NOTRE DAME, Ind. (Dec. 16, 2024) – Three seniors in the Neuroscience & Behavior program at the University of Notre Dame just finished their semester-long internship/project with Triple P Elkhart County by producing a kid-focused video about brain health!

Emily Arenas, Loren Alfaro, and Mia Delvecchio worked with Triple P Elkhart County Director Leah Plank and other Triple P staff throughout the Fall 2024 semester to learn more about how Triple P serves parents and their children. 

The students attended Triple P workshops, helped with childcare, and did kids crafts at Fables Books for Goshen First Fridays. Then they studied some of the Triple P principles and asked questions about how Positive Parenting strategies help parents achieve positive behavioral and relational results with their children. And then they put together a concept map explaining the neurological processes that contribute to a child’s development, as well as how external stimuli can affect that development, either positively or negatively. 

Ultimately, the students reported, positive parenting attention and affection toward children creates and reinforces pathways in the brain for oxytocin, a chemical that increases bonding and feelings of security between people. A more positive approach to parenting also avoids creating psychological damage that can come with more harsh disciplinary methods.

For their final project, the students created a brain health video for young children, incorporating content from a booklet called “Brain Care is Self-Care” produced by Self-Healing Communities of Greater Michiana alongside the Notre Dame neuroscience department and ACES Indiana Coalition. The video explains in child-friendly terms how our activities and experiences can help our brains be healthy and includes an activity at the end that children can do on their own to take care of their brains any time. The students presented their project alongside the other students in their class on Dec. 16 at Bond Hall on Notre Dame’s campus with community partners for each project present.

Thank you to Emily, Loren, and Mia for your creativity, curiosity, and hard work to create this resource as well as share your knowledge on the neurological benefits of Triple P with our team. Good luck as you work toward graduation!

Special thanks also to Nancy Michael, Ph.D, the director of the Notre Dame Neuroscience & Behavior program and the instructor of this course, as well as Velshonna Luckey, the executive director of Self-Healing Communities of Greater Michiana.

You can watch and share the students’ video below at the Triple P Elkhart County YouTube channel: