Understand your experiences · The Holistic Counselor Podcast learning guide
From the Mic to the Community
What are ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences)?
Understand childhood adversity, protective relationships, and hope.
Diana S. Rice · Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), Certified Integrative Mental Health Professional (CIMHP), Qualified Supervisor (QS)
4 pages · No email required · Education, not individual care
Your childhood matters. It is also not the only thing that matters about you. Let’s talk about adverse childhood experiences without reducing a life to a number.
What counts as childhood adversity?
These are potentially traumatic experiences before age 18, such as abuse, neglect, or exposure to violence. Research also considers conditions that can undermine safety and stability.
A score has limits
A count of these experiences does not capture every kind of harm, its intensity, your strengths, or the people who helped you. It is not a diagnosis and cannot predict one person’s future. You do not need to calculate or share a score to use this guide.
Protection matters too
Safe, stable relationships and supportive environments can help prevent adversity and support well-being. Prevention includes community resources and practical support for families, not simply asking a child to become more resilient.
Research & perspective
What to keep in mind
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research links childhood adversity with higher risks across groups of people. A group-level risk is not a personal destiny. Protective factors and access to care belong in the conversation.
Explore the sources ↓A moment for you
Let’s pause and reflect.
Choose one question, or take your time with all three. Your answers can stay private. Skip anything that feels like too much; you do not need to revisit painful details to use this guide.
- Who or what offered me support while growing up?
- What do I want more of in my life now: safety, steadiness, connection, or something else?
- What support might help a child or family in my community?
Use your own notebook or the writing space in the PDF. This page does not ask you to submit reflections.
Continue the conversation
Listen with curiosity.
Selected conversations to begin with. Guests share their own perspectives; a linked episode is not a treatment recommendation or a complete review of the evidence.
- Episode 4
- Episode 79
Make room for support
Questions to bring to a professional
- How will you use information about my childhood?
- Can we focus on current needs before discussing difficult memories?
- What family or community resources could help?
One next step
Name one supportive relationship or resource you would like to strengthen. Leave out any details you do not want to revisit.
Keep learning
Sources & useful resources
These links support the teaching and help you explore further. Professional organizations describe their own approaches; faith organizations describe their perspectives. Directories are starting points, not endorsements.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Preventing adverse childhood experiences ↗
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Risk and protective factors ↗
Services, fees, rules, and links may change. Confirm current details directly.
When a guide is not enough
Need support right now?
In the U.S. and its territories, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers support for emotional distress or a suicidal crisis.
If there is immediate danger or a medical emergency in the U.S., call 911. Outside the U.S., use your local emergency or crisis service.
This website and its contact form do not provide crisis care.