January 30, 2025

CCHE supports initiatives that implement trauma- and resilience-informed ACEs screening

We know that trauma can have a long-term impact on people’s health and wellbeing, highlighting the need for trauma-informed and strengths-based approaches to working with patients and communities. Since 2017, CCHE has evaluated programs that are implementing screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in pediatric settings, which promotes early intervention and can be a tangible entry point for clinics interested in providing trauma- and resilience-informed care. Learnings from these programs can provide guidance to health care organizations that are interested in or already implementing ACEs screening.
What is ACEs screening? 
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that occur when we are young. This includes abuse, neglect, and other challenges like parental incarceration, divorce, or intimate partner violence. ACEs screening is a systematic assessment process aimed to identify patients at high risk for toxic stress (i.e., the body’s long-term stress reaction absent enough support) due to ACEs exposure and provide early intervention and support to mitigate.
  (Adapted from ACEs Aware)
 
linkable-CCHE_ACEs_Screening_Lessons-pg1.jpg What it takes to get started. This brief offers five elements to ensure effective ACEs screening practice and provides tactical considerations and decisions required for success. These elements were informed by learning from the National Pediatric Practice Community on ACEs Screening (NPPC), a pilot program of the Center for Youth Wellness, and the Resilient Beginnings Collaborative (RBC), a partnership between Genentech Charitable Giving and the Center for Care Innovations. Read the report, Screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in pediatric practices.
linkable-tpj.28.issue-1.cover.jpg A trauma-informed approach supports implementation. Through the California ACEs Learning and Quality Improvement Collaborative (CALQIC), participating clinics demonstrated that being trauma-informed created a strong foundation for successful roll out of ACEs screening. Article authors suggest that ACEs screening initiatives should include education and support for clinics to engage in trauma-informed systems change. Read the article, Clinic Readiness for Trauma-Informed Health Care Is Associated With Uptake of Screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences.
linkable-Trauma-and-resilience-informed-ACEs-screening-pag1.jpg Essential elements for trauma-informed screening practices. Clinics participating in the Resilient Beginnings Network emphasized essential elements of responsible and effective ACEs screening practice. These elements included: 1) recognizing that the value of screening comes from establishing supportive organizational practices and the conversation between families and care teams, 2) dedicating staff to support follow-up, and 3) integrating concepts of resilience and strengths. Read the brief, Resilient Beginnings: Trauma- And Resilience-Informed ACEs Screening And Response Learning Brief.
linkable-TASIE_all_cohorts_report-pg2.jpg Learnings from California apply in clinics across the nation. More recently, CCHE was able to take learnings from previous work in California to a national scale through the Trauma-Informed ACEs Screening and Intervention Evaluation (TASIE) project, a federally-funded initiative of the New Jersey Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics (NJAAP) and the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) – a program of Safe & Sound. Read the report, Trauma-Informed ACEs Screening and Intervention Evaluation (TASIE) Project: Final evaluation report.
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