S4E03: Barbara Arrowsmith-Young – The Process of Changing Your Brain
The Hoffman Podcast
The Effects of Stress on Mental Health
Barbara struggled with anxiety, disorder and depression as a child. She says it was her brain that was driving these challenges. Research shows people with learning difficulties are more likely to have physical disease or physical illness.
Today’s episode with Barbara Arrowsmith-Young and Drew will open your mind to new possibilities in how to change your brain. Barbara is an innovator and author in the field of neuroeducation. Used worldwide, her work utilizing the principles of neuroplasticity to enhance cognitive functioning was begun in 1978.
Barbara’s vision is to put the brain into the education equation. She is passionate about enhancing “the learner’s ability to engage with what is out there in the external world.”
To support herself in bringing this gift she’d created into the world, Barbara came to the Hoffman Process in 1996. In other words, she had a vision but needed to clear the negative behaviors, moods, and ways of thinking standing in her way.
As a result, Barbara has made and continues to make her vision a reality. Looking forward, she sees promise in her work to help addicts rewire their brains, as well as helping those with the cognitive impact of long-haul COVID-19.
Through fierce dedication, Barbara has transformed the considerable challenges she was born with into the gift she now shares with the world. She says she won’t ever retire; and that she’ll continue to work in this area until she is “no longer here.“
More about Barbara Arrowsmith-Young:
As the Director of the Arrowsmith Program, others have recognized Barbara’s work as one of the first examples of the practical application of neuroplasticity to address learning difficulties. Barbara continues to engage in research to understand how we can drive neuroplastic change in the brain to benefit learners worldwide.
Born with severe learning disabilities, Barbara received the diagnosis of having a mental block in grade one. Another way of saying this in today’s world would be multiple learning disabilities. Barbara read and wrote everything backward. In addition, processing concepts in language was difficult for her, she continuously got lost and was physically uncoordinated. Through heroic effort, Barbara eventually learned to read and write from left to right and mask a number of the symptoms of her learning disabilities. Relying on her formidable memory and iron will, she attended graduate school. There she chanced upon research that inspired her to invent cognitive exercises to “fix” her own brain.
Barbara’s book, The Woman Who Changed Her Brain, interweaves her own tale with riveting case histories from her more than thirty years of working with both children and adults. You can learn more about Barbara here and at the links below.
Links to learn more about Barbara Arrowsmith-Young:
TEDx talk: The Woman Who Changed Her Brain: Barbara Arrowsmith-Young at TEDxToronto
Presentation:
Changing Brains, Exploring a New Reality: Neuroplasticity and Learning.
Research Overview
(downloadable PDF)
Free Webinar Series:
Shaping Our Brain: How Neuroplasticity Can Enrich Our Lives
Free Book Downloads:
The Brain Pioneer, by Howard Eaton (a children’s book)
Brain School, by Howard Eaton
As mentioned in this episode:
Barbara Burke, beloved Hoffman Process teacher, and coach.
Alexander Romanovich Luria: Neuropsychologist, often said to be the father of modern neuropsychology. It was Luria’s book, The Man with the Shattered World, that changed Barbara’s world.
Mark Richard Rosenzweig: Research psychologist at Berkeley.
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