{"id":10172,"date":"2020-05-11T15:34:35","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T19:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/?p=10172"},"modified":"2025-02-25T12:06:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T17:06:51","slug":"building-healthy-brains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/","title":{"rendered":"BUILDING HEALTHY BRAINS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Written By: Sandi Lerman, MA Ed. Community Educator<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Building a Healthy Brain<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Babies are born with billions of tiny brain cells ready to form connections and build pathways for growth, learning, and human connection. When a young child is raised in a safe and stable environment by loving and attentive caregivers, the brain builds a strong and positive foundation for life.<\/p>\n<p>Everything you are thinking and doing right now is made possible by the amazing organic super-computer in your head. Your amazing brain helps you experience the world through the five senses and then organize it all into patterns of thought and emotion. It\u2019s also command-central for all the conscious and unconscious functions of your body.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Impact of Stress and Adversity<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sadly, some children grow up in environments that are not safe and nurturing, leaving the brain vulnerable to stress and developmental trauma. When a brain doesn\u2019t develop healthy connections and patterns, this causes a high risk for mental and physical complications.<\/p>\n<p>Children and adults who grew up in chaotic environments and were exposed to early childhood adversity and trauma are more likely to experience chronic physical diseases and mental illness throughout their lifetimes.<\/p>\n<p>Families First Survivor Advocate, Sarah Blume, plays &#8220;Brain Architecture Game\u201d \u2013 an interactive simulation of the first six years of a child\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Resilient Brain<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The good news is that with the right kind of support and intervention, every brain has the potential to heal from childhood trauma and adversity by growing and building new pathways!<\/p>\n<p>One important key to bouncing back from life\u2019s challenges is to get the right kind of ongoing positive support and connection with people who care. It\u2019s never too late to build a better brain!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Get Connected<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Loving relationships with family and friends are a wonderful protective factor for children and adults. Caring professionals also have strategies and tools that can help you and your children build strong brain connections for a happier, healthier life.<\/p>\n<p>If you or someone you know needs help making those connections, reach out to Families First! We offer\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.familiesfirstindiana.org\/mental-health-counseling\">counseling<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.familiesfirstindiana.org\/support-groups\">support groups<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.familiesfirstindiana.org\/parenting-education\">parent education<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.familiesfirstindiana.org\/community-education-and-training\">community education<\/a>\u00a0to support families through life\u2019s changes and challenges.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on Brain Awareness Week, along with free tips, resources, fact sheets, and fun educational activities for children, visit the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dana.org\/BAW\/\">Dana Foundation.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Babies are born with billions of tiny brain cells ready to form connections and build pathways for growth, learning, and human connection. When a young child is raised in a safe and stable environment by loving and attentive caregivers, the brain builds a strong and positive foundation for life.<br \/>\nEverything you are thinking and doing right now is made possible by the amazing organic super-computer in your head. Your amazing brain helps you experience the world through the five senses and then organize it all into patterns of thought and emotion. It\u2019s also command-central for all the conscious and unconscious functions of your body.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mental-health-selfcare"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>BUILDING HEALTHY BRAINS - Firefly Children and Family Alliance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BUILDING HEALTHY BRAINS - Firefly Children and Family Alliance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Babies are born with billions of tiny brain cells ready to form connections and build pathways for growth, learning, and human connection. When a young child is raised in a safe and stable environment by loving and attentive caregivers, the brain builds a strong and positive foundation for life. Everything you are thinking and doing right now is made possible by the amazing organic super-computer in your head. Your amazing brain helps you experience the world through the five senses and then organize it all into patterns of thought and emotion. It\u2019s also command-central for all the conscious and unconscious functions of your body.