The Neuroscience of Resilience: How Brain Development Affects Learning, Health, and Social Outcomes Across the Lifespan
Presented by: Nicole Sherren.
This Webinar was presented and recorded on September 21, 2021.
Converging lines of evidence from neuroscience, molecular biology, genetics, and the social sciences tell us that early experiences are literally built into our brains and bodies to affect life course trajectories, for good or for ill. In this webinar, participants learnt how brains are built: what kind of experiences promote healthy brain architecture, what kind of experiences derail it, and how these experiences get "under our skins" to affect learning, health, and social outcomes. This knowledge has profound implications for all of the policies, programs, and professionals that support children, adults, and families.
Webinar Recording
Learning Objectives
Through attending this session, participants learned:
- How brain circuits are formed and mature, and how social interactions are critical to this process
- How toxic stress derails healthy brain development and the impact of adverse childhood experiences on later learning, social, and health outcomes
- How this science can be used to build the foundations of resilience in children, adults, and families
Speaker
Dr. Nicole Sherren has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Carleton University with research expertise in experience-based brain development, neurodevelopmental disorders, and brain plasticity. In 2007, Nicole left academia and joined the Palix Foundation to focus on mobilizing the science of early brain development, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and resilience into public policy and professional practice. For more than a decade, she has worked directly with professionals across the education, health care, justice, and non-profit sectors to help them embed this science in their workplaces. She has gained a deep understanding of the challenges facing each sector, as well as the levers to incent and create change within individuals, organizations, and systems. Nicole left Palix in 2020 to launch her own consulting company, R2P Solutions, in order to provide customized and intensive support to organizations and initiatives seeking to turn “what we know” about brain development into “what we do” in policy and practice.
