What Can Neuroscience Tell us about Friendship, Bullying and Social Media?

Relational Neuroscience is a relatively new field of study that provides crucial information about how and why healthy human connection is at the core of health and well being. It provides an important new lens through which to explore the importance of friendship, the devastating impact of bullying and even the long term sequelae of social media. This workshop will introduce participants to the field of Relational Neuroscience as described in Dr. Banks’ 2016 book, Wired to Connect: The Surprising Link Between Brain Science and Strong Healthy Relationships. The workshop will describe four neural pathways that are essential to building healthy connection and will explore how bullying and social media impact a person’s ability to form sustaining relationships.

Following this training, workshop participants will be able to:

Identify the “four neural pathways for connection”
Describe the five good things in a “growth fostering relationship”
Describe how bullying and social media shape a person’s brain and connections.
This workshop will benefit social workers, mental health professionals, clinicians, educators, counselors and paraprofessionals. This format includes lecture, discussion, case studies, role plays, films and /or testimonials.
Amy Banks, MD is the creator of the C.A.R.E. Program, an easy-to-use, practical guide that helps clinicians and laypeople assess the quality of their relationships and strengthen their neural pathways for connection. She is the director of advanced training an affiliate of the Wellesley Centers for Women. Prior to her position at JBMTI and WCW she was an instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She is the first person to bring relational-cultural theory together with neuroscience and is the foremost expert in the combined field. Amy also has a private practice in Lexington, MA, that specializes in relational psychopharmacology and therapy for people who suffer from chronic disconnection. Amy earned her medical degree at Georgetown University and continued her psychiatric training at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, a Harvard residency program. Amy was the psychiatrist-in-charge of the Women’s Treatment Program, a residential and day treatment program at McLean Hospital based on relational-cultural theory. She was the team psychiatrist for the Victims of Violence Program at Cambridge Hospital, and she was medical director for mental health at the Fenway Community Health Center in Boston, MA.

Cost: $159.00

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