\u201cThey come looking for you, and sometimes outside folks, who they know will just listen,\u201d Neshunda Walters said.\u00a0At Eau Claire High School, Walters explained that the demographic of students is very diverse.\u00a0Many students come from unstable homes where they may be experiencing different kinds of trauma.<\/p>\n
By using ACEs, Walters is able to identify students who are at risk for certain behaviors. The system helps spot mental and physical risk factors for students who are exposed to traumatic experiences at different ages, and how they can change.<\/p>\n
The ACE study was first conducted in the 1990s by Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control, and is used by schools around the nation. The study has found that traumatic childhood experiences can continue to affect people into young adulthood and beyond.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong> Walters works on building strong relationships with her students so she can understand what they may be going through at home. She likes to check in with them every morning to ask questions as simple as if they\u2019ve had breakfast, or if they\u2019ve gotten a good night\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n She can learn a lot about students’ home lives by asking them simple questions and being there for them when they need someone to talk to. If she senses that her students are not getting necessary care at home, she will talk to the students and use ACEs to evaluate whether they are dealing with traumatic experiences.<\/p>\n ACEs can show how children may be affected by traumatic experiences as they get older.\u00a0Walter says that it is important to monitor students of all ages, even into college, because mental health issues can develop at any point.<\/p>\n Toby Lovell, a psychologist at the University of South Carolina Student Health Center, said he has seen an increase in mental health issues over the last few years. Specifically, he notes anxiety and depression as being the most commonly seen issues.<\/p>\n \u201cTrends that I\u2019ve noticed over the course of time is a general increase in severity of mental health symptoms,\u201d Lovell said.<\/p>\n Lovell emphasizes the importance of talking to children from a young age about mental health. He thinks people need to open the discussion about mental health to teach people that it\u2019s okay to struggle.<\/p>\n At the health center, Lovell wants to create a safe environment for students to teach them how to cope with their emotions. He also wants students to know that they have a support system.<\/p>\n The USC Student Health Center also offers help for students who are concerned about someone else\u2019s mental health. Similar to the ACE approach, Lovell thinks it\u2019s more than just mental health that\u00a0leads to self-harm and violence.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s related to stigma that prevents people probably from getting assistance that they need. I think it\u2019s a lack of positive coping skills. I think it\u2019s profound disconnection from\u00a0peers. I think it\u2019s related to abuse, bullying, that kind of stuff,\u201d Lovell said.<\/p>\n But Lovell also thinks that the violence is ultimately related to there being too much access to firearms.<\/p>\n A big question that comes into play is how to keep these weapons out of the wrong hands, and then how to identify those wrong hands.<\/p>\n Shikre Sabbagha is a Midlands Tech political scientist who also thinks there is not just one answer to the violence.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s highly problematic because, to my knowledge, and again I\u2019m not a mental health official, but there is no diagnosis of mass shooter syndrome,\u201d Sabbagha said.<\/p>\n Sabbagha thinks the\u00a0violence has become a public health crisis, and that the federal government needs to allow the Centers for Disease Control to study this. He thinks that public health officials need to team up with the federal government to tackle this issue.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can start by taking off the gloves and allowing the CDC or other public health institutions to begin to research gun violence, and so let\u2019s tackle this like we would any other public health crisis,\u201d Sabbagha said.<\/p>\n However, Congress passed a bill in 1996 forbidding the CDC from using money to advocate or promote gun control. The CDC is\u00a0very restricted in terms of what they can do regarding gun violence.<\/p>\n Despite the uncertainty in the future for mental health, Walters plans to continue building strong relationships with her students. In hopes of keeping children on the right track and breaking the cycle of violence.<\/p>\n \u201cThe relationship piece is the most important thing in getting students to comply. It’s one of the most important parts of getting students to comply and do the things that you need them to do,\u201d Walters said.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mental health issues are becoming more and more prominent with students of all ages. Educators and mental health professionals at all levels stress the importance of discussing mental health with students starting at a young age.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":4315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"[caption id=\"attachment_4315\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"300\"] COLUMBIA, S.C. \u2013 Neshunda Walters, principal of Eau Claire High School in Columbia, makes it her job to be there for her children as more than just a disciplinarian. She thinks it\u2019s important to learn about her students\u2019 needs in and out of the classroom.