What Are Adverse Childhood Experiences?
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that can have negative, lasting effects on health and well-being. These experiences range from physical, emotional, or sexual abuse to parental divorce or the incarceration of a parent or guardian. This adversity can harm a child’s brain and its development, which can result in long-term negative health and social outcomes.
Preventing ACEs is a great opportunity for improving the well-being of human populations.
This image shows the percentage of various health and social problems that epidemiologists estimate are caused by ACEs. The calculation that is commonly used to do this in public health studies is called Population Attributable Risk; this is displayed as a percentage as an “oil spill” on this slide. The percentage of a problem coated by the oil spill represents the percentage of each problem that is potentially preventable by preventing ACEs.
ACEs Are Preventable
ACEs may be common, but they are preventable. The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services’ Office of Behavioral Health Wellness is working to raise awareness in local communities and at the state level of the significant behavioral, emotional and physical outcomes of childhood trauma.
If you are interested in having one of our ACEs presenters present to your organization, our presenters are listed below.
| Odette Iferika | Blue Ridge Behavioral Health | oiferika@brbh.org |
| Cathy Brown | Blue Ridge Behavioral Health | cbrown@brbh.org |
| Dominique Adams | Danville-Pittsylvania Community Services | dominique.adams@dss.virginia.gov |
| Kimberly Kidd | Danville-Pittsylvania Community Services | kkidd@dpcs.org |
| Keith Cartwright | Virginia DBHDS | robert.cartwright@dbhds.virginia.gov |
| Colleen Hughes | Virginia DBHDS | colleen.hughes@dbhds.virginia.gov |
| Nicole Gore | Virginia DBHDS | nicole.gore@dbhds.virginia.gov |
| Michael Olsen | Virginia DBHDS | michael.olsen@dbhds.virginia.gov |
| Katharine Hunter | Virginia DBHDS | katharine.hunter@dbhds.virginia.gov |
| Kelly Bulin | Eastern Shore Community Services | kbulin@escsb.org |
| Barbara Mulligan | Eastern Shore Community Services | bmulligan@escsb.org |
| Nikki Bacilio-High | Hampton-Newport News CSB | nbacilio@hnncsb.org |
| Cheryl Nixon | Hampton-Newport News CSB | cnixon@hamptonrha.com |
| Dana Gaskin | Hanover County CSB | dtgaskin@hanovercounty.gov |
| Nicole Yarber | Highlands Community Services | nyarber@highlandscsb.org |
| Darrell Harmon | Highlands Community Services | dharmon1957@yahoo.com |
| Leslie Beasley | New River Valley Community Services | lbeasley@nrvcs.org |
| Kathy Kenley | New River Valley Community Services | kkenley@nrvcs.org |
| Linda Taylor | New River Valley Community Services | ltaylor@nrvcs.org |
| Bonnie Favero | Piedmont Community Services | bfavero@piedmontcsb.org |
| Michelle Wagaman | Rappahannock Area CSB | mwagaman@rappahannockareacsb.org |
| Amy Jindra | Rappahannock Area CSB | ajindra@rappahannockareacsb.org |
| Emily Warren | Region Ten CSB | emily.warren@regionten.org |
| Sarah Robinson | Region Ten CSB | sara.robinson@regionten.org |