Episode 45: I Live Here: Learning to Heal Through Embracing Your Story
Explicit content warning
08/28/22 • 24 min
Executive director of The National Foundation to End Child Abuse and Neglect (ENDCan ), Lori Poland, sits down for an interview with Joy Thomas from the ACE Resource Network. Poland shares her journey in writing her memoir - "I Live Here: Learning to Heal through Embracing Your Story" - about surviving childhood abuse. She has transcended her life to help, support, and be the change she wishes to see in the world.
What are ACEs?
ACEs are Adverse Childhood Experiences. They are difficult, potentially traumatic experiences a child faces before the age of 18.
The landmark Kaiser Permanente-CDC study assessed the following 10 ACEs:
- Physical abuse
- Emotional abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Physical neglect
- Emotional neglect
- Household member with mental illness
- Witnessing domestic violence
- Household member with substance abuse
- Incarcerated household member
- Divorce or separation of parents
They are so common that two out of three of us have at least one.
ACEs can trigger Toxic Stress in the body.
Without protective factors and adequate support, ACEs can lead to toxic stress in the body. Toxic stress can literally alter brain chemistry and biology, and it can even change how our DNA is read and transcribed.
ACEs and toxic stress have been linked to heart disease, stroke, asthma, cancer, depression, anxiety, addiction, and suicide. ACEs may also impact children’s learning and development, our workplace performance, our relationships, and lifespan.
Yet many people, parents, health professionals, and educators don’t know about ACEs. This lack of knowledge leads to significant illness and unimaginable expense – much of which could be averted through awareness, education, and action.
#endchildabuseandneglect #endcanorg #ilivehere
You can connect with ACEs resource network here https://aceresourcenetwork.com/
Executive director of The National Foundation to End Child Abuse and Neglect (ENDCan ), Lori Poland, sits down for an interview with Joy Thomas from the ACE Resource Network. Poland shares her journey in writing her memoir - "I Live Here: Learning to Heal through Embracing Your Story" - about surviving childhood abuse. She has transcended her life to help, support, and be the change she wishes to see in the world.
What are ACEs?
ACEs are Adverse Childhood Experiences. They are difficult, potentially traumatic experiences a child faces before the age of 18.
The landmark Kaiser Permanente-CDC study assessed the following 10 ACEs:
- Physical abuse
- Emotional abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Physical neglect
- Emotional neglect
- Household member with mental illness
- Witnessing domestic violence
- Household member with substance abuse
- Incarcerated household member
- Divorce or separation of parents
They are so common that two out of three of us have at least one.
ACEs can trigger Toxic Stress in the body.
Without protective factors and adequate support, ACEs can lead to toxic stress in the body. Toxic stress can literally alter brain chemistry and biology, and it can even change how our DNA is read and transcribed.
ACEs and toxic stress have been linked to heart disease, stroke, asthma, cancer, depression, anxiety, addiction, and suicide. ACEs may also impact children’s learning and development, our workplace performance, our relationships, and lifespan.
Yet many people, parents, health professionals, and educators don’t know about ACEs. This lack of knowledge leads to significant illness and unimaginable expense – much of which could be averted through awareness, education, and action.
#endchildabuseandneglect #endcanorg #ilivehere
You can connect with ACEs resource network here https://aceresourcenetwork.com/
Previous Episode
Episode 44: What Needs to Happen to End Child Abuse and Neglect
In this episode, listen in as Lori Poland, CEO of EndCAN talks with Jon Conte. Jon is a colleague and friend of Richard Krugman, Chairman of our board here at EndCAN. Jon is working a research project about what needs to happen to end child abuse and neglect.
Jon R. Conte is a teacher and scholar whose area of expertise centers on mental health issues related to child abuse and trauma. He holds a bachelor of arts in sociology-anthropology from Whittier College as well as a master and a doctorate in social work, both from the University of Washington.
Our hope is that this conversation helps you gain a better understanding of what we are doing here at EndCAN and why we are doing it. Also HOW we are planning on doing it.
We hope you learn at little and enjoy this conversation. Thank you for listening!
The Louder than Silence podcast amplifies the voices of child abuse and neglect survivors as well as those working towards solutions in the fields of child abuse research, prevention, education, and advocacy.
Next Episode
Episode 46: Why We're Here ft. Jon Vaughn
In this episode, host Lori Poland is joined by activist, former NFL player, and fellow survivor, Jon Vaughn.
The Louder than Silence podcast is brought to you by the National Foundation to End Child Abuse and Neglect (EndCAN).
Episode Time Markers:
1:26 - Intro with Jon; how he and Lori met.
4:27 - Jon’s metamorphosis when he met another survivor and talked about the transition of taking back the control of their lives.
5:57 - Do unto others as you would want done unto you.
6:31 - Analogy of weeding the garden.
6:55 - Jon’s unique perspective of being preyed on by a woman.
12:27 - Being a survivor is like being on a shrinking island.
15:02 - Challenging awareness, empathy, compassion and active listening.
18:39 - The background of how Jon and Lori met and why it’s important they share their stories.
26:15 - The first time Jon felt understood.
29:10 - Where do you get your love and peace?
29:57 - Importance of feeling “held”.
30:25 - Everyone has a story, and what are you going to do with your story?
34:40 - Finding the journey back to me and trusting the people around us.
36:15 - Scared, broken Jon Vaughn as a kid.
36:48 - Key to finding us and getting out.
38:25 - Having a different heart – always that of a survivor.
39:20 - Going into the gates of hell to get someone out.
40:51 - Wanting the pain to end.
41:30 - Nothing left to be afraid of.
42:28 - Key takeaway of this episode.
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/louder-than-silence-323754/episode-45-i-live-here-learning-to-heal-through-embracing-your-story-47440348"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to episode 45: i live here: learning to heal through embracing your story on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy