Being ACE aware - a helpful or harmful approach?

I am passionate - as I know many people are - about relationship-based approaches to supporting and empowering children and young people. I'd heard of ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) but hadn't explored it in detail. So, last year when our head of early years excitedly and enthusiastically reported back from a conference she'd attended, I was really interested in what she had to say and how it might inform our work in Derbyshire.

I was therefore very happy to accept an invitation to attend an event about the work of the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative. The event focussed on how Blackpool, as a Better Start area, is working closely with them, making use of brain science to transform their approach to early years and reframe early child development. My guess is that many of you reading this will also have heard of ACEs and some will know a lot about it. The rapidly increasing interest in the approach - if it is an approach - is being described by some as a ‘movement' or ‘campaign'. Scotland is even working on becoming the first ‘ACE aware nation'.