Your Number Story

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Your Story

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Smiling young woman overcoming ACE's

Your Story Matters...

Let’s Build the Next Chapter Together

Understanding your past can offer insights into your journey towards healing and growth. This space invites you to reflect on various aspects of your early life. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), such as abuse, neglect, or living in a household with other challenges like problematic substance use, can have lasting impacts. It’s also valuable to consider the role of our strengths and positive experiences in helping us make it through tough times. Exploring all that’s happened to us and how we’ve been affected can help us better understand how we move forward in healing.

Activities To Explore Your ACE History

Through a variety of engaging activities, you’ll have the opportunity to gently explore your history. Consider how your past may shape your present, and use these insights to foster an empowered and hopeful future. Your story is significant – let’s continue this journey of self-discovery and healing together.

Empower Your Past:

A Letter to Your Younger Self

Reconnect with your younger self in a powerful and healing way through this activity. Write a heartfelt letter to your younger self, offering words you may have needed to hear at the time. Acknowledge challenges you faced and efforts you made at your young age, and share some insight you’ve gained over the years. This activity is designed to help validate your experiences, and empower you with the realization of how far you’ve come. It’s a step towards embracing your journey and recognizing the child you once were may still be a part of you today.

Rediscover Joyful Movement:

Share Playful Memories

Rediscover the joy of movement and play from your youth with this activity. Reflect on the ways you loved to move or play when you were younger, whether it was dancing, playing a sport, or a simple game. Reconnect with these activities and share these experiences with your loved ones. This exercise not only revives pleasant memories but also strengthens bonds with family and friends as you share a piece of your childhood. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate your past and bring some of its joys into the present.

Embrace Your Narrative:

The Empathy Map

Explore your story with a deeper sense of empathy and validation through this activity. Create an Empathy Map, a tool that helps you visualize and understand your past emotions, thoughts, and experiences. Reflect on various stages of your life, identify key moments, and then map out how they made you feel and think. You could make a map for each moment if you’d like. You could use different colors for different emotions, symbols for different events. You are free to explore in your own way. This process not only fosters a deeper understanding of yourself but also cultivates empathy – for self and others, as everyone’s map is different, even when we’ve shared moments or years together. By validating your experiences and emotions, you’ll gain insight into your personal journey and perhaps recognize patterns – and strengths – in your story.

Resources

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Help Right Now​

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Sacramento Resources

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National Resources

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Did this website increase your awareness of how ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) or childhood trauma can impact people?

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