Looking at early experiences with care.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Questionnaire
The experiences we have as children can shape how we feel, relate to others, and cope later in life. The Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE) is a short set of yes or no questions about difficult experiences before the age of 18. This includes questions such as abuse, neglect, and hard circumstances at home. It helps your psychologist understand what your early life was like, and it is used along with a conversation with you.
What the questionnaire looks at.
Being hurt by someone close
Whether you were insulted, put down, hit, or harmed by a parent or another adult in your life before the age of 18.
Not feeling cared for
Whether you lacked basic care, such as enough to eat, a safe place, or someone who made you feel supported and loved during your childhood.
Difficult times at home
Whether you lived with a family member who struggled with mental health difficulties or substance use, or where there was violence at home.
Loss and separation
Whether your parents separated or divorced, whether you lost a parent in another way, or whether a family member went to prison.
Counting experiences
Each yes counts as one point. The score counts how many kinds of difficult experiences were present.
How it affects you now
Your psychologist asks how these early experiences may show up today in your mood, sleep, relationships, and work or study, and what has helped you cope.
Looking after yourself
Thinking about difficult experiences can bring up strong feelings. You can pause or stop at any time, and your psychologist will check in with you.
Note: Are you unsure whether this is the right assessment? A short conversation with our team is a good place to start. We will recommend the right option for your situation.
Why this assessment may be recommended
You have been through difficult experiences as a child and want to understand how they may still be affecting you.
You find it hard to trust people, feel close to others, or feel safe, and you wonder whether early life plays a part.
Strong reactions, trouble sleeping, or feeling on edge seem to have no clear cause.
Your therapist or doctor has suggested looking at early life experiences.
You are already getting help for anxiety, low mood, or relationship difficulties, and early experiences may be part of the picture.
You would like a clearer picture before choosing a kind of therapy.
How the assessment works.
- 1Step 1
A conversation first
You meet a psychologist to talk about what has brought you here. You can share as much or as little as you wish, and nobody expects a detailed account of difficult events.
- 2Step 2
The questionnaire
You answer ten short yes or no questions about your life before the age of 18. Your psychologist is available if you would like to talk through any questions.
- 3Step 3
Review
Your psychologist considers your answers along with your history and what you shared in conversation.
- 4Step 4
The rest of the assessment and feedback
Along with the ACE, the complete Trauma Assessment also includes a questionnaire about experiences such as feeling disconnected or losing track of time. You then have a complimentary feedback session of about 30 minutes where your report is explained in plain language and next steps are discussed.
Confidential and clinically guided
Your assessment is carried out with professionalism, dignity, and confidentiality. Your psychologist explains what they find in plain language, and you can ask questions at any point.
Please note: The questionnaire is a screening tool. It helps your psychologist decide what to look at more closely, and it cannot diagnose on its own. A higher score does not mean something is wrong with you. The score counts how many kinds of difficult experience were present. It cannot show how you were affected because people respond to similar experiences in different ways. A diagnosis is a clinical decision made after looking at the full picture.
Things people ask
No. You can share as much or as little as you feel comfortable with. This assessment does not depend on a detailed account of difficult events.
Some people find the questions bring up strong feelings. You can pause or stop at any time, and your psychologist will check in with you.
No. The score counts how many kinds of difficult experiences happened before the age of 18. It describes what you lived through, and it cannot predict how your life will go. Support can help at any age.
No. The questionnaire counts certain kinds of experience and leaves out many others, such as bullying or losing someone close. A low score does not mean your childhood was easy.
Early experiences can shape how people feel, relate to others and cope later in life. Understanding them can help your psychologist and you decide what support may help.
Yes. The Trauma Assessment is available to adolescents and adults. Our care coordinator can tell you how it works for adolescents, including who is in the room and what is shared with parents or carers.
Your psychologist talks through your report with you. Depending on what the assessment shows, they may suggest therapy that works with difficult experiences or other support. Our care coordinator can help you arrange next steps.
Your results are kept confidential with the standard exceptions required by law, such as a risk of serious harm to yourself or someone else. We talk with you about who will receive them before anything is shared.
Want to arrange an assessment, or just ask a question?
Our care coordinator will talk you through what to expect confidentially.
If you need urgent help: Are you in immediate distress? Please call iCall 9152987821 for immediate support.