Possible national objectives to work towards to reduce ACEs
From an article by Salud America
Healthy People is a US Government initiative to measure and increase public health over time. It identifies public health priorities to help individuals, organizations, and communities across the United States improve health and well-being. Every decade, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services updates its Healthy People guidelines to set objectives to improve health and reduce disease over the next 10 years. Healthy People 2030, the initiative’s fifth iteration, builds on knowledge gained over the first 4 decades.
For the first time they have added objectives on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), recognising the systemic impact of childhood trauma on health.
These can inform policy makers elsewhere. As one contributor noted, “Decades of evidence confirms that exposure to ACEs increases the risks of delayed cognitive development, mental health problems, and chronic health diseases.”
The four new Childhood Trauma Objectives in Healthy People 2030 are as follows:
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Reduce the number of young adults who report 3 or more adverse childhood experiences.
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Increase the proportion of trauma-informed early childcare settings and elementary and secondary schools.
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Increase the proportion of children and adolescents with symptoms of trauma who get treatment.
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Increase the proportion of children and adolescents who show resilience to challenges and stress.
Additionally, the following objective is relevant to addressing childhood trauma in schools: Increase the proportion of public schools with a counselor, social worker, and psychologist.
“Toxic stress is endangering the current and future health of our society,” said Dr. Amelie Ramirez, director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio. “Amid the mental, physical, and economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is even greater need to prevent the risk factors for toxic stress, which are severe, intense, or prolonged stress, trauma, or adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) like physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.”
Read the full article here.
Just addressing the first objective. "Reduce the number of young adults who report 3 or more adverse childhood experiences", would create many actions including those for the next 3 objectives. It would be a good target for communities to go after! See The Resilience Challenge..
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From an article by Salud America, 20/10/2021