Our Why

Preventing, treating, and healing the effects of toxic stress. Together.

The physical, behavioral, and psychological effects of toxic stress are preventing our community from thriving, creating devastating cycles for our children, shortening lives, and straining our police force & hospitals. In Springfield, we already spend millions each year reacting to and fighting the manifestations of toxic stress. It's time to think differently. Let's unite to prevent, treat, and heal our community. Proactively.

Adverse Childhood Effects (ACEs) have been proven to cause toxic stress; which can cause lifelong & multi-generational effects.

Want to learn more? Click here to watch our complete 6 minute video.

ACEs are associated, in a dose response fashion, with common and consequential health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, depression, heart disease and cancer. It is now known that one important way in which ACEs increase risk of negative health outcomes is through prolonged activation of the biological stress response and associated changes to brain, immune, hormonal and genetic regulatory systems – known as the toxic stress response.iii There is hope -- toxic stress is amenable to treatment. We can act now to change and save lives. We can screen for ACEs and toxic stress risk, intervene early, respond with evidence-based trauma-informed care, and significantly improve the health and well-being of individuals and families. These efforts can also reduce the risk of intergenerational transmission of ACEs and toxic stress.
(From the CA Roadmap) Find more information from the CDC here

Here is an example of a screening tool for ACEs:

One example of an ACEs Screening Tool: Click the image to see more

Below find data showing how much more at risk children are for the listed conditions if they have a certain number of ACEs:

Below find data showing how much more at risk adults are for the listed conditions if they had a certain number of ACEs from childhood:

Missouri is 1 of 4 states who had NOT collected data on ACEs (2018)

Missouri began collecting data on ACEs in their BRFSS data in 2019: click here for the raw data collected

Health Data from Missouri

Missourians still participate in a statewide survey per the CDC and has collected the following data about Missourians. This data is not yet able to be broken down by county or city in Missouri. This is a possibility others currently implement.

Poverty rates continue to climb. Over a third of the respondents felt unable to perform daily activities according to Missouri results from the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey

Springfield Crime Data:

How does this connect to our goals?

Crime has been high for years and it continues to increase. Our police department is stretched thin. Our communities feel the strain and so do our children. An increase of ongoing violence in our community puts an increased risk for toxic stress and ACEs, leading to severe consequences for our community for generations to come.

27 violent deaths had been recorded in the city as of December 2020, the most in recent years.
"It’s just been a very, on top of everything else, a very violent, very dangerous, very deadly year in Springfield."
~ Police Chief Paul Williams

Comparing Springfield to the National Average (2018):

Violent crime - 52% higher
Murder - 8% higher
Rape - 106% higher
Aggravated Assault - 61% higher
Property Crimes - 55% higher
Burglary - 56% higher
Theft - 52% higher
Motor Vehicle Theft - 17% higher

Note: These numbers have increased for 2020.