From Seed to Synapse

Posted On: August 18, 2025

Cultivating Thinking Skills with BrainWise

“Planting a seed” is how social worker Dr. Gary Brayton describes his decades-long advocacy for teaching BrainWise and training new instructors. He recently trained 32 health care workers, including longtime instructor Melissa Hudson, in Calgary, Alberta, to become BrainWise trainers. (for background see Hull newsletter BW professional group.)

These enthusiastic trainers, already familiar with the program, represent agencies throughout Alberta, and include five members of the Kainai Nation (Blood Tribe), a First Nation Tribe. Gary and Melissa reflected on their years of teaching and promoting BrainWise among schools and nonprofit agencies serving youth.

I Had Nothing

Dr. Brayton said he moved from an intervention model that had 52 steps he could not use to teaching BrainWise. “I embraced the program because it was so powerful, effective, and easy,” he said. Reflecting on his 12 years of teaching BrainWise, he emphasized his success comes from having tools that make it easy for his clients to connect their problems with poor choices. “The explanations help them recognize and understand the consequences of their behaviors for themselves and others, and how their choices impact them now and later.”

Melissa shared that she began teaching BrainWise after Gary sent her a copy of How to Be BrainWise. She and her colleague Jocelyn Vincelli became champions after witnessing how youth embraced the program, the ease and fun they had teaching it, and its positive outcomes.

Read more about their life-affirming work here: https://conta.cc/44YW4Hy

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