Our Impact

Our journey so far

Tackling ACEs is a priority of the Welsh Government and the ACE Hub Wales has been grant funded since 2017 to raise awareness and understanding across Wales, of what ACEs are, the impact they can have on health and poor social outcomes across the life course. But most importantly we are now directly supporting Welsh society, organisations, sectors and systems to prevent, mitigate and support those who have experienced ACES and trauma through Trauma-informed approaches and practice.

We take a public health, whole system approach to systems transformation through co-production and collaboration with people, organisations and communities in Wales.

  • Raising awareness

    providing sector specific training for sectors and organisations such as Education, Youth, Housing, Sport, Substance Misuse to name a few.

  • Created resources

    developing research, evaluations and practical resources, and hosting in person and virtual events. We have also carried out two successful public awareness #TimeToBeKind campaigns that made over 4 million impressions

  • Prioritised promoting and building resilience through accessing protective factors

    We know that although prevention is our primary aim, we cannot stop all ACEs from happening. We focus on supporting equitable access to the things that mitigate against the impacts associated with ACEs. We are strengths based and non deterministic in this approach, and condone labelling, ace scoring, victim blaming and pathologising people who need support.

Where are we turning our focus to now?

The Welsh Government ‘Review of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Policy Report published in March 2021, evidenced strong support for the work of the ACE Hub Wales and agreed that Wales has a “robust body of consistent evidence underpinning ACEs and strong support for the Welsh Government’s decision to prioritise action on ACEs”. Furthermore, the importance of all children in Wales having a safe and nurturing childhood is increasingly reflected across Welsh Government policy and in the recent Welsh Government ACE Policy Review.

The findings of the review have and will continue to shape the way in which the ACE Hub Wales continue to work over the next phase. We have turned our attention to the findings of the review and the principles set out by Deputy Minister, Julie Morgan MS, to focus on how we now turn knowledge about ACEs into practice through a trauma-informed lens that makes a difference to people’s lives.

“We have made significant progress on delivering our commitment to create ACE aware public services in Wales. We can already see some of the benefits of the work undertaken to raise awareness and understanding of ACEs in areas such as education, youth justice and housing.
Despite the good progress we had made, there is more we need to do. We need to ensure the greater awareness and understanding of childhood adversity translates into action which makes a positive difference. We need to find the best ways to support parents, protect children from harm, give them the best start in life and improves outcomes. This includes action which prevents ACEs and mitigates their impact.”

Julie Morgan MS Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services