Dr. Mary Crnobori is the trauma-informed coordinator for Metro Nashville Public Schools and she is doing incredibly important work to raise awareness about trauma-informed practices and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

Common ACEs are violence in the home, divorce, a parent with mental illness or substance abuse problems, abuse or neglect, or a parent who is incarcerated. Not to mention the skyrocketing rate of childhood poverty in Nashville. While poverty rates have gone down citywide, as of 2016, childhood poverty is currently above 60 percent in 4 council districts. 

When I told someone I was doing this episode, he said “Isn’t aces just kind of a buzz word at this point? Don’t we already know this stuff?

I thought that was really interesting point, and I think that he’s probably not the only one who has this misconception. What we commonly hear about ACEs is that a high ace score is correlated with poor educational outcomes, behavior issues, and even health problems. 

The part of the conversation that I feel like is often left out is that there are concrete actions that we can take to mitigate the effect of ACEs. Edutopia recently did a series on how Fall-Hamilton Elementary, MNPS's trauma-informed pilot school, is doing this important work. 

I hope after listening to this episode, you will know more about what trauma informed schools look like, the importance of building relationships, and how we should support educators in this work. 

Further Reading:

The Deepest Well by Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris

ACEs Connection

Treating Childhood Trauma - 60 Minutes segment with Oprah Winfrey