Charities work together on brain science in bid to reduce conflict

Two charities have created a partnership to help young Scots better understand their brain science – and in turn improve mental and physical health and reduce conflict.

The Cyrenians and Glasgow Science Centre hope their joint efforts can help more people become aware of the “relevance that science can have in their lives”.

The Cyrenians’ Scottish Centre for Conflict Resolution (SCCR) has already developed online tools to help families struggling with conflict at home, in a bid to prevent relationship breakdowns and youth homelessness.

It launched its Emotional Homunculus project, which looks at the the links between conflict, emotions, the brain and the body at the Glasgow Science Centre last year.

The two organisations have now pledged to work together and signed a formal memorandum of understanding.

Diane Marr, network development manager at SCCR, said: “We created the Emotional Homunculus and our other award-winning digital resources to examine the link between conflict, emotions, the brain and the body, as part of our continuing efforts to help families struggling with conflict, which can lead to problems with mental health, relationships and, in certain circumstance, result in youth homelessness.

“But we quickly realised from young people, parents and professionals that there were the wider uses for these resources, around helping young people and families to talk through emotions, feelings and to support mental and physical wellbeing.

“That’s why we are absolutely delighted to be partnering with the Glasgow Science Centre to look at creating new ways of helping young people and adults feed their curiosity about their own physical and mental wellbeing and the world around them.”

Dr Stephen Breslin, chief executive at Glasgow Science Centre, said the relationship between the two charities “continues to go from strength to strength”.

He stated: “Our organisations are working well in collaboration, exploring the possibility of new ground-breaking projects, to examine how a better understanding of neuroscience can help young people to manage conflict.

“With this new commitment in place, we’re confident we’ll create more opportunities to inspire even more people to understand the relevance that science can have in their lives.”

The signing of the new memorandum of understanding comes ahead of the SCCR’s national conference to help youngsters better understand the science of conflict.