From Surviving to Thriving: Healing Adverse Childhood Experiences in Adulthood
Many adults walk through life carrying the invisible weight of unresolved childhood pain. You may not even call it “trauma.” But if you grew up in a home where there was chaos, abuse, neglect, addiction, or instability, you may still be feeling the ripple effects decades later—in your relationships, your health, your coping patterns, and your sense of self.
These early-life stressors are known as Adverse Childhood Experiences—or ACEs—and research shows they can profoundly impact your emotional, physical, and behavioral health well into adulthood. The good news? These experiences do not define you. And they are absolutely healable.
As a recovery coach and substance use professional, I specialize in helping people untangle the patterns created by early trauma so they can break free from self-sabotage, reclaim their health, and live with purpose. My Empowered Recovery Course was designed specifically for individuals like you—those who are ready to move beyond survival and into real, lasting transformation.
What Are ACEs?
The term Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) refers to a set of potentially traumatic events that occur before age 18. According to the CDC-Kaiser Permanente ACE Study, these include:
Physical, emotional, or sexual abuse
Physical or emotional neglect
Household challenges such as parental substance use, incarceration, divorce, mental illness, or domestic violence
These experiences aren’t just “bad memories”—they create toxic stress in the developing brain and body, often shaping how we respond to relationships, handle stress, and view the world as adults (CDC, 2023).
How ACEs Show Up in Adulthood
Adults with high ACE scores often struggle with:
Chronic anxiety or hypervigilance
Emotional numbing or withdrawal
Poor boundaries and codependent relationships
Low self-worth or chronic people-pleasing
Addictive behaviors including substance misuse, disordered eating, overworking, or device addiction
These aren’t personality flaws—they’re survival strategies. As children, we developed these patterns to stay safe. But left unprocessed, they become our default responses to stress, intimacy, and conflict.
The Long-Term Health Effects of ACEs
The physical toll of unresolved trauma is staggering. The CDC reports that adults with four or more ACEs are:
2x more likely to develop heart disease
3x more likely to suffer from chronic lung disease
4x more likely to experience depression
Up to 7x more likely to misuse alcohol or drugs
Other common health effects include:
Autoimmune conditions
Obesity
Diabetes
Dental disease
Sleep disorders
Chronic pain syndromes
These outcomes are not “just genetics.” They are often the embodied result of childhood dysregulation—what trauma researcher Dr. Bessel van der Kolk calls the body keeping the score.
Why Trauma and Addiction Are Often Linked
One of the most direct outcomes of ACEs is the use of substances as self-medication.
If you didn’t feel safe in your childhood, it’s only natural to seek out ways to numb, escape, or control your experience. Substances can offer temporary relief—but they often prolong the pain and deepen the disconnection.
Unfortunately, the earlier a child is exposed to trauma, the more likely they are to begin using substances in adolescence or early adulthood, and the harder it is to stop without addressing the root cause.
This is why trauma-informed recovery is so essential.
Healing Is Possible: How the Empowered Recovery Course Helps
If you see yourself in any of the patterns described above, I want you to know: you are not broken. You are responding to a nervous system that was shaped by survival. But healing is available—and it begins with awareness and aligned action.
Inside the Empowered Recovery Course, we address the core wounds caused by ACEs and guide you through an integrative process of healing that includes:
1. Health Restoration and Somatic Tools
Learn how to regulate your nervous system through breathwork, body-based awareness, and restorative practices that calm the mind and reconnect you to your body.
2. Pattern Recognition + Cognitive Reframing
Identify the unconscious thought loops and behaviors that keep you stuck in old survival modes—then replace them with truth-based beliefs that align with your healing.
3. Emotional Processing and Boundary Setting
Learn to express and release emotions safely, stop people-pleasing, and set healthy boundaries without guilt. (This is a game-changer for anyone with codependent patterns.)
4. Nutrition, Gut Health + Recovery-Rooted Self-Care
Discover how inflammation, blood sugar, and gut-brain connection affect your mood and clarity—and how nourishing your body can transform your emotional life.
5. Spiritual and Energetic Alignment
For those who resonate with it, we also offer tools to reconnect with your intuition and soul purpose. Trauma can disconnect us from who we are. This course helps you return home to yourself.
It’s Never Too Late to Heal
You might not have been able to prevent what happened in your childhood.
But you can absolutely reclaim what happens next.
You are not your ACE score.
You are not your trauma response.
You are not doomed to repeat your past.
With the right tools, support, and willingness to look inward, you can begin to unravel the old wiring and lay down new patterns that support joy, resilience, and true recovery.
If you’re ready to take that step, I invite you to explore the Empowered Recovery Course. You deserve healing that honors every part of you—mind, body, and spirit.
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