Brain Builders Impact Case Studies

In 2018, CCSA partnered with the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative to launch the Brain Builders Lab, a community-based effort to align policies, practices, and perceptions of substance use with the neuroscience of childhood trauma and resilience.

For this initiative, CCSA selected 65 Brain Builders, primarily active in health care, education, and child and family services, from nine provinces. We supported them in developing, implementing and evaluating two-year projects that aimed to raise awareness of the science and advocate for its application in policy and practice.

The accomplishments of the Brain Builder’s 2019–2021 projects are described in a report and series of case studies. This includes:

• A summary of the Brain Builders Lab;
• A summary of lessons learned about implementing and evaluating Brain Builder projects; and
• A series of case studies illustrating each lesson.

Many of the case studies are also captured in a series of impact videos.

Impacts and Lessons from the Brain Builders Lab: Practical Advice on How to Spread and Embed Brain Story Science in Communities is a summary of the top 10 lessons learned about implementing and evaluating Brain Builder projects. It describes the results from the Brain Builder’s Lab and their community-based effort to align policies, practices and perceptions of substance use with the neuroscience of childhood trauma and resilience. The impact case studies below illustrate each of these lessons.