How Can Mothers Heal from Family-of-Origin Trauma and Break the Cycle?

So to that mom, I would say, first things first, you know, mask over your face.

You've got to breathe.

You've got to exist.

You've got to.

And for this particular kind of generational challenge, I would say you want to create a team.

Okay.

So mama's listening.

You kind of want a team either way.

OK, but for sure, you need a team.

Do not do this alone.

OK, so you need your scientist.

You need your artist and you need your I'm going to say these people are your other health care scientists and chemists.

So I'll explain.

There is a study that the Centers for Disease Control did many, many years ago.

It's called the ACES study.

And so what they found was that there's a certain number of adverse childhood events that can occur before you turn age 18.

And as that number increases, so do your risk factors for negative health outcomes.

And we mean your medical, biological self as well as your psychological health.

So mom, if this happened to you, one, you can...

Easily, the ACE study, this instrument is available, widely available anywhere online.

I like NPR's version because they also explain what it means, okay? So let's say that you get your ACE score and you see that from what happened to you, from your family of origin, this trauma you experienced, let's say that your score is a three or four on that scale.

And on this scale, a two or three, those are actually high numbers, all right? Everybody has zero or one.

Most people have a zero or one, but you get to your twos, your threes, your fours.

Now you are looking at some increased risk.

So for that, now we talk about this team.