Toxic stress results in a prolonged activation of the stress response through adverse childhood experiences, leading to increased risks for long-term health and developmental implications. Positive adult relationships are critical in teaching children how to overcome adversity to prevent toxic stress.

Adverse Childhood Experience's (ACE's)

Potentially traumatic events that occur before a child turns 18 that can cause toxic stress and impact their future mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Positive Childhood Experience's (PCE's)

Activities and experiences that enhance a child's like before they turn 18, supporting successful mental and physical health outcomes.

network-informed suicide prevention

Strengthening social integration could prevent suicidal behavior. These findings have implications for developing network-informed suicide prevention (NISP) approaches in schools and other education settings.

Preventing Childhood Toxic
Stress

The American Academy of Pediatrics asserts that safe, stable, nurturing relationships are biological necessities for all children because they mitigate childhood toxic stress.

Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity

The Deepest Well is a “must read” for clinicians (including physicians), as well as patients/laypersons unfamiliar with the terrible and predictable consequences of early childhood trauma/ACEs.

Vibrant and Healthy Kids

This report reviews the ways in which early life stress affects health, the pathways by which health disparities develop and persist, and the roadmap needed to get all children on positive health trajectories.

CDC REPORT:
PREVENTING
ACES

Traumatic events in childhood can be emotionally painful or distressing and can have effects that persist for years.

Effective Discipline to Raise Healthy Children

The AAP recommends that adults caring for children use healthy forms of discipline, such as positive reinforcement of appropriate behaviors and setting limits.

3 Principles to improve outcomes for children & Families

1) Support responsive relationships for children and adults. 2) Strengthen core skills for planning, adapting, and achieving goals. 3) Reduce sources of stress in the lives of children and families.

connection of Childhood Abuse to leading causes of death

This study found a strong graded relationship between the breadth of exposure to abuse or household dysfunction during childhood and multiple risk factors for several of the leading causes of death in adults.

summary from center on the developing
child

The science of child development shows that the foundation for sound mental health is built early in life, as early experiences—which include children’s relationships with parents, caregivers, relatives, teachers, and peers—shape the architecture of the developing brain.

Preventing Toxic Stress: Partnering with Families & Communities to promote relational health

The American Academy of Pediatrics asserts that safe, stable, nurturing relationships are biological necessities for all children because they mitigate childhood toxic stress responses and proactively build resilience by fostering the adaptive skills needed to cope with future adversity in a healthy manner.

Measuring the opportunity Gap for children from Birth to age 8

This workshop presentations highlighted evidence demonstrating the measurable benefits of investing in early childhood education, as well as the cognitive and social benefits of early childhood education for young children.

Center for Youth Wellness: An Unhealthy Dose of Stress

Toxic stress caused by ACEs can profoundly alter the otherwise healthy development of a child. As Dr. Robert W. Block, former president of the AAP noted: “Children’s exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences are the greatest unaddressed public health threat facing our nation today.”

Mental and behavioral health in children: A crisis made worse by the pandemic

The Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), representing the nation’s children’s hospitals and pediatricians, call on Congress and the Biden Administration to prioritize children’s mental, emotional and behavioral health in proposals addressing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Almost a decade after policy on toxic stress, 'relational' health seen as key approach

A revised AAP policy statement argues that to build healthy, resilient children and adolescents, family-centered pediatric medical homes need to be integral elements of community efforts to foster “relational” health.

FOR KIDS WHO FACE TRAUMA, GOOD NEIGHBORS OR TEACHERS CAN SAVE THEIR LONGTERM HEALTH

A new study discovers that positive childhood experiences, like having good neighbors, or a teacher you trust, have the potential to negate harmful health effects caused by adverse childhood experiences.

Safe, Stable, and Nurturing Relationships May Shield Children Against Poor Health Later in Life

A recent CDC commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that progress in preventing the nation’s worst health problems – such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease – can be made by investing in programs that promote raising infants and young children in healthy, safe, stable, and nurturing surroundings.

Building Connections and positive relationships can prevent and manage stress

Being around people who support us can make us healthier by calming our brain and body when stressful things happen in our life. Research shows that having even one positive relationship can help.

Traumatic childhood events may increase risk for long-term health effects in breast cancer survivors

Childhood trauma can increase a breast cancer survivor’s chance of experiencing more severe and longer-lasting treatment-related anxiety, depression and fatigue, as well as reduced cognitive function, years after cancer treatment has ended, according to a preliminary study led by Jamie Myers, Ph.D., FAAN, research associate professor at the University of Kansas School of Nursing.