Grey Bruce Public Health received an update from the Healthy Babies, Healthy Children Program.
Program Manager Terra Luscombe says that the basis of their efforts was to get to the root causes of chronic illness, and the connection to what’s referred to as “adverse childhood experiences” and toxic stress.
She says their focus is to prevent ACEs, including things like growing up in an environment that involves different kinds of abuse, domestic violence, parental divorce, or homelessness.
“Building strong, positive relationships between children and the adults in their life… helping the adults build core life skills can really help buffer the kids in the family from toxic stress.”
The HBHC program is looking to prevent this through education for parents and caregivers, including for parents who are expecting.
It also gives parents the ability to help protect their children from external adverse experiences, such as poverty, discrimination, and violence.
“Healthy Babies is a program that helps parents build those protective factors into their lifestyle and helps them support their children as they grow.”
Toxic stress has been linked to long-term health and wellness issues, such as heart disease, diabetes, poor academic achievement, and substance abuse later in life, and the more ACEs a young child experiences, the more risk is involved.
When asked about how families can participate in the HBHC program without feeling judged for stigma-based issues such as mental health issues or incarceration, Luscombe says “There is no judgment… I have never in my twenty-something years not met someone who doesn’t want to do better.”
