What You Carried Then Is Still Affecting You Now — Identifying is a Major Step to Healing
» The Guide Series | Personal Pathways
Maybe you’ve always felt like something was harder for you than it seemed to be for others. Maybe you’ve wondered why certain things hit differently. Why relationships feel complicated, your body carries tension you can’t explain, or why you sometimes feel disconnected from yourself.
You are not broken. You are responding to things that actually happened.
This assessment is a place to start making sense of that — gently, honestly, and on your own terms.
What Are Adverse Experiences?
Adverse experiences are stressful, traumatic, or harmful events that occur in childhood or adulthood. Disrupting emotional development, nervous system regulation, and long-term health. Research consistently shows that unresolved trauma affects three primary areas:
1. Health Impacts of Trauma
If your body has felt like it’s been working against you: exhausted, inflamed, never quite right. There may be a deeper reason than you’ve been told.” Then flow into the existing bullet points.
- Heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders
- Chronic pain and fatigue
- Substance use disorders
- Depression and anxiety
2. Social & Relational Impacts
Trauma shapes how we connect: not because of weakness, but because of survival adaptation. Adverse experiences are associated with:
- Difficulty trusting others
- Attachment challenges
- Relationship conflict or isolation
- Educational and occupational instability
3. Emotional & Psychological Impacts
Higher trauma exposure increases the likelihood of:
- Emotional dysregulation
- Anxiety, depression, and PTSD
- Shame, hypervigilance, or numbness
- Burnout and secondary trauma (especially for caregivers and helpers)
What Are the Adverse Childhood and Adulthood Experiences Assessments?
The original Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study fundamentally changed how we understand trauma. However, it was developed in the 1990s. Focusing primarily on household dysfunction and abuse, without accounting for many realities children face today.
The Expanded Adverse Childhood Experiences (E-ACEs) Assessment was developed to address this gap.
What Makes E-ACEs Different
The E-ACEs assessment includes modern, real-world childhood adversities that significantly affect development but are often missing from traditional screening tools. Modern realities like foster care can be just as impactful, sometimes more so. The original ACE categories, particularly when they recur or occur during critical developmental stages. Children today are navigating:
- Greater family disruption
- Increased exposure to community and systemic trauma
- Digital exploitation risks
- Chronic instability across homes, schools, and caregivers
Without accounting for these factors, trauma screening remains incomplete.
The Expanded ACEs assessment provides a fuller, more accurate picture of cumulative childhood stress and its long-term effects. Allowing individuals, caregivers, clinicians, and leaders to respond with greater compassion, accuracy, and effectiveness. Let’s look at some of the differences:
Ready to See Your Trauma Assessment for Free?
Two assessments available:
- Expanded Adverse Childhood Experiences (E-ACEs) *recommended to take first
- Adverse Adulthood Experiences (AAEs)
These assessments help you:
- Finally put language to what you’ve been carrying
- Understand why certain things have felt harder than they should
- See your experiences clearly — without shame or judgment
- Know what kind of support might help most
Assessment scores reflect exposure, not diagnosis, character, or weakness.
What Your Score Means (And What It Doesn’t)
Your E-ACEs or AAEs score:
- Reflects exposure, not identity
- Identifies risk, not destiny
- Supports awareness and prevention, not diagnosis
Higher scores simply indicate greater cumulative stress — and therefore a greater need for trauma-informed support and healing. Healing from trauma is not about fixing yourself — it’s about restoring safety, resilience, and connection.
Your score reflects exposure, not a diagnosis, label, or prediction of your future. It helps identify how much adversity your nervous system has carried, so healing can be approached with clarity and compassion. Your score helps identify patterns of trauma exposure that generally fall into three categories:
Score 1 to 3: Acute Trauma (Low Exposure)
Even a small number of adverse experiences can leave a lasting mark. Your nervous system deserves the same care regardless of where your score lands.
- Single or a few highly stressful events that are notable.
- Long-term impacts can result if not appropriately addressed.
- Emotional support is as-needed.
- Temporary emotional distress
- Generally intact social functioning
- With appropriate support, the nervous system often recovers well.
Score 4 to 5: Chronic Trauma (Moderate Exposure)
If this is your range, you have likely felt the weight of it. Your body, your relationships, or simply in how hard you have had to work to feel okay. That is real, and it makes sense.
- Ongoing or repeated traumatic experiences.
- High risk for elevated health issues.
- Ongoing emotional support is highly recommended.
- Increased risk of PTSD, anxiety, depression, or chronic stress.
- Difficulty with emotional regulation.
- Strain in relationships or social connections.
- Support and trauma-informed care can significantly reduce long-term effects.
Score 6+: Complex Trauma (High Exposure)
If you are reading this category, you have carried a great deal. More than most people will ever fully understand. What you have survived is significant, but so is your capacity to heal from it.
- Multiple and/or prolonged exposure to traumatic experiences.
- Significant long-term impact: C-PTSD, chronic health, and ongoing support required.
- Often includes attachment disruption, instability, or exposure to violence.
- Significant risk for chronic health conditions and autoimmune illnesses.
- Nervous system dysregulation (hypervigilance, shutdown, exhaustion).
- Challenges with trust, intimacy, or consistent relationships.
- Emotional overwhelm, numbness, or persistent shame
- Professional support and focused trauma-informed care can significantly reduce long-term effects.
What Comes Next: Healing Is Ongoing and Possible
Find Katie Leigh Advisory’s Downloadable Tools:
- Trauma-informed education and guides
- Prevention-forward resources
- Tools for emotional regulation and resilience
- Support for individuals, families, helpers, and leaders
Healing is a process, and you don’t have to walk it alone.
Explore the Personal Pathways Guide Series:
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