Science tells us that we can build resilience for ourselves, our kids, and our communities. Learning how to handle emotions and social situations can help youth stay away from problems like violence or emotional difficulties. Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs in schools can help students become more resilient and protect them from problems like violence, aggression, and feeling really sad or anxious. While high school is not often the target zone for social emotional learning, that doesn’t mean we cannot try to provide engaging and much needed support.
Our team looked at a program called Smart Brain Wise Heart (SBWH) that aims to empower adolescents through neurophysiological education and techniques to build emotional resilience, communication skills, and self-compassion. Based on prior research and neurophysiological theory, we were looking to assess the effects of the intervention on factors such as youth resiliency, self-compassion, exposure to peer violence (both as victims and perpetrators), mental health disorders (including anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide), and hyperactivity. We tested the SBWH program with 9th graders across a Texas school district in the 2021-2022 school year.
“Resilience is like having, I want to say the power, but I don’t like that word, but the power to continue and work against whatever trials come up, I guess. I focus on my goals. I maintain the mindset of I want to get there so I’m going to make myself get there. Whatever I’m going through right now is just temporary, so continue through this until I can get to there.”
Youth Research Participant
Main Take-Aways
Students with lower grades who received the SBWH program felt emotionally stronger and kinder to themselves than students who did not.
They also felt less depressed.
This was true even when taking their past grades, gender, how attached they were to parents and friends, and tough experiences into account.
SBWH program can help struggling students build resilience and self-compassion, and experience fewer feelings of sadness.
We didn’t find big changes from the SBWH program for the entire student body, possibly because of COVID-19 disruptions to classroom time. However, we did see that students who were struggling in school felt emotionally stronger, kinder to themselves, and generally less sad after the SBWH program. The current findings and prior evidence indicating that higher levels of self-compassion are associated with lower levels of distress and reduced violence exposure and self-violence suggests the importance of further research on neurophysiological SEL education for students. The results suggest that SBWH might be helpful for youth, and our next steps are to test the intervention under more stable conditions.
“Teaching youth in school about their own neurophysiology can help them thrive.”
Elizabeth Mumford
Policy implications: School administrations have an opportunity to introduce neurophysiological education to enhance SEL, without interrupting academic programs and potentially improving student performance and thriving.
Project Contact
Suggested Citation
Mumford, E. (2023, August 15). Neurophysiological Solutions Are Easy to Access/Practice. [Web blog post]. Goal: Resilience. Retrieved from https://goalresilience.norc.org.
External Links
Smart Brain Wise Heart Social Emotional Program
Evidence for Social and Emotional Learning in Schools
In Brief: The Science of Resilience
Funding Sources
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
