Witten By: Caitlyn Brown
OneOp’s Adverse Childhood Experiences Webinar is right around the corner. In preparation, we wanted to highlight a useful resource on empathy and listening in association with ACEs. Dr. Claudia M. Gold has been working in the childhood mental health field for over 25 years. Dr. Gold has written a handful of books based on her professional experiences and recently sat down with the ACEs Connection for an interview regarding the long-term ripple effect that ACEs can have on an individual. Dr. Gold highlights the neurological changes that can stem from a trauma and how environmental experiences can have a significant influence on an individual. According to Dr. Gold, empathy is one of the cornerstones of clinical care and she also has a few key points of advice for professionals working with different family members.
When working with parents, professionals should aim to help mitigate stress and encourage parents to develop their own confidence when it comes to raising children. If you can empathize with the parent, you can lead them to empathize with their child. It is more support that parents need rather than advice or guidance on parenting.
When working with teens and young adults, professionals should be aware of the impact that ACEs can have on the health of an individual. Another important note that Dr. Gold highlights is that the vocabulary that professionals use when working with teens and other family members can have a significant impact on the individual’s own perspective. Professionals should work on empowering young adults (and other family members).
As we have noted before, the impact that Adverse Childhood Experiences can have is so much more significant than is commonly known. We can’t overlook its impact. If you would like to read about Gold’s interview with ACEs connection, click here. You can also find information on her other books:
If you would like to know more about the ACEs study or what your ACEs score is, check out our other resources and tune in for our upcoming webinar on August 17th at 11am Eastern.
