“Self-compassion is a more important motivator than self-criticism because its driving force is love, not fear”
- Kristin Neff
This WCNDD Community Outreach Program is designed to aid in substance use and mental illness prevention using education and compassion – not fear. Developed by Kristen Gilliland, this program teaches and reinforces how to build healthy brains and self-compassionate minds as a means of prevention. In the program children and young adults will be learn about:
1) Changes in their brain during adolescence
2) What neuroplasticity is and how they can use it to build strong and heathy connections in the brain into adulthood
3) How reoccurring stress and anxiety can lead to depression and anxiety in adulthood due to structural and functional changes in
their brain.
4) The danger and prevalence of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids
5) The high-THC potency cannabis/marijuana today and its deleterious effect on the adolescent brain
6) How to utilize breathing exercises, mindfulness, and grounding techniques to deal with stress/anxiety as a means to avoid
escaping through substance use or self-harm.
7) How to work on changing destructive self-narratives to constructive self-narratives and build self-compassion during adolescence
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
- Wayne Dyer
Support our Mission
Brain Health = Mental Health
Your donation helps support our mission of teaching youth (and their parents) about the impact that stress and substance use have on the developing adolescent brain. We, at the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, deliver this knowledge this using factual science and compassion – not fear. Specifically, your donation helps to create educational videos and fund travel so that we may reach more youth, schools, colleges, recovery centers, and communities across the United States with this important topical mission. Any donation amount helps. We thank you for your generosity! Donate now at vanderbilt.alumniq.com/giving/to/warrencenter.
