Using Brain and ACEs Science to Fight Social Challenges
Using brain and ACEs science to fight social challenges has been a theme running through several of my recent Zoom PowerPoint presentations. The social challenges I refer to are juvenile and criminal justice, homelessness, recidivism, substance use and mental health disorders and secondhand drinking. Audiences have included the Sacramento Area Re-Entry Network, Hope Cooperative Sacramento, Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services, and the Federal Defender’s Office.
Example of Using Brain and ACEs Science to Fight Social Challenges
This is the introduction to a program I did for staff members of the Office of the Federal Defender for the Eastern District Court. I’ve added related links so you can explore the concepts introduced and then covered in the presentation. [Note: when this introduction is given “live” – there are many pauses and line breaks that allow it to flow without overwhelming the way it may come across when reading.]
My program is designed to do two things:
First, to provide attendees with an overview of how the brain wires, maps, and develops to help explain why ACEs – Adverse Childhood Experiences (which are traumatic or extremely stressful events happening to a child before age 18) – and/or The Pair of ACEs (which is experiencing ACEs within the context of community ACEs) can have such a profound impact on a fetus, infant, toddler, child, adolescent or young adult‘s brain development; an impact that is the result of ACEs/The Pair of ACEs-related toxic stress.
Using Brain and ACEs Science as a foundation for creating trauma-informed courts.
It is this impact on brain development that can profoundly change their thoughts, feelings, coping skills, and behaviors, and their physical and emotional health across a lifetime.
These are the kinds of profound impacts that can result in a person getting involved with the juvenile or criminal justice systems.
Second, to convey why understanding these concepts can actually help enhance trauma informed defense and re-entry practices. For when we understand where the brain was at developmentally when the ACEs or The Pair of ACEs occurred and what had gone into that brain’s wiring and mapping along the way, we can better appreciate the challenges that those who help and those who need help are facing. Basically we have to go back to “that” place and fill in the missing wiring or change the wiring and mapping that’s in place in order to improve that person’s thoughts, feelings, coping skills, and behaviors, and their physical and emotional health — the very quality of their lives.
To provide these understandings, I’ll be sharing 21st century brain research – and I emphasize 21st Century brain research because much of what we know about the human brain has been discovered or advanced in the recent 15-20 years. Research that explains how it is the 3 pound organ, just a fraction of our total body weight, controls everything we think, feel, say and do.
How This Brain and ACEs Science Can Be Used
I was invited by Crystal Richardson, Social Worker for the Federal Offender’s Office, to give this presentation as the scientific basis for a collaborative effort involving Crystal, myself and other staff members, working as a team to identify foundations and strategies for building a trauma-informed court. Possibilities include:
- To dig deeper into all of what was presented to understand the connection between brain wiring, mapping & development and ACEs|Pair of ACEs-related toxic stress AND the roles this connection plays in a teen or an adult…
- developing a SUDs
- committing AOD-related crimes
- developing a mental illness or exacerbating the one they have
- ending up homeless
- committing domestic violence
- continuing to “think” from their limbic system and the reactionary coping skills that got them into trouble in the first place
- Based on this deeper look and understanding, create greater staff awareness of the options and what it may take to get the help their clients need in jail/prison, through court diversion programs, or while on probation and the like in order to reduce recidivism. One such program being used to teach resilience to counter ACEs in a Washington state prison looks very promising. Others might include SUD treatment, mental health treatment, co-occurring disorders treatment, stress-response calming techniques, and services that can help with treating the toxic stress / behavioral consequences of ACEs, Pair of ACEs – consequences that are exacerbated by the stress of what happens when incarcerated.
- Consider using some of the Office’s cases — without names or any identifying information, of course — to identify ways key brain and ACEs science research findings and expert evaluations can be integrated when building a defense or constructing sentencing guidelines.
- Incorporate approaches for a trauma-informed understanding and response to violent behavior as put forth by James Garbarino, PhD, in his article, “ACEs in the Criminal Justice System.“
Bottom Line
There are so many ways to use brain and ACEs science to fight social challenges. If you’d like to learn more or talk with me about giving a presentation to your group, please send me an email at lisaf@BreakingTheCycles.com.
Lisa Frederiksen
Latest posts by Lisa Frederiksen (see all)
- Does a Loved One Have to Hit Bottom? - November 20, 2022
- Resources for Parents of Children with Substance Use and Mental Disorders - October 18, 2022
- 4 Things to Support Brain Health and Function for Recovery - August 30, 2022