The Alberta Family Wellness Initiative (AFWI) officially began in 2007, but its origins date back further. In 2004, the Palix Foundation, then called the Norlien Foundation, set its sights on an ambitious goal: to improve outcomes in health and well-being for children and families across Alberta, Canada.
To achieve this goal, the Foundation aimed to bridge the considerable gap between the latest scientific knowledge about sensitive periods of brain development and its impact on lifelong health outcomes with what is done in policy and practice. The AFWI was created to serve as a catalyst for this work.
As the initiative has become established, it has broadened its mandate and agenda.
AFWI Ten Year Report: How the Brain Story is Creating Healthier Communities
The Groundwork
In the years leading up to the formation of the AFWI, the Palix Foundation begins building a knowledge base and forms a community of leading scientists.
In 2006, the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child release a major body of research around early life experiences and later health outcomes. The Palix Foundation commits funding to both organizations and makes their body of knowledge available in Alberta. The Foundation also enters a partnership with the FrameWorks Institute, a non-profit research organization that makes complex scientific information understandable for broad audiences.
The Harvard Center collaborates with the FrameWorks Institute to develop a “Core Story of Brain Development” (later incorporated into the AFWI’s Brain Story). The Core Story establishes a common language for discussing brain development and its link to health outcomes. This language can be used by researchers, policy makers, and service providers across sectors, as well as by the public. The Palix Foundation commissions FrameWorks to research public attitudes in Alberta and validate the relevance of the Brain Story for Alberta audiences.
The Foundation also makes connections and funds research relevant to brain development at the University of Alberta, University of Lethbridge, the University of Calgary, and other academic institutions.
The Alberta Family Wellness Initiative (AFWI) is created to turn “what we know” about sensitive periods of brain development and its impact on health outcomes into “what we do” in practice and service delivery.
2005 - 2008
Alberta’s “Core Story”
FrameWorks completes its development of Alberta’s core story of brain development, known colloquially as “The Brain Story,” which becomes the basis for all AFWI communications. The Brain Story is a series of engaging metaphors that tell a story about brain development in accessible language.
2009 - 2012
Symposia Series
In 2010-2012, the AFWI partners with the Government of Alberta to launch two, three-year interdisciplinary knowledge mobilization strategies centred on two annual symposia: one in Early Brain and Biological Development, and the other in Recovery from Addiction. Participants from a wide variety of professional backgrounds attend. Cross-sector Learning Teams originally formed at the Symposia continue to work together year-round, finding better ways to communicate and apply brain development knowledge in their spheres of influence.
In 2013-2014, expanding on the earlier symposia, the AFWI hosts the Accelerating Innovation symposia series, which examines the intergenerational effects of stress and mental health, including addiction. Participants are divided into Innovation Teams that work together throughout the two years to solve problems, demonstrate leadership, and apply knowledge about brain science.
2010 - 2014
Knowledge Dissemination & Launch of the Brain Story Certification Course (BSCC)
The AFWI hosts hundreds of smaller targeted presentations all over Alberta. These sessions are called Professional Development Days, and they are led by change agents, members of partner organizations, and individuals and organizations interested in learning about the Brain Story.
In 2016, the AFWI launches the Brain Story Certification Course (BSCC), a free, online program that makes Brain Story science widely available to professionals and the public. The course blends the Brain Story metaphors with insights from world-leading experts in the fields of neuroscience, mental health, and addiction.
2015 - 2016
From Knowledge to Action
The BSCC becomes the AFWI’s knowledge mobilization vehicle, and organizations across the province begin requiring their staff to complete the course. The AFWI also develops additional videos and content to support the dissemination of the Brain Story.
In 2020, the AFWI hosts a community of practice with eight organizations that have deep familiarity with the Brain Story. The goal of the community of practice is to identify and share emerging Brain Story-aligned practices being implemented at individual, program/organization, and community/system levels--and how to support their integration and sustainability. The application of the Resilience Scale emerges as a natural extension of this important work.
The AFWI enters into a partnership with the University of Oxford to scale this work on a global level.
2016 - 2022
Resilience Scale Masterclass & Framework
The AFWI launches the Resilience Scale Masterclass training in 2022, which outlines the application of the Resilience Scale at the individual, organizational, and systems levels. The AFWI hosts these sessions across the province, training thousands of individuals in this material.
In 2023, the AFWI releases the Brain Story and Resilience Scale Framework, thoroughly outlining the application of the Resilience Scale at all three levels (individual, organizational, systems).
2022 - 2023
Implementing the Brain Story & Resilience Scale Framework
The AFWI collaborates with change agents to mobilize and implement the Brain Story and Resilience Scale Framework at the individual, organizational, and systems levels.
The first-generation protocol of the application of the Resilience Scale as a tool for use in clinical practice is piloted, and feedback is incorporated to update the approach.
In 2025, the AFWI launches The Resilience Scale: A Tool for Change, a 90-minute online training about the application of the Resilience Scale at the individual level.