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Firefly Children and Family Alliance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-11T19:34:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-25T17:06:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Firefly Children and Family Alliance\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Firefly Children and Family Alliance\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/resources\\\/news-library\\\/building-healthy-brains\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/resources\\\/news-library\\\/building-healthy-brains\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Firefly Children and Family Alliance\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a0a717d05ab7bca77c74ce89ec295bf\"},\"headline\":\"BUILDING HEALTHY BRAINS\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-11T19:34:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-25T17:06:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/resources\\\/news-library\\\/building-healthy-brains\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":397,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Mental Health &amp; Selfcare\"],\"inLanguage\":\"cnh\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/resources\\\/news-library\\\/building-healthy-brains\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/resources\\\/news-library\\\/building-healthy-brains\\\/\",\"name\":\"BUILDING HEALTHY BRAINS - Firefly Children and Family Alliance\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-11T19:34:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-25T17:06:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a0a717d05ab7bca77c74ce89ec295bf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/resources\\\/news-library\\\/building-healthy-brains\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"cnh\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/resources\\\/news-library\\\/building-healthy-brains\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/resources\\\/news-library\\\/building-healthy-brains\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BUILDING HEALTHY BRAINS\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Firefly Children and Family Alliance\",\"description\":\"foster parents impact, foster kids, foster parents needed, a foster parent&#039;s role\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"cnh\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a0a717d05ab7bca77c74ce89ec295bf\",\"name\":\"Firefly Children and Family Alliance\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"cnh\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/05d76712c41f02a8e2d8f22346b1a85e7f00cb4436efc2fa6670ee39129fd71b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/05d76712c41f02a8e2d8f22346b1a85e7f00cb4436efc2fa6670ee39129fd71b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/05d76712c41f02a8e2d8f22346b1a85e7f00cb4436efc2fa6670ee39129fd71b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Firefly Children and Family Alliance\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fireflyin.org\\\/cnh\\\/resources\\\/news-library\\\/author\\\/firefly-children-and-family-alliance\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BUILDING HEALTHY BRAINS - Firefly Children and Family Alliance","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BUILDING HEALTHY BRAINS - Firefly Children and Family Alliance","og_description":"Babies are born with billions of tiny brain cells ready to form connections and build pathways for growth, learning, and human connection. When a young child is raised in a safe and stable environment by loving and attentive caregivers, the brain builds a strong and positive foundation for life. Everything you are thinking and doing right now is made possible by the amazing organic super-computer in your head. Your amazing brain helps you experience the world through the five senses and then organize it all into patterns of thought and emotion. It\u2019s also command-central for all the conscious and unconscious functions of your body.","og_url":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/","og_site_name":"Firefly Children and Family Alliance","article_published_time":"2020-05-11T19:34:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-25T17:06:51+00:00","author":"Firefly Children and Family Alliance","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Firefly Children and Family Alliance","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/"},"author":{"name":"Firefly Children and Family Alliance","@id":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/#\/schema\/person\/4a0a717d05ab7bca77c74ce89ec295bf"},"headline":"BUILDING HEALTHY BRAINS","datePublished":"2020-05-11T19:34:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-25T17:06:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/"},"wordCount":397,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Mental Health &amp; Selfcare"],"inLanguage":"cnh"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/","url":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/","name":"BUILDING HEALTHY BRAINS - Firefly Children and Family Alliance","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-05-11T19:34:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-25T17:06:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/#\/schema\/person\/4a0a717d05ab7bca77c74ce89ec295bf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"cnh","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/resources\/news-library\/building-healthy-brains\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BUILDING HEALTHY BRAINS"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/","name":"Firefly Children and Family Alliance","description":"foster parents impact, foster kids, foster parents needed, a foster parent&#039;s role","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"cnh"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/#\/schema\/person\/4a0a717d05ab7bca77c74ce89ec295bf","name":"Firefly Children and Family Alliance","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"cnh","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05d76712c41f02a8e2d8f22346b1a85e7f00cb4436efc2fa6670ee39129fd71b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05d76712c41f02a8e2d8f22346b1a85e7f00cb4436efc2fa6670ee39129fd71b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05d76712c41f02a8e2d8f22346b1a85e7f00cb4436efc2fa6670ee39129fd71b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Firefly Children and Family Alliance"},"url":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/resources\/news-library\/author\/firefly-children-and-family-alliance\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10172\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}