Minimizing the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences through a Focus on Adverse Community Experiences

Adverse community experiences – such as concentrated poverty, segregation from opportunity, and community violence – contribute to community trauma, which can exacerbate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). This brief explains the relationship between ACEs and adverse community experiences, thus making the case for focusing on preventing and addressing trauma at the community level, in addition to the growing focus on individual trauma. It also provides examples of emerging strategies to address community trauma and build community resilience.

Videos

Community Trauma and Resilience

Dr. Howard Pinderhughes describes new and innovative thinking about trauma, which manifests not only among individuals, but also at the community level, due in part to the impacts of structural violence and historical trauma.