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    ANA Brain Awareness Week

    Online Talk Series

    14-18 March 2022

     

    JOIN US for our Talk Series of FREE online ‘brain-breaks’ over your lunch hour from March 14-18 exploring the brain and some of the latest research in raising the profile about brain awareness.

     

    What’s On?

    These talks are a whistle-stop tour of some of the emerging themes in brain science:

    • 14th March
      • Rethinking Addiction and Recovery with Jaime Jenkins
    • 15th March
      • Using Science in Goal Setting with Gwen Bach
    • 16th March
      • Neuromyths in Education with Anne-Laure Le Cunff
    • 17th March
      • The Science Behind Mindfulness with Shivali Gandhi
    • 18th March
      • Psychedelic-assisted Therapy with Nora Mamblona Fischer
      • Neuroplasticity as the Mediator of Psychedelics Antidepressant Effects with Aneta Herrenschmidt-Moller

    Who is it for?

    Anyone interested in lifelong learning!

    Anyone with a curious mind who wishes to integrate neuroscience into their research or organisation or daily lives

    Who are our Speakers?

    Rethinking Addiction and Recovery with Jaime Jenkins

    Jaime B Jenkins MAPP MSc is a Neuropsychologist and Wellbeing Coach residing on the East Coast of Canada. She started her career as a social worker in Australia working with youth dealing with drug and alcohol addiction. This early work drove the majority of her career as she focused more and more on the treatment, and ultimately the prevention of addiction. Working with adults in an intensive outpatient treatment centre lead her to a deeper understanding of how brain function impacted an individual in active addiction. It was this that drove her to study for her MSc in the Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health at King’s College London. Her Master’s dissertation focused on Flourishing in Long Term Recovery From Addiction, showing evidence that it is possible to move beyond simple recovery and into remission.

    Using Science in Goal Setting with Gwen Bach

    Gwen is currently doing her MSc in Applied Neuroscience at King’s College London. Her background in Business and HR shaped her interest in the importance of goals and what makes people achieve goals while others don’t. Creating systems to make goal-reaching a repeatable, step-by-step, and science-based process is her current line of work and the mission of her business.

    Neuromyths in Education with Anne-Laure Le Cunff

    Anne-Laure is a researcher, entrepreneur, and writer. She investigates how different brains learn differently at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, and founded Ness Labs, an online school for knowledge workers to explore the applied neuroscience of learning, creativity, and decision-making. Her other interests include neurodiversity, psychedelics, metacognition, and consciousness research. Previously, she worked at Google in the Digital Health team, promoting hardware and software to help people take better care of their physical and mental health. As an adviser to the Applied Neuroscience Association, she provides guidance on the subjects of science communication and community building.

    The Science Behind Mindfulness with Shivali Gandhi

    Shivali is a mindfulness speaker and the founder of BeeFull, UAE’s first research-based company that conducts emotional intelligence programs for schools. Her educational background includes a Double Master’s and MSc in Psychology & Neuroscience from Kings College, London. A Mindfulness practitioner for over 10 years. Shivali is also a Neuro-Linguistic Programming Instructor and certified from the Oxford Mindfulness Centre.

    Psychedelic-assisted Therapy with Nora Mamblona Fischer

    This short talk will give an overview and introduction of both psychedelic compounds, MDMA and psilocybin, their core properties, psychedelic-assisted therapy, the safety and efficacy of MDMA- and psilocybin-assisted therapy, implications, directions for future psychedelic research, and open questions. Nora works as a German licensed healing practitioner of psychotherapy specialized in trauma therapy since 2005. In 2012, she started facilitation, preparation, and integration of ayahuasca ceremonies. In 2019 she completed the Compassionate Inquiry Training founded by Dr. Gabor Matè, in 2020 she finished an 18-month Shipibo plant medicine ayahuasca training under Ricardo Amaringo at Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual in Peru. He holds a Master of Science in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health from King’s College London with distinction.

    Neuroplasticity as the Mediator of Psychedelics Antidepressant Effects with Aneta Herrenschmidt-Moller

    Aneta holds a Masters in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health from King’s College London. She comes from policy and economic research background but her main interest for over 10 years is human behaviour in health and disease, its biological correlates, and how therapies and therapeutics can influence behavioural patterns. Due to the limited effects of current treatments for depression and other psychiatric disorders, the medical and scientific community is re-investigating psychedelic compounds with the hope of finding novel therapeutics. Clinical trials with psychedelic report quick and lasting improvements across different mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, compulsion, and substance-use disorder. These findings suggest that psychedelics may effectively treat depression and other mental disorders. However, molecular pathways underlying the psychedelics therapeutic and antidepressant action are still largely unknown. This talk will present evidence from current studies reporting on classic psychedelics’ (LSD, DMT, Psilocybin) ability to rapidly enhance neural plasticity at cellular and molecular levels.CTA