ACEs stands for 'Adverse Childhood Experiences'.The experiences we have early in our lives and particularly in our early childhoods have a huge impact on how we grow and develop, our physical and mental health, and our thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Adverse Childhood Experiences are “highly stressful, and potentially traumatic, events or situations that occur during childhood and/or adolescence. They can be a single event, or prolonged threats to, and breaches of, the young person’s safety, security, trust or bodily integrity.”

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Examples of ACEs:

• Physical abuse

• Sexual Abuse

• Emotional Abuse

• Living with someone who abused drugs

• Living with someone who abused alcohol

• Exposure to domestic violence

• Living with someone who has gone to prison

• Living with someone with serious mental illness

• Losing a parent through divorce, death or abandonment

How Common are ACEs?
In a 2014 UK study on ACEs, 47% of people experienced at least one ACE with 9% of the population having 4+ ACES