we are seeing across the western world right now. And all these diagnoses that we are seeing with ADHD, which I wouldn't diagnose, by the way, personally, mental health problems, anxiety and so on, increasing violence, the autism problems. These are related to, not bad parenting, not parents who are mean parents, parents who are not loving but who are stressed and they don't get the support they need.

Rona: Increasingly we are seeing more problems burgeoning in the childhood population. And we use this term now, adverse childhood experiences, commonly known as ACEs, how useful is it to use that term? Is it reductive, do you think?

Gabor: It's not reductive, it's simply a statistical fact that you can't argue with. Which is that an adverse childhood experience is physical, sexual or emotional abuse, violence in the family, a parent being mentally ill, a parent being jailed, being addicted and divorce. For each of these adverse childhood experiences, statistically the risk for adult problems such as mental health issues, psychosis, ADHD, addiction, autoimmune disease, malignancy, go up. Now, the childhood experiences don't explain why these things happen, that has to do with physiological and psychological development, but they provide a statistical grounding for us to know that in order to raise healthy children we have to prevent as much as we can these adversities from occurring.

Rona: But to use this term ACEs, could it not stigmatise people to say that you've got ACEs? Could it also not almost be a self-fulfilling prophecy, that if you have so many ACEs, you are not going to achieve in life?

Gabor: No, it's not a prophecy. What would you rather believe, by the way, if you come to me as an addicted person, that you're addicted because you're a moral failure or you're addicted because you've got this incurable genetic disease, or you're addicted because you have so much pain because of your childhood experiences and if you deal with that pain you can heal your addiction? So the adverse childhood experiences, we actually know, there is a study that showed that in a medical office, when people are asked about their childhood experiences like that, they have fewer doctor's visits later on because just the fact of being listened to and having their experiences validated makes them less prone to get ill. So this is not reductive, it doesn't stigmatise; it simply helps people understand their experience.

Rona: So how do we best support people, then, who have suffered from childhood trauma?

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More information Back to article

Gabor: First of all, by not blaming them. So if you take the addicted population, I worked with a heavily addicted population in Canada. They're stigmatised, they're ostracised, they're illegalised, they are beyond the pale. What if we saw them as people who have suffered tremendously in childhood, whose addictions, whether it is to sex or gambling or shopping or drugs or alcohol, the 4,000 or 5,000 people every year in Scotland who die because of alcohol related diseases, what if we didn't see them as derelicts or as failures, what if we see them as people who have suffered and who need support to heal their suffering? And then maybe they can give up their addictive habits. So this is a very hopeful perspective. It actually means we can do something as opposed to this unscientific genetic idea that addictions are due to inheritance.

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Childhood trauma 'can lead to mental and physical illness'

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Dr Gabor Maté, an expert on childhood trauma, says adverse childhood experiences can distort development in multiple ways. Speaking to Scotland Tonight ahead of a childhood adversity conference in Glasgow, he said "the effects can be lifelong and can lead to physiological and mental illness".

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Trauma classroom tip

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Definitions.. Look after you.

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Trauma informed school success

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(Image: Oasis Academy)

Staff 'trauma training' that helps schoolchildren deal with stressful experiences has seen exclusions in one Harpurhey school plummet by 88 percent.

The Oasis Academy Harpur Mount said that a new pilot programme - that trains staff and parents on how to help children who have experienced abuse, neglect, bullying and other traumatic experiences - has had a huge impact at the school.

And one Harpurhey councillor said that no other scheme had such a positive impact on the area over the past two decades.

The programme was piloted in Harpurhey last year and is scheduled to roll out to other parts of the city over the next three years.

It focuses on supporting children with 'adverse childhood experiences' or 'ACEs', such as poverty, homelessness, cyber bullying or family substance misuse, and understanding their behaviour.

National statistics show that around 10 percent of people have experienced four or more ACEs.

Over the past year, council staff have worked with hundreds of professionals from schools, police, housing associations, youth justice and voluntary sector to implement a 'trauma-informed approach to their everyday practice'.

Gareth Nixon, the officer leading the project, presented the programme to Manchester's full council earlier this month.

He said 'By adopting trauma informed approaches every one of us can support individuals and families to build resilience and use protective factors to buffer the impact of trauma. By understanding that every interaction can be an intervention we can prevent ACEs in future generations.'

In the Oasis Academy, half of the staff have been 'ACE' trained.

