Building Brains with Community

Sign up today for our upcoming Building Brains with Community workshop.

Building Brains with Community is an interactive workshop* that inspires solution design to individual and community challenges.

A child’s experiences impact brain development, which builds the foundation for the child’s learning, behavior, and well-being now and in the future. If a child is exposed to toxic stress or harmful experiences, that foundation can be impaired leading to negative behaviors and barriers to learning. A responsive, supportive and reliable caregiver can reduce the negative impacts of those experiences and help build resilience through executive functioning development.

Building Brains with Community(BBwC) is an evidence-informed training model that incorporates the Brain Architecture Game, Strengthening Families and Protective Factors, and Human-Centered Design models. Components of this training were originally developed and have been shared by the following:

• Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
• FrameWorks Institute
• Center on the Study of Social Policy

Workshop participants engage brief didactics and play the Brain Architecture Game to reinforce understanding of the powerful role of experiences on early brain development: what promotes it, what derails it, and the larger impacts across a single lifespan and the costs to society. Participants will then use human-centered design approaches to spotlight critical pathways to community prosperity and wellness. This workshop series promotes a focus on resilience and actively builds your skills through discussion, demonstration, divergent thinking exercises and creativity.

Participant Benefits

• Build an understanding of the impactful role of experiences on early brain development;
• Build an understanding of the impactful role of protective factors on child development and well-being;
• Identify person-centered critical pathways to supporting community wellness;
• Learn about and practice human-centered design and strategic learning skills;
• Continuous learning and implementation support through access to the BBwC Community of Practice (provided through virtual platforms).

Who Should Attend?

Building Brains with Community was created for general usage to engage community members and professionals within the “helping” professions. The workshops facilitated by ICFW are open to registration from (but not limited to) the following:

• Foster and/or adoptive parents
• Foster care caseworkers and child protection workers
• Social service case managers and leaders
• Home visitation providers and leaders
• Infant and Early Childhood professionals
• Mental health providers and leaders
• Medical providers
• Community support providers and leaders

Building Brains with Community is a part of a broader initiative, Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities (SFTCCC). A strategy at its core, SFTCCC recognizes that more can be done to unburden families through shared learning and shared creating. Critical pathways must be identified, crafted and evaluated by the people affected most.

*Masks are required for this in-person workshop.