Heal Your High ACE Score: 7 Trauma-Informed Practices
Discovering you have a high ACE score can be a powerful, and often overwhelming, moment. It’s a number that gives a name to experiences you may have carried in silence for years. If you’re standing here with this new knowledge, feeling a mix of validation and uncertainty, please know this: you are not alone, and your journey forward is filled with hope. The central question you might be asking is, how to heal from childhood trauma? This guide is your first step, offering compassionate, actionable practices to help you heal your high ACE score and reclaim your story.
Think of your score not as a verdict, but as an illuminating map, showing you where your healing journey truly begins. It provides a crucial piece of your personal puzzle, explaining patterns and feelings you may not have understood before. Now, the path to healing opens up. It’s a journey of reconnecting with yourself, building resilience, and understanding that your past does not have to dictate your future. Let's walk this path together, starting with a deeper understanding of what it means to heal. You can always revisit your results or learn more by exploring our confidential ACE test.
Understanding Your ACE Score and The Path to Healing Childhood Trauma
Receiving your Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) score is the beginning of a new chapter in self-awareness. This score represents the number of specific types of adversity you faced before the age of 18. Research shows a connection between a higher ACE score and an increased risk for certain health and emotional challenges in adulthood. However, it's critical to see this link not as a sentence, but as an explanation that empowers you to take proactive steps.
The journey of healing childhood trauma is about addressing the root causes of these challenges, not just managing the symptoms. It involves learning how your past experiences have shaped your nervous system, your relationships, and your view of the world. With this knowledge, you can begin to gently untangle those patterns and cultivate new, healthier ways of being.
Why Trauma-Informed Practices Matter for ACEs
A trauma-informed approach is essential because it recognizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery. Instead of asking "What's wrong with you?", it asks "What happened to you?". This shift in perspective is everything. Trauma-informed practices are designed to create a safe environment for healing, preventing re-traumatization while fostering empowerment and resilience. They work with your body and mind, honoring your experiences and your innate capacity to heal. These methods provide the gentle, supportive framework needed to process the deep-seated effects of adverse childhood experiences.
Building Resilience Strategies: Your Inner Strength Revealed
Resilience is not about being untouched by difficulty; it is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, and stress. A high ACE score does not mean you lack resilience. In fact, the very act of surviving those experiences is a testament to your incredible strength. Building resilience strategies is about consciously nurturing that inner strength. It involves developing coping mechanisms, fostering supportive connections, and cultivating a belief in your own ability to overcome challenges. Healing is the process of revealing the profound resilience that has been within you all along. Take the first step and discover your strength.
7 Actionable Trauma-Informed Practices for Self-Healing
Beginning your healing journey can feel daunting, but it starts with small, consistent steps. These seven practices are designed to be gentle, accessible, and empowering. They are invitations to reconnect with yourself and build a foundation for lasting well-being.
Gentle Somatic Exercises for Trauma Release
Trauma isn't just stored in our memories; it's held in our bodies. The tension, the restlessness, the chronic pain—these can be physical manifestations of past stress. Gentle somatic exercises for trauma release help you safely reconnect with your body and release this stored energy. This can be as simple as gentle stretching in the morning, paying close attention to how each muscle feels. You could also try a body scan meditation, where you lie down and bring mindful awareness to each part of your body without judgment. This practice helps calm the nervous system and teaches it that it's safe to relax.
Mindful Awareness and Grounding Techniques
When you have a history of trauma, your mind can often get caught in cycles of anxiety about the future or rumination about the past. Mindful awareness and grounding techniques are powerful tools to bring you back to the safety of the present moment. A simple grounding technique is the 5-4-3-2-1 method: notice five things you can see, four things you can feel, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. This pulls your attention out of your thoughts and into your immediate environment, signaling to your brain that you are safe right now.
Journaling for Emotional Processing and Self-Reflection
Giving your feelings a voice is a vital part of healing. Journaling for emotional processing and self-reflection provides a private, judgment-free space to explore your thoughts and emotions. You don't need to write perfectly or even in full sentences. You can use prompts like, "What is my body telling me today?" or "What is one kind thing I can do for myself right now?" This practice helps you identify emotional patterns, validate your own experiences, and gain clarity on your healing path.
Cultivating Self-Compassion and Inner Nurturing
Many survivors of childhood adversity develop a harsh inner critic. Cultivating self-compassion and inner nurturing is the antidote. It involves treating yourself with the same kindness and understanding you would offer a dear friend who is struggling. When you notice self-critical thoughts, gently challenge them. You can place a hand over your heart and say, "This is a moment of suffering. May I be kind to myself." This simple act can begin to rewire years of self-blame and build a new relationship with yourself based on care and acceptance. This is a key step to find self-compassion.
Building Your Support System: Connection as a Healing Tool
Healing doesn't happen in isolation. Secure, supportive relationships are a biological necessity and a powerful buffer against the effects of trauma. Building your support system means identifying and nurturing connections with people who make you feel seen, heard, and safe. This could be a trusted friend, a supportive family member, or a community group. Sharing your experience with someone who can listen without judgment can lift an immense burden and remind you that you are not alone in your journey.
Setting Healthy Boundaries and Reclaiming Agency
Adverse childhood experiences often involve a violation of personal boundaries, which can make it difficult to set them in adulthood. Setting healthy boundaries and reclaiming agency is a profound act of self-respect and empowerment. A boundary is simply a limit you set to protect your well-being. Start small by saying "no" to a request that would drain your energy, or by asking for space when you need it. Each boundary you set reinforces the message that your needs matter, helping you reclaim the sense of control that was taken from you.
Creative Expression: Finding Your Voice and Processing Emotions
Sometimes, words are not enough to express the depth of our experiences. Creative expression offers a powerful outlet for processing emotions that are difficult to articulate. This could be painting, drawing, playing an instrument, dancing, or any other activity that allows for non-verbal release. The goal isn't to create a masterpiece but to allow your inner world to be expressed outwardly. This creative process can be incredibly therapeutic, helping to move stagnant emotional energy and find beauty in your story.
When Professional Guidance is Key: Complementing Your Healing Journey
These self-help practices lay a powerful foundation, and they often shine brightest when combined with professional support. A qualified mental health professional can provide a safe, structured environment to process complex trauma. They can guide you through evidence-based therapies and offer personalized strategies for your unique journey. Remember, seeking professional help is a sign of immense strength and a powerful investment in your long-term well-being. This is an important part of how to get professional guidance.
Finding a Trauma-Informed Therapist or Counselor
When looking for professional support, it's crucial to find someone who specializes in trauma. A trauma-informed therapist or counselor understands the neurobiology of trauma and uses approaches that prioritize your safety and stability. Look for professionals trained in modalities like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Somatic Experiencing (SE), or Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). Reading their online profiles or having a brief consultation call can help you find someone who feels like the right fit for you.
Your Resilience Shines: Embracing Hope on Your Healing Path
Your ACE score is a key that has unlocked a deeper understanding of your life's story. It doesn't define the ending, but rather illuminates where the next chapter begins. The practices outlined here are tools to help you write the next pages with intention, self-compassion, and hope. Healing is not a linear process; it will have its ups and downs, but every step you take is a move toward wholeness.
You have already demonstrated incredible resilience simply by being here. Now is the time to nurture that strength and embrace the possibility of a future defined not by your past, but by your capacity to heal and grow. Let this be the day you commit to your well-being and continue your journey with kindness and courage.
Frequently Asked Questions About Healing a High ACE Score
What is the ACE test?
The ACE test is a screening tool used to measure a person's exposure to 10 specific types of adverse childhood experiences before the age of 18. Based on the groundbreaking CDC-Kaiser Permanente ACE Study, it helps individuals and professionals understand the potential long-term impact of childhood trauma on health and well-being. It is a questionnaire, not a medical test, designed to provide insight and open doors to understanding and healing. You can learn more at our confidential test.
What does my ACE score mean?
Your ACE score represents the number of adverse childhood experiences you reported. A higher score indicates a greater level of exposure to childhood adversity and is correlated with a higher risk for various physical and mental health issues in adulthood. It is crucial to remember that this is a correlation, not a certainty. Your score is an informational tool that provides context for your life experiences; it does not define your destiny or your character.
Can you recover from a high ACE score?
Absolutely. Our brains and bodies hold an incredible power for healing; they can literally rewire themselves, a process known as neuroplasticity. While a high ACE score indicates a higher risk for challenges, it does not mean those outcomes are inevitable. Through trauma-informed practices, building resilience, fostering supportive relationships, and often with professional guidance, individuals can heal the wounds of the past and build a thriving, healthy future. Recovery is not just possible; it is happening for people every day.
How to heal from childhood trauma?
Healing from childhood trauma is a multifaceted journey that typically involves a combination of strategies. It starts with awareness, which you've gained by understanding your ACEs. Key steps include using trauma-informed self-help practices like mindfulness and somatic exercises, building a strong support system, learning to set healthy boundaries, and cultivating self-compassion. For many, working with a trauma-informed therapist is essential for processing deep-seated wounds in a safe and guided environment. You can explore healing paths to begin your journey.