Should we still be talking about ACE's? What Social Workers Need to Know
From Social Work Sorted with Vicki Shevlin by Vicki Shevlin
April 22, 2026 · 14 min
About this episode
Vicki Shevlin discusses the implications of ACEs in social work practice and questions the validity of the research behind it.
ACEs - adverse childhood experiences - is one of the most referenced phrases in social work and safeguarding. But how many of us have actually questioned whether we are using it correctly? In this episode Vicki Shevlin explores why the research behind ACEs is weaker than most people realise, why correlation is not causation and what this means practically for your assessments, your reports and your conversations with other professionals. If you have referenced ACEs recently in your practice -...
People in this episode
Host: Vicki Shevlin
Topics covered
- ACEs
- adverse childhood experiences
- social work
- safeguarding
- correlation vs causation
- assessments
- professional conversations
Keywords
- ACEs
- adverse childhood experiences
- social work
- safeguarding
- correlation
- causation
- assessments
- reports
- professional conversations
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: ACEs, social work, safeguarding
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