Mapping Toxic Stress’s Physical Toll on our Kids

After more than 30 years caring for kids in the nation’s capital, I’ve seen firsthand, like so many of my pediatric colleagues, the widespread emotional and physical impacts of adverse events on children. It’s why kids’ mental health has become such a focus for me and the clinicians at Children’s National. What we didn’t know much about until now was exactly HOW toxic stress impacts the growing body. We were privileged to have Nadine Burke Harris, author of The Deepest Well, come to Children’s National and speak to our pediatricians and pediatric specialists about this very thing. These stressful events experienced in childhood are actually changing a child’s DNA. It’s a powerful call to action that we need to heed, and in places like Washington, D.C., I’m thankful to know that there are coalitions like the Early Childhood Innovation Network, where doctors, lawyers, and other nonprofit leaders are actively finding ways to minimize kids’ exposure to these toxic stressors, or at least minimize their long term impacts on the most vulnerable among us by giving families better coping tools.