What is the Minnesota ACE program?

First you need to understand what ACE is. ACE stands for adverse childhood experience and describes a traumatic experience in a person’s life occurring before the age of 18 that the person remembers as an adult.

In a 2011 Minnesota  survey, individuals were asked if they had experienced any of nine types of ACEs. 

The nine ACEs are:

• physical abuse
• sexual abuse
• emotional abuse
• mental illness of a household member
• problematic drinking or alcoholism of a household member
• illegal street or prescription drug use by a household member
• divorce or separation of a parent
• domestic violence towards a parent
• incarceration of a household member

The ACE score is a measure of cumulative exposure to adverse childhood conditions. Exposure to any single ACE condition is counted as one point. If a person experienced none of the conditions in childhood, the ACE score is zero. Points are then totaled for a final ACE score. It is important to note that the ACE score does not capture the frequency or severity of any given ACE in a person’s life, focusing instead on the number of ACE conditions experienced. In addition, the ACE conditions used in the ACE survey reflect only a select list of experiences.

The Minnesota ACE Program is a Non-profit that works with multiple local organisations that help individuals with understanding ACE experiences and to help bring awareness for those in need.