EVERY school pupil in Cumnock and Doon Valley will be visited by the team behind a ground-breaking crime-busting project.

Called Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). it involves a number of agencies and organisations in East Ayrshire working together to help those affected.

Adversity a young person can face in their life can affect how their brain develops and how they process information later in life as well as having health implications.

Research carried out in the US discovered the connection, leading to the establishment of a worldwide drive to combat the issue.

Traumatic situations which cause it include mental and physical neglect, drug/alcohol abuse, domestic violence, parental separation and more.

These factors can also affect a person from pre-birth as the experiences a pregnant mother is going through, such as domestic abuse, start the process.

Toxic stress that builds up in the mother, which passes on to the unborn baby and has an effect on the child, with consequences throughout its life.

Studies have shown that this can lead to heart disease, reduced life expectancy or behaviour that leads to offending and possible incarceration.

Spearheading the groups working to confront the issue and prevent young people inadvertently becoming criminals are East Ayrshire police.

Campus cop Jemma Davidson, who is heavily involved in proceedings, said: “All our officers are being trained to become trauma-informed.

“It will improve the response to those that are in distress and maximising the opportunity of having a positive affect on their lives.

“When our division looked at incidents, we found that we were dealing with an increasing amount of people who are in crisis.

“This may be mental health, domestic violence, suffering from addiction, homelessness or simply trauma.

“Chief Superintendent Paul Main is passionate about Ayrshire becoming trauma-informed and the plan is to get that vision going.”

This is believed to be the first development of its kind in Scotland as it involves an extensive partnership within our communities.

“We will be showing all 840 officers and staff a film, called Resilience, based on the ACE study carried out in the US.

“It will be also be taken into our academies, cluster primaries and partners alone with a panel of experts who will speak to people and answer questions.

“This is about getting the information out there and then hopefully see positive results,” added Ms Davidson.

Trained counsellors will speak one-to-one with those affected to reduce the impact of their ACE and prevent a possible life of crime.

Ms Davidson said: “It is about us being a better community and better human beings as well as the obvious crime prevention.

“Panel members will include specialists from the violence reduction unit, NHS Ayrshire and Arran and Re-attach parenting.

“Campus officers at Cumnock, Auchinleck and Doon Academies will also play a big part.”