<\/p> Walters works on building strong relationships with her students so she can understand what they may be going through at home. She likes to check in with them every morning to ask questions as simple as if they\u2019ve had breakfast, or if they\u2019ve gotten a good night\u2019s sleep.<\/p> When children start to go down a dangerous path, people wonder if someone could have done something to help them.<\/p> \u201cThey come looking for you, and sometimes outside folks, who they know will just listen,\" said Walters.<\/p> At Eau Claire High School, Walters explained that the demographic of students is very diverse. Many students come from unstable homes where they may be experiencing different kinds of trauma.<\/p> Walters uses a system called ACEs, which stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences. This system helps her link certain traumatic experiences to potential risks and effects for children of all ages.<\/p> The ACE study was first conducted in the 1990s by Kaiser Permanente and the Center for Disease Control and is used by schools around the nation. The study has found that traumatic childhood experiences can continue to affect people into young adulthood and adulthood.<\/p> Toby Lovell, a psychologist at the University of South Carolina Student Health Center, said he has seen an increase in mental health issues over the last few years. Specifically, he notes anxiety and depression as being the most commonly seen issues.<\/p> \u201cTrends that I\u2019ve noticed over the course of time is a general increase in severity of mental health symptoms,\" said Lovell.<\/p> Lovell emphasizes the importance of talking to children from a young age about mental health. He thinks people need to open the discussion about mental health to teach people that it\u2019s okay to struggle.<\/p> At the health center, Lovell wants to create a safe environment for students to teach them how to cope with their emotions. He also wants students to know that they have a support system.<\/p> The USC Student Health Center also offers help for students who are concerned about someone else\u2019s mental health. Similar to the ACE approach, Lovell thinks it\u2019s more than just mental health the leads to self-harm and violence.<\/p> \u201cI think it\u2019s related to stigma that prevents people probably from getting assistance that they need. I think it\u2019s a lack of positive coping skills. I think it\u2019s profound disconnection form peers. I think it\u2019s related to abuse, bullying, that kind of stuff,\" said Lovell.<\/p> But Lovell also thinks that the violence is ultimately related to there being too much access to firearms.\u00a0A big question that comes into play is how to keep these weapons out of the wrong hands, and then how to identify those wrong hands.\u00a0Shikre Sabbagha is a political scientist who also thinks there is not just one answer to the violence.<\/p> \u201cThat\u2019s highly problematic because, to my knowledge, and again I\u2019m not a mental health official, but there is no diagnosis of mass shooter syndrome,\" said Sabbagha.<\/p> Sabbagha thinks the violence has become a public health crisis, and that the federal government needs to allow the CDC to study this. He thinks that public health officials need to team up with the federal government to tackle this issue.<\/p> \u201cWe can start by taking off the gloves and allowing the CDC or other public health institutions to begin to research gun violence, and so let\u2019s tackle this like we would any other public health crisis,\" said Sabbagha.<\/p> However, Congress passed a bill in 1996 forbidding the CDC from using money to advocate or promote gun control. They are very restricted in terms of what they can do regarding gun violence.<\/p> Despite the uncertainty in the future for mental health, Walters plans to continue building strong relationships with her students in hopes of keeping children on the right track and breaking the cycle of violence.<\/p> \"The relationship piece is the most important thing in getting students to comply. One of the most important things in getting students to comply and do the things that you need them to do,\" said Walters.<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[39,63,68,40],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3874"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7643,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3874\/revisions\/7643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/political-longform-photo-2-300x167.jpg\")
Walters explains the ACEs system and the correlation between childhood trauma to future behaviors.[\/caption][caption id=\"attachment_4316\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"300\"]![\"\"](\"http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/political-longform-photo-3-300x167.jpg\")
The Aces system explains the potential risks and behaviors of children who experience trauma at certain ages.[\/caption][caption id=\"attachment_4317\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"300\"]![\"\"](\"http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/political-longform-photo-1-300x167.jpg\")
Educators at Eau Claire High School work to build strong relationships with their students.[\/caption]