The good news is that the brain comes equipped with its own incredible strategies for maintaining mental and emotional health. These built-in mechanisms can work alongside—or, in some cases, in place of—traditional pharmaceutical approaches. In the six lectures of Sculpting Healthy Brains with Everyday Activities, you’ll join behavioral neuroscientist Professor Kelly Lambert of the University of Richmond to explore how to activate these natural, powerful strategies and help your brain write its own prescriptions for resilience and well-being. Professor Lambert’s work in the lab has shown that strategic, experience-based activities—what she calls “behaviorceuticals”—can promote brain health. As it turns out, engaging in tasks such as cooking or gardening, for example, may be just the prescription we need for better mental health.

As you’ll learn in this course, incorporating engaging and meaningful activities into our daily lives allows us to tap into the brain’s incredible ability to adapt to life’s uncertainties. This process, known as neuroplasticity, enables the brain to rewire itself in response to new experiences. With an understanding of neuroplasticity and behavior-based approaches, you can begin to use your life experiences to optimize your mental health.