A vice principal at the primary school told a council meeting earlier this month: "It's given people a real understanding of how our pupils and staff may have experienced trauma."

'Well-being' and 'calm down' rooms have been brought in to the school, while staff have been taught how to avoid traumatic 'triggers'.

There has also been a move away from short term exclusions, and instead focus on working with the child who has been in crisis, she said.

And the training means that more support is offered within the school, rather than referring children to outside agencies, she added.

Group sessions have also been offered for parents who have experienced their own childhood traumas.

But the pilot programme hasn't just focused on schools.

A council officer said that Manchester's Youth Zone youth club implemented a scheme focusing on children with several ACEs at risk of criminal exploitation, which had seen a huge increase in confidence level, health, aspirations and emotional management skills compared to the previous cohort.

In the housing sector, officers who work mainly with single men over 50 have focused on hoarding. They told Manchester's full council meeting last week that the work they had done under the scheme had prevented evictions, and saved £50,000 in the process.

The programme - which received £170,000 in council funding - had already saved £633,000, officers said.

Harpurhey councillor Joanne Green, who has been an elected member for the area for 20 years, said: "Honestly say I've never come across a project such as this where I've seen such a positive impact."

And ward councillor Pat Karney said: "Thank you for the valuable and pioneering work you've done. This project has opened our eyes on how agencies should work together with local people. It's had the biggest impact in our area of social intervention for years."

The programme is also being rolled out to Wythenshawe, as well as Cheetham Hill and Crumpsall and Higher Blackley and Charlestown.

Get breaking news first on the free Manchester Evening News app - download it here for your Apple or Android device. You can also get a round-up of the biggest stories sent direct to your inbox every day with the MEN email newsletter - subscribe here . And you can follow us on Facebook here .

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How 'trauma training' at a Harpurhey school saw exclusions plummet

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Staff 'trauma training' that helps schoolchildren deal with stressful experiences has seen exclusions in one Harpurhey school plummet by 88 percent. The Oasis Academy Harpur Mount said that a new pilot programme - that trains staff and parents on how to help children who have experienced abuse, neglect, bullying and other traumatic experiences - has had a huge impact at the school.

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Naughty boys?

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A boy wrongly branded as "naughty" has secured a £30 million settlement after a court accepted that he suffered brain injury during a bungled birth at a top London hospital.

The boy, now seven, had his delivery by emergency Caesarean delayed by negligence at University College Hospital, in Bloomsbury, in June 2012. He had to be resuscitated and was "cooled" for 72 hours in a bid to protect his brain.

He has spent most of his life being labelled naughty and disruptive due to "grossly abnormal behaviour" such as shouting and biting as well as being defiant and impulsive.

He needs two support workers at all times to handle his outbursts. He was excluded from school on an almost daily basis and his mother and father, from north London, were accused of being bad parents for five years by social services and health professionals.

It was only after lawyers were able to obtain medical evidence showing his volatile behaviour was largely due to the birth injury that the hospital admitted liability.

A settlement in excess of £30 million to fund his ongoing care was approved by Judge Graham Robinson at the High Court on Monday.

Jane Weakley, a partner at Fieldfisher, said: "We instructed independent medical experts, including a paediatric neuropsychiatrist, and a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder was made, which he wouldn't have had but for the brain injury, plus ADHD which he probably would have had anyway but which the brain injury made more severe.

"Our case was that it is impossible to divide up his injury - that is, to attribute certain behaviours to the injury and others to factors such as his environment. Without this vital diagnosis, this child would have continued to be considered as badly behaved ... In fact, mistakes and delays during his birth meant he was deprived of oxygen which left him brain injured."

At birth he had encephalopathy, hypoglycaemia, sepsis, seizures and persistent pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in the blood vessels supplying the lungs).

University College London Hospitals Trust said: "We are very sorry that this young person suffered a brain injury at birth in 2012, due to a delay in delivery."

It added:"We are pleased that ... we reached a settlement with the family. We hope the money will go some way towards providing for the future of this young person."

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Boy, 7, wrongly branded 'naughty' at school wins £30m payout

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A boy wrongly branded as "naughty" has secured a £30 million settlement after a court accepted that he suffered brain injury during a bungled birth at a top London hospital. The boy, now seven, had his delivery by emergency Caesarean delayed by negligence at University College Hospital, in Bloomsbury, in June 2012.