Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
& Trauma-Informed Care

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) is committed to helping every child thrive by raising awareness about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and promoting trauma‑informed care across our community.

Research shows that early adversity can affect long-term mental and physical health. These effects may include depression, cancer, and diabetes, as well as risky behaviours like substance use, physical inactivity, and unsafe sexual practices. These risks can also lead to a shorter life. 

By increasing awareness about ACEs and trauma-informed care, we can help prevent early adversity, support healthy development, and better understand the impact trauma can have across the lifespan.

When we understand that behaviour is often shaped by past experiences, we can shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” . This shift helps build empathy, understanding, and compassion.

By reflecting on our everyday practices, we can support trauma‑informed care and build a safe, respectful environment for everyone. 

Understanding ACEs

Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, are stressful or harmful (traumatic) events that happen to children before the age of 18.

These experiences can trigger strong or long‑lasting stress responses, which may increase the risk of serious health problems later in life. The more ACEs a child experiences the greater the likelihood of health issues in adulthood, such as heart disease, depression, or substance use.

These experiences may include:

• Physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. 
• Physical and emotional neglect.
• Parental separation or divorce.
• Witnessing domestic violence as a child.
• Living in a home where someone has been to jail or prison.
• Living with a household member who struggles with substance use or poor mental health.

Early adversity can also include experiences like colonialism, racism, childhood poverty, not having stable housing, natural disasters, weak social supports and other individual and systemic forms of discrimination. To learn more about ACEs, visit the Alberta Health Services webpage.

Preventing and reducing ACEs through early intervention by families, communities, and service providers supports long‑term well‑being for children, now and for future generations.

Healing is possible at any stage of life by building and strengthening resiliency through protective factors. While early childhood adversity can have lifelong effects, it does not have to define a person’s future or destiny. Visit our webpage on resiliency and protective factors, to learn how you can help prevent and reduce ACEs.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Prevent ACEs Now Video

Why Toxic Stress Matters: Long‑Term Effects On the Brain and Body

Not all stress is bad. Sometimes stress can help us, especially if it does not happen too often and does not last too long. Learning how to handle mild or moderate stress is part of healthy child development. When children face challenges, their body may react by making their heartbeat faster, raising blood pressure, and releasing stress hormones like cortisol.

But when stress or early adversity is very serious—like experiencing physical abuse or seeing violence—it can lead to toxic stress.

Toxic stress is very strong stress that lasts a long time and is hard to manage. When someone has toxic stress, their body releases too much of the stress hormone, cortisol. This can affect how the brain and body grow and work. Toxic stress keeps the body on high alert and can affect: 

• Brain development.
• The immune system (how the body fights illness).
• Hormone regulation (chemicals that help control the body).

Toxic stress is especially harmful for children because their brains are still growing and developing. It can affect how the brain makes connections. This can change how children manage feelings, pay attention, learn, and get along with others.

Important: When children have caring and supportive adults in their lives, these stress effects are reduced. This helps children learn healthy ways to deal with stress. 

Visit our Additional Resources and Training page for tips to manage stress and reduce the effects of harmful and toxic stress.