Red Brain, Green Brain - Kathryn Berkett

 Teacher Only Day 31 August

Guest Speaker: Kathryn Berkett - Engage
www.engagetraining.co.nz

Red Brain/Green Brain
A Recipe for Positive Engagement 

• The brain develops from the bottom to the top 

• In behavioural situations you need to bring it to basics - get back to the simple

• Walk with them, find something physical or active to do 

Red Brain - survival and emotional (lower) - will take the first choice for brain power

Green Brain - managing (upper)

Upper brain - overrides impulsive and irrational decisions (should I or shouldn’t I)

We need to allow adolescents to practice making decisions - outlining all the steps, expectations from them will result in many of them NOT doing that 

• Their brain wants to make choices and decisions 

being anxious about something vs. having anxiety 

• Anxiousness can come from having lack of autonomy 

• Some kids need to know what the right answer is before they do the activity 

• ex) “draw anything” - total block

• Dialogue around making different choices - positively 

Neuroception = subconsciously always checking around us

Brain changes from the earthquakes - increasing mental health issues within children and young people 

• Specifically very young children at the time

• In utero children - cognitive differences/behaviour 

• Increasing resilience, working positively with these students 

• Oranga Tamariki, MOE getting training around this

When students are going into ‘red brain mode’ - they are functioning differently - think 2 year old mentality - kicking, fighting, screaming as a reflex or first response

• You can’t come at them with ‘green brain’ response or dialogue as that part of their brain is temporarily shut off 

• Build up having more choices; start with 2, then add more, then work to give free choice 

Fight or Flight Response 

• Sight and hearing sharpened - looking around, not focussing on you

• Dry mouth/throat 

• Breathing changes

• Heart beat increases

• Nausea 

• Temperature change - warming up 

• bowel/bladder issues 

• Blood increase in large muscles on arms and legs - