Authored By Rick Murdock, Michigan ACE Initiative Grant Coordinator

Recently, my wife and I viewed the movie Seabiscuit for the umpteenth time—as it is a favorite. Each time I’ve watched the movie, I notice something I haven’t noticed before.

This time, I focused on the message that was being repeated over and over again. To paraphrase that message: we all go through tough times, but we need to keep going in order to succeed and having a second chance is necessary.

But is that true? Or does that have to be true?  The answer to that question in the context of Adverse Childhood Experience is yes and no.

ARE “SECOND CHANCES” NECESSARY?

The answer is yes for those who have experienced ACEs in our population as they might think that a second chance was never an option. The impact of ACE on adolescents and subsequently as adults without having interventions (no second chance) is our current status. The impact on the conditions of everyday life affects too many individuals and drains our resources. We must change.

The answer is no in the context of our primary objective where we would prefer a culture and environment where ACEs never occur. The reality is that ACEs are present and to achieve our ultimate goal of eliminating ACEs, we must first focus on reducing the impact of ACE for those adolescents and adults. We need to provide that second chance.

A PROMISING FUTURE

The activities over the past several months with the Michigan ACE Initiative gives me more hope than ever for the future. It is truly heartwarming to personally view the heartfelt emotions of residents of our state from Marquette to Battle Creek to Traverse City to Kalamazoo to Lansing and more who are thirsting for information on ACE, how to obtain the most current awareness and to begin the all-important discussion on what the community to do as part of its next steps.

It is also inspiring to see this thirst come from all segments of our society—population groups, various age, economic strata, and from those in community organizations and agencies—who are in position to make a difference—particularly with assistance.

We are now starting to see the impact of increased awareness from the dozens of viewing and subsequent discussion groups regarding the ACE related documentary Resilience. Once anyone has seen either the data of the ACE Study or has viewed the documentary, they cannot walk away from this issue.

Click here for a full list of Resilience documentary screenings in Michigan.

NEW DATA COMING SOON

We expect to have the latest data for the prevalence of Michigan adults with ACE based on the 2016 Michigan surveillance survey reports. This will help focus our message in Michigan and you can expect this report by the end of the year.

We are pleased to see the impact of the presence and power of our master trainers. That will continue and is the prime activity of the Michigan ACE Initiative. Look for more information regarding each of our master trainers from our first cohort trained in Gaylord last spring and our second cohort trained in Gull Lake last month. The excitement, energy and drive that these individuals are bringing to this initiative make all our efforts worthwhile—they will be the ones to make the difference and our job is to assist their efforts over the coming months and years.

Our efforts will begin in more earnest for having statewide conversations on ACE—with lawmakers, state agencies representatives, and major statewide organizations. Look for detail on that in my next blog post.