TW: Childhood experiences and how it impacts your health: trauma info...

Put a finger down if any of these things happened to you before the age of 18. My name's Bailey. I'm a marriage and family therapist in training, and these questions do have significance. I'll tell you why at the end. Put a finger down if there were times where you felt like you didn't have enough to eat, clean clothes to wear, or people to take care of you. Put a finger down if you lost a parent, whether it's abandonment, passing away, divorce, et cetera. Put a finger down if you were living with someone who's severely mentally ill or at any point attempted to harm themselves. Put a finger down if you lived with anyone that was addicted to substances or alcohol, including prescription drugs. Put a finger down if any of the adults in your home ever threatened to or actually harmed each other physically. Put a finger down if you lived with someone that went to jail or prison. Put a finger down if an adult in your home frequently swore at you, put you down, and insulted you. Put a finger down if an adult or parent in your home ever hit you, kicked you, or hurt you in any other physical kind of way. Put a finger down if at any point you felt like your family didn't love you or you weren't special. Put a finger down if anyone ever touched you in a way that you did not want. The questions I just asked come directly from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Assessment. Here's what it means. Nearly 2 3rds of all adults will have at least one finger down. About one in six people will have a score of four or more. By having just three or more fingers down, you are significantly more likely to experience difficulties in your mental and physical health. We're three times more likely to have depression, four times more likely to struggle with substance use, 12 times more likely to attempt to take your own life. You are four times more likely to have chronic lung disease and about twice as likely to have heart disease or be at risk for cancer or stroke. If you have four or more fingers down, then your lifespan is projected to be 20 years shorter than the average. With all that being said, your ACE score is not your destiny. Healing is possible through safe relationships, through therapy, regulation tools. If you haven't taken those steps already, then let this be your sign. Please don't wait.