Macon Mental Health Matters provides insight into childhood trauma in our community

On Monday, July 29, Macon Mental Health Matters (MMHM) announced the results for its recent Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) survey. 104 people anonymously took the online survey, with provided no personal information aside from their zip code.

"This survey allowed us to get a better insight into what individuals in our community have gone through, and how their experiences may be affecting who they are today," said MMHM Director Andrea Cooke.

The four most impacted zip codes in our community were 31204, 31201, 31210, and 31211. Survey responses were collected from 21 different zip codes. Some of the questions asked things such as if they were abused or saw abuse in their homes as a child, did they have basic things like food and clothing, etc. Based on how many of the 10 questions they answered "no" or "yes" to, determined their score at the end. The higher the score, the more that individual went through.

The average score for Macon-Bibb County was 4.07.

"Even though it's 4 out of 10, it has significant implications for the way things happen in our community," said Dr. Gloria Cisse with the Southern Center for Choice Theory. "I know that there is a lot that we can do, and a lot that is going to be done to make our community more mental and physically healthy."

Adverse Childhood Experiences include a wide range of stressful or traumatic events that children may endure, such as abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Extensive research has shown that these experiences can have profound and lasting effects on physical health, mental well-being, and socio-economic outcomes.

The information received in this survey will serve as a blueprint to MMHM, and any other organization interested, for how they approach providing services in our community. This is the first of many other surveys to come.

You can read the full report here.

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