I’m presenting a Master Class live next Tuesday, August 4th and I’d love for you to join me. It’s online, and will be recorded. The Master Class is hosted by the Association for Pre and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH) and is called:
The 10 Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs)
Early Indicators of Risk for Chronic Illness and Opportunities for Prevention and Repair
You may be familiar with ACEs — Adverse Childhood Experiences.
Adverse experiences that happen in the earliest time span, from preconception through a child’s third birthday, may have an even deeper influence on lifelong health.
Drawing on over 25 years of exploring the research, I’ll introduce the 10 ABEs framework and share what the science shows — along with real, practical opportunities for prevention, healing, and repair at any stage of life.
I’ll be sharing some of Wren’s story, a woman living with type 2 diabetes and other symptoms linked to insulin resistance to highlight the 10 ABEs, the framework and what prevention, repair and healing can look like.
Highlights Include:
- conventional views on risk factors for type 2 diabetes and other chronic illness
- emerging understanding of risk from
- hibernating bears are in insulin resistance as an intelligent adaptation
- the ABEs fact sheet with links to tools for healing and a list of references
A rich and hopeful session for practitioners, parents, and anyone touched by chronic illness or other chronic health conditions.
APPPAH Master Classes that Support Healing:
Many of you who are working to heal chronic health conditions wonder about ways of working with the impact of pre and perinatal events, which I refer to as ABEs (Adverse Babyhood Experiences).
You’ll need to be a member to watch. Membership options include a 7 day free trial or one month of membership (see membership options). As a member find the Master Classes here:
- Log in to your member portal
- Click back to the Member Portal
- Click the Member Masterclass icon
- Click the video you’d like to watch
My Class Veronique Mead — August 2026 — The 10 Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs) Early Indicators of Risk for Chronic Illness — and Opportunities for Prevention and Repair. With an example of a woman with type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance and how we might approach someone in her situation as a fetus during pregnancy, labor, birth to support prevention, reduced risk. What she’s done as an adult that may have contributed to a less severe illness course.
Sharon King — July 2025 — Transforming Birth, Transforming Lives: Healing Trauma for Mother and Child with Author of Heal Your Birth, Heal Your Life . Also offers personal sessions for adults see her website Magical New Beginnings. With great case examples of work with mothers that helped improve health of the child, including a drastic reduction in seizures from 3 to 4 times a day to once every 3 months.
Cherionna Menzam-Sills, PhD — August 2026 — How Your Prenatal Shadow May Affect How You Meet Little Ones as a Parent, Birth Practitioner, or Therapist Author of two books with exercises you can do on your own and online courses. See her website Birthing Your Life. With examples of what adversity from pre and perinatal experiences can look like as adults and how we can work with it. An especially grounded, calm, spacious talk.
About Me
Veronique Mead, MD, MA, SEP, PPNP is a former board-certified family physician and Dartmouth-affiliated assistant professor of family medicine. She retrained as a somatic psychotherapist with specialty training in pre- and perinatal trauma and Somatic Experiencing. Over 25 years of research, she has developed the framework of the 10 Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs) — a groundbreaking lens for understanding how early adversity from preconception through a child’s third birthday shapes lifelong risk for autoimmune and other chronic illnesses. She shares her research here on the blog at ChronicIllnessTraumaStudies.com and now offers consultations on the chronic illness and trauma connection for health professionals and people living with chronic illness.
Leave a Comment