ACES
Adverse Childhood Experiences
Adverse childhood experiences (ACES) are known to have potentially lifelong implications and a huge societal impact in both human suffering and the financial impact on society. Individuals who have adverse childhood experiences scores of 4 or higher, based on a scale of zero to 10, are linked to greater incidences of mental illness, homelessness, substance abuse, delinquency/criminality, suicide, antisocial behavior, and increased recidivism risk according to the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study by Dr. Vincent Feletti conducted in the early 1990’s.
Suffering individuals create suffering communities. Individuals are part of families and the pain and brokenness of individuals ripples through the family and into the community. In impoverished communities, the incidence of ACES among adults and the risk of ACES in children is extremely high. The correlation between ACES and criminality link ACES to high crime areas, of which the Las Vegas Trail community has been identified as a target community with the Fort Worth Police Department’s Violent Crime Initiative for 2022. At West Fort Worth Center of Hope we seek to unlock lives, by addressing the root cause of brokenness and bringing healing and wholeness that leads to a transformed life and ultimately a transformed community.
“Preventing ACEs is of urgent importance, as is mitigating the negative impact of ACEs currently, in terms of substance and alcohol abuse, mental illness, physical health outcomes, and the cost to society.” (Source)