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The downtown Klamath County Library and Klamath County Public Health are teaming up to help our community better understand Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) with a pair of events in May.
The more ACEs a person experiences as a child – such as neglect, abuse, growing up around substance abuse and others – the more likely that person is to experience health problems later in life, including cancer, heart disease, and high blood pressure. However, experts also discovered that a single stable, caring adult can offset the impact of ACEs – and that this adult can be an unrelated community member such as a teacher, mentor, or coach. Which means we can all help young people facing these struggles.
On Sunday, May 7th at 2 pm, we’re screening the award-winning documentary Paper Tigers, which follows six students at Lincoln Alternative High School in the rural community of Walla Walla, Washington as the school implements a new “trauma-sensitive” approach to student discipline and conflict resolution. The film is rated PG-13, and runs for 1 hour, 42 minutes.
Then on Sunday, May 21st at 2 pm, we’re hosting a training for community members on how to prevent, intervene in, and heal from the ongoing trauma that ACEs represent. By reducing the stigma around this very common problem – over 60% of adults in 25 states reported experiencing at least one Adverse Childhood Experience before they turned 18 – we can avoid a variety of negative health impacts on both individuals and the broader Klamath Basin community.
For more information about these events, please call 541-882-8894. For more of Klamath County Public Health’s initiatives, visit their website at www.klamathcounty.org/378/Public-Health.