What we do

The ACE Hub Wales, is part of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre (WHO CC) in Public Health Wales and funded by the Welsh Government. The Hub was founded in 2017.

The ACE Hub Wales was set up to support Welsh society to help create an ACE Aware Wales and make Wales a leader in tackling, preventing and mitigating ACEs. We promote the sharing of ideas and learning, and to challenge and change ways of working, so together we can break the cycle of ACEs.

The first Welsh ACE Study identified the strong relationships between childhood trauma and poor health across the life course in Wales, including increased risk of health harming behaviours, low mental well-being and early development of chronic disease . Its findings were consistent with a growing body of evidence from other countries.

Read more about the research

Our 5 Goals

  • Sharing information and knowledge about ACEs, listening and working with partner agencies who engage with communities, children and families to find solutions that will work.

  • Sharing evidence about what organisations can do differently to help prevent and mitigate ACEs, and how they support those who have experiences ACEs or trauma.

  • Developing knowledge and skills among professionals, for them to challenge internal and external networks and drive change.

  • Learning from each other, sharing information and providing expertise that leads to action.

  • Driving change by challenging ways of working, throughout Wales.

Our Partner Programmes

We work in collaboration with partners to help us achieve our goals

  • Wales Violence Prevention Unit (VPU)

    The Wales Violence Prevention Unit was established through funding from the Home Office in 2019. The mission of the VPU is to prevent all forms of violence in Wales through the adoption of a public health approach to violence prevention. This means we seek to understand the causes of violence based on evidence.

  • Safer Communities

    The Wales Safer Communities Network was established in January 2021 following the recommendations of the Welsh Government’s Working Together for Safer Communities Review 2017.

    Safer Communities' mission is to become the strategic voice for community safety in Wales, through working collaboratively with our members to champion and support community safety partnership working and influence the shaping and development of national policy and local practice.

  • Traumatic Stress Wales

    Traumatic Stress Wales is funded by Welsh Government and aims to improve the health and wellbeing of people of all ages living in Wales at risk of developing or with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD).