Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include a range of stressful or traumatic experiences that infants and children may be exposed to during their development. These include physical, sexual and emotional abuse, neglect, family violence, mental illness, substance abuse, parental separation, and parental incarceration.

Trauma causes acute psychological distress which can lead to chronic states of fear and hypervigilance, or numbing and distractedness, interfering with all aspects of a person’s daily functioning. Individuals with developmental trauma are at greater risk for all manner of adverse events and when subjected to shock trauma, have particularly challenging outcomes.