Summary

The Alberta Family Wellness Initiative, founded by the Palix Foundation, generates and shares brain development, mental health, and addiction research to improve health outcomes for children and families.

The Brain Story Narrative is at the core of the initiative. It teaches about brain health by demonstrating how early experiences get built into our brains and bodies to influence lifelong health outcomes.

The Brain Story Certification Course teaches a variety of audiences, including practitioners working in the prevention, intervention, and treatment of childhood adversity how early experiences can affect lifelong mental and physical health.

The Resilience Scale Framework is an approach to applying the Resilience Scale developed by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (Harvard University) at the individual, organizational, and system levels. The Resilience Scale illustrates how the accumulation of toxic stress, access to positive supports, and the application of learned skills and abilities interact to determine an individual’s capacity for resilience.

Policy & Practice Implications

• The Narrative can help people working with children to understand the science of brain development, mental health, and addiction by using a common language and knowledge base. 
• Participants of the free, self-paced Certified Course can receive a provincially recognized certification in Brain Story science.
• The Resilience Scale Framework’s design, assessment, and tools offer examples of implementation at individual, organizational, and system levels.  

Image source: Screenshot of https://www.albertafamilywellness.org/ (May 2, 2024)