Our Mission
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Bridging Psychology & Art
My Good Brain’s mission is to use art as a vehicle for change in teaching psychological tools for adaptive functioning in youth. The overall vision for My Good Brain is to show children a healthy, fun, and engaging way to take care of their mental health using art and play.
My Good Brain was founded by Dr. Danessa Mayo, a California licensed clinical psychologist and visual artist who wanted to bridge her love and passion for both psychology and art. Dr. Mayo’s work with children and young adults has shown her the importance of highlighting mental and emotional wellness, and learning effective coping tools from an early age. Additionally, Dr. Mayo’s vision for My Good Brain focuses on coping skill learning through the medium of art-based activities and play.
Our Vision
The overall vision for My Good Brain is to show children a healthy, fun, and engaging way to take care of their mental health using art and play.
Our Aims
Psychoeducation
Create and share educational information for children about mental health topics to ensure a good foundation of knowledge
Mental Health In Action
Highlight good modeling behaviors by adults to show children ways to engage in adaptive coping, de-stigmatize mental health conversations, and share resilience stories
Parent Support
Allow parents to feel more effective and empowered in helping their child with their social-emotional development through available psychological tools and materials
Accessibility
Increase the accessibility to supplemental mental health resources and reach underprivileged youth and BIPOC communities
Why We Need Art
A Human Way of Self-Help and Healing
February 2021
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 91% of the world’s school-aged population have been negatively impacted by school closure (Lee, 2020).
Youth with pre-existing health conditions, special needs have even less access to resources in the community for their care and academic functioning (Lee, 2020). Parents have even more limited resources or support, adding to their daily stressors and challenges (work, family, health; Dalton et al., 2020). Social inequality driving another complication to the impact of COVID-19 on children’s mental health status.
As we reach almost a full year of distance learning and stay-at-home orders in the San Francisco Bay Area, the long-term effects of social isolation, elevated anxiety, and concerns about safety in our daily surroundings is of great concern for youth and developing minds. It is up to us to figure out ways to promote adaptive coping strategies to school-aged youth and boost their resiliency amidst unprecedented challenges.
Art, play, and self-expression are natural ways of learning that children and teens feel comfortable in exploring. Art can be used as a vehicle for change and emotional wellness. Art therapy is an emerging field of study and intervention for children and adults dealing with mental health challenges. Art promotes self-expression, emotional release, and creative problem-solving skills development. With My Good Brain, our goal is to create psychological self-help tools that are fun, engaging, and accessible to youth. It is our hope that these coping skills will be useful to them during the pandemic and they will be more likely to utilize these skills in daily life.
Dr. Danessa Mayo, PhD
CEO, Founder