Trauma-informed practices mandatory for all public schools
Landmark lawsuit filed in California to make trauma-informed practices mandatory for all public schools
“ACEs” comes from the CDC-Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, a groundbreaking public health study that discovered that childhood trauma leads to the adult onset of chronic diseases, depression and other mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence. The 10 ACEs the researchers measured include physical, sexual and verbal abuse, physical and emotional neglect; a family member who is depressed or diagnosed with other mental illness, addicted to alcohol or another substance, in prison, witnessing a mother being abused, losing a parent to separation, divorce or other reason.
“Childhood trauma is the number one public health problem in the U.S. today,” said Mark Rosenbaum, directing attorney for Public Counsel’s Opportunity Under Law project. “Unaddressed trauma is the greatest enemy to the brain. We need to address childhood trauma in our public schools if we are genuinely serious about eliminating the gap between haves and have-nots.”
Article by Sylvia Paull, May 18, 2015