ACEs Awareness

The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACEs) was published in an academic journal in 1998. It would take almost two decades before the implications of this ground-breaking research would finally reach the public. In Scotland, the moment of recognition occurred in the summer of 2017, when 2500 members of the public attended screenings of the documentary film Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope. Conversations about the causes and consequences of childhood trauma exploded. As a country, we have not stopped talking about it since.

Suzanne knows that 2017 was the turning point because she hosted the Scottish tour of that film, in partnership with her colleague Tina Hendry.   The curiosity that was unleashed was part of an unexpected zeitgeist, with all sorts of organisations stepping into discussions about how to disseminate this science, how best to frame the concept, how to alter professional practices to take account of these new discoveries.

Suzanne continues to work hard, with partners, to find ways of boosting the public’s awareness of childhood trauma and the importance of attention relationships. She draws from wide territory, drawing on domains including attachment, innate intersubjectivity, brain development, epistemology and the tipping point of change. The feedback she receives demonstrates that people want to explore these themes, despite the discomfort that frequently accompanies the discoveries they make. One teacher, who sees this movement as a ‘revolution’ asks “Can you hear the people sing? Suzanne is gripping our ACEs flag and waving it for others to see.” Members of nursery teams have described their insights as “inspiring and thought-provoking, challenging and motivating”. The organisation Mind in Mind has described Suzanne as “one of the leading science communicators of her generation”.