A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled into the opportunity to participate in an event at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Hosted by The Prevention and Health Promotion Administration in collaboration with The Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities and The State Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, the screening of the documentary “Resilience” and subsequent discussion of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs_ and their impact on physical health and cognitive and social-emotional well-being was a somber but illuminating experience.
In an attempt to better serve students who have experienced traumatic experiences, especially in the wake of the civil unrest following the murder of Freddie Gray, Baltimore City Public Schools secured a grant from the U.S. Department of Education called Promoting Student Resilience. The $2.374 million grant will allow for the hiring of full-time mental health clinicians at 13 city schools and provide professional development for on how to recognize and respond to the effects of trauma.
This is a reasonable step in the right direction towards serving the students of Baltimore City Public Schools, many of whom have experienced many deeply traumatic things in their short lives. The 10-question described in the documentary to determine how many ACEs a child has include questions about physical abuse, verbal abuse, lack of support or attention, having insufficient resources, struggles with addiction, incarceration, and mental illness within a family or household. The higher the ACE score, the more likely students are to experience depression, use and abuse drugs, be raped, smoke as an adult, contract hepatitis, and perpetrate domestic violence, to name a few. I don’t think it would be out of line to think that many Baltimore City Public School students suffer with far more than 3 ACEs and I hope that this grant and the trauma-informed care that is supposed to come from it is not just a passing fad. The students need support in ways that schools may not be accustomed to providing support but places where this type of care has been prioritized have seen great improvements in outcomes, like in Walla Walla, Washington, where a school that has adopted a trauma-informed care model has seen an 85% drop in suspension rates.
