Lemonade for Life trains professionals working with parents and caregivers on use of the ACEs Questionnaire. The goal of the Lemonade for Life program is to help prevent future exposure to ACEs while promoting resiliency and hope.
The Lemonade for Life program helps individuals understand how early life experiences may have long-lasting effects on how they interact in relationships. The training conveys that individuals cannot rewrite the beginning of their story, but they can change how it ends. It is not victim blaming, but rather instills hope and responsibility for change with the individual and is a key stepping stone for self-sufficiency.
Lemonade for Life rose out of the need made apparent by research indicating the extreme importance of the early childhood years in relation to school and life success (Perry, Kaufmann, & Knitzer, 2007; Shonkoff & Meisels, 2000). Landmark studies of early childhood have shown that the first years of life should be acknowledged as a point of intervention that can tip the scales and mitigate risk factors that lead to negative societal impacts. In particular, the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study provided a foundational understanding of the link between what happens during a child’s early years and the health risk that the child faces as an adult. Specifically, when children experience or are exposed to adverse situations such as abuse, substance abuse, and mental illness, they are at a higher risk for a litany of health problems, including chronic disease, mental illness and substance abuse (Felitti et al., 1998). The ACEs study underlines the importance of early interventions and parent support to help families turn those past ‘lemons’ into something stronger, sweeter, and sturdier that can help sustain them as they go through life.
For more information on the importance of the ACEs research, visit: ACEs Connection