Fredericksburg Parent

22 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • November 2023 In his work as the Adverse Childhood Experiences Coordinator for the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, Keith Cartwright has listened to countless stories of individuals who have overcome traumatic experiences in their youth. "Those stories almost always start with, 'Here's who came into my life,'" he said. This strengthens his belief that resilience—the ability to overcome hard things in our lives—is not something we build alone. A LONELINESS EPIDEMIC That's why Cartwright is so concerned about what the U.S. Surgeon General has called a public health crisis around loneliness, isolation and lack of connection. In an advisory released this past spring, the "nation's doctor" stated that lacking connection can increase the risk for premature death to levels comparable with smoking daily. As he sifts through the growing number of statistics indicating Americans' mental health is suf- fering, Cartwright looks at what avenues young people have to verbalize their feelings to caring individuals in a constructive way. He points to a statewide survey conducted last year of 5,000 18- to 24-year-olds. The survey showed rates of substance use and risky behaviors increasing, but Cartwright homed in on a dif- ferent detail in the data. "The one thing that stuck out most to me was when we asked young people, 'If something chal- lenging is going on in your life, do you have somebody you can talk to about it?'" he said. "Sixty- five percent said, 'I do not.'" In today's world, kids can be surrounded by people without being able to name anyone with whom they can authentically share their feelings. School buses can be a sea of downturned heads, as phones pull kids into a virtual world where so-called "friends" or "followers" can pile up by the hundreds or thousands. Meanwhile, each kid on the bus may be carrying an emotional weight and feel that nobody can help them share the load. This bolsters Cartwright's belief that we all need to get better at making authentic connections with the people around us, whether those are our children, spouses, coworkers or friends. Because people are the biggest protective factor that can help us all weather trauma in our lives. "There's more and more evidence and research showing that if I experience something hard, but I experience it in an environment where there are people around me who can help me cope with that, who can buffer me from some of the impacts of that, … it can be far less traumatic," Cartwright says. "Our interpersonal connections are the greatest protective factor that we have available to us in life. There is no greater medicine." Much of Cartwright's work centers on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). These include things like physical and emotional abuse, neglect and household disruption. Research has shown that the more ACEs an individual experiences, the greater their chance of poor health outcomes later in life. Most of the population has experienced at least one ACE. "These experiences can make our heart beat faster than it needs to all the time. They can keep the immune system overreactive all the time, to the point where, if a pandemic comes along, we may be more susceptible," Cartwright says. Connection building BLOCKS: Human connection is the best medicine Keith Cartwright, Adverse Childhood Experiences Coordinator for the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. "Resilience is literally the product of human connection." "...we all need to get better at making authentic connections with the people around us..."

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