Bad Childhood Events Targeted As Group Targets Substance Abuse

COURT HOUSE – A $200,000 grant from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation will help community leaders raise awareness of a serious but often hidden cause of social and behavioral problems in the county, including substance abuse. 
Between 1995 and 1997, a series of individuals were the subjects of a Center for Disease Control and Prevention study on adverse childhood experiences (ACE). The study concluded that experiences like physical or sexual abuse in childhood, household substance abuse, domestic violence, household member incarceration, and emotional neglect, along with similar forms of abuse and neglect, correlate strongly with high-risk health and social behaviors.
The Cape Regional Wellness Alliance, a group of individuals and an organization representing business, law enforcement, education, and healthcare, is seeking to raise the awareness level of childhood adverse experiences and the social impact they lead to.
Raising awareness of youth trauma may be the best way to combat crime and social delinquency problems in the future, the group believes.
The team working on this effort includes Vicki Clark, president of the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce, Christopher Kobik, Lower Township superintendent of schools, Vicki Lachman, representing veterans in the area, Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner, Thomas Piratzky, Cape Regional Medical Center, and Greg Speed, chief executive officer of Cape Counseling.
Leusner explained to the Middle Township Committee Oct. 16 that the $200,000 grant would be spread over four years.
The grant would be shared by Middle and Lower townships, Woodbine and Wildwood.
A Wellness Alliance report states that the four communities involved have “The highest prevalence of low socio-economic status in the county.”
The community profile in the report states that “Cape May County ranks 19 out of 21 on the Kids Count Rankings for Quality of Life for Youth.”
The focus on ACEs in the county is a way to link many aspects of physical, social and mental wellness in ways that address a foundational problem in childhood.
The Wellness Alliance has established specific objectives and a timeline to achieve them. These are laid out in the group’s Community Action Plan.
The first goal is to establish baseline data for the prevalence of ACE in the four communities. They will move on to develop specific strategies that reduce the impact of ACEs including teacher and community education, law enforcement youth camps, career exploration efforts, ways to expand career readiness programs and provide guides to available community health and social support organizations.
The common denominator across all areas of the group’s efforts is the focus on childhood trauma and adverse experiences in an effort to break the chain that leads all too often to substance abuse, unemployment, and even incarceration in adults.
The Middle Township proclamation states that “neglected and traumatized children face challenges that no child deserves, and damage caused by the ACEs often results in young people who develop long-lasting harmful behaviors that affect themselves, their families, and their communities.”
Leusner spoke of the importance of helping the county’s youth to see “a path to a decent life.” The syndrome of adverse experiences will not be easy to change, but that first step is increased awareness that there is something that needs change.
The group hopes that a successful program reducing the occurrences of ACEs in these four county communities “will be used as a model for county-wide implementation.”
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.