Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Could Your Childhood Be Fueling Your Anxiety?
Discover What Your ACE Score Reveals About Stress, Trauma & Emotional Healing
You’re not overreacting – your nervous system may be responding to earlier experiences. The ACE quiz can help you understand how childhood stress might still be shaping how you feel and function today.
Could Your Childhood Be Fueling Your Anxiety?
Discover What Your ACE Score Reveals About Stress, Trauma & Emotional Healing
You’re not overreacting – your nervous system may be responding to earlier experiences. The ACE quiz can help you understand how childhood stress might still be shaping how you feel and function today.
Why am I always on edge – even when life seems fine?
You’ve got a steady job, a supportive family, and a never-ending to-do list. On the surface, it looks like you’re doing well. But inside?
You feel wired. Stretched thin. Irritable, anxious, restless… or completely flat.
You’re not broken. You’re not falling short. And no – you’re not imagining it.
This could be the long-term effect of early stress that hasn’t been processed. That’s what your ACE Score helps reveal.
What is the ACE Score?
ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences – a list of 15 types of stress or trauma that happen before the age of 18. This includes emotional neglect, witnessing violence, bullying or growing up around addiction.
Each “yes” to one of these experiences adds a point to your ACE score.
The quiz is simple. But the understanding it brings can run deep.
The higher your score, the more likely you are to experience things like anxiety, burnout, emotional reactivity, or physical health challenges later in life.
But there’s more to it:
Your ACE score isn’t just about what happened.
It’s a reflection of how your nervous system might have adapted to help you survive.
This framework is now used widely across healthcare, education, social work, and trauma-informed coaching. It offers a shared language for understanding what happened – not what’s wrong – and creates a roadmap for healing that honours both your resilience and your story.
ACEs are not labels
Neither are ACEs life‑long verdicts; they are signposts that help us understand what your nervous system has carried.
Find Out Your Personal ACE Score By Completing This Questionnaire
Why does your ACE score matter?
Because it gives you context for symptoms you’ve been managing for years:
Racing thoughts at night
Sudden anxiety over small things
Emotional shutdowns that seem to come from nowhere
The constant pull to overwork, over-give, or retreat completely
This isn’t “just how you are.”
It’s a protective pattern – and it can be shifted.
What a High ACE Score Can Mean
Even a single ACE can feel heavy; a score of four or more is where the original CDC–Kaiser study saw risks begin to climb sharply. Researchers call this the dose–response curve: the higher the score, the steeper the odds of challenges later in life – yet those odds are not certainties.
Area of life
Body
Mind
Relationships
Work & Money
What studies show
Increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, headaches and chronic pain (Felitti et al., 1998; Hughes et al., 2017).
Up to 4× greater likelihood of anxiety, depression or substance use (Public Health Wales, 2015).
ACEs predict insecure attachment and difficulty trusting (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007).
Higher absenteeism and lower average income in ACE‑aware workforce surveys (Bellis et al., 2016).
How it may feel day to day
Fatigue, flares of inflammation, “always tense”.
Inner critic at full volume, low motivation, worry loops.
People‑pleasing, fear of abandonment, conflict avoidance.
Over‑working to prove worth, burnout, pay gaps.
Your ACE score explains stress patterns; it doesn’t decide your destiny. With nervous system regulation, neuroplasticity, somatic practices and compassionate support, the curve can bend back toward wellbeing.
You don’t have to stay stuck
You can’t think your way out of a trauma response. But your body can learn to feel safe again.
I work with people using body-based, trauma-informed tools that don’t require retelling the past.
Together, we bring safety back into your system using:
Havening Touch to calm your stress response
Subconscious belief work to update internal stories like “I’m not safe” or “I have to hold it all together”
Somatic techniques to move your body out of survival and into regulation
My Three‑Layer Healing Framework
Soothe
Simple, comforting touch that settles the brain’s alarm circuits without reliving every detail. Feel immediate calm and a sense of safety.
Support
Somatic, Psycho-Sensory & Polyvagal Tools – grounding routines you can do anywhere. Your body learns it can come out of “alert” mode.
Shift
Subconscious belief change and practical guidance.Old survival patterns give way to confident, connected living.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to talk about everything that happened?
Only if you want to. Many methods I use are content‑light and choice‑led.
What if I don’t remember much from childhood?
That’s completely normal. This work doesn’t rely on memories – your body already carries what it needs to release.
Will I have to relive or retell painful memories?
Not if you’d rather not.
This approach works even if you prefer not to talk about specific memories.
We can also focus on the sensations in your body – and let your system guide the process.
How many sessions will I need?
Some people feel relief in 3-4 sessions; others prefer ongoing support. The answer to this question really depends on your past. We decide together.
Is this right for me if my childhood “wasn’t that bad”?
If you feel lingering stress or anxiety, your experience is valid – regardless of your score.
What happens in a discovery call?
A relaxed chat about your goals, no pressure, no sales script. The most important thing is you feel safe and whether we have a connection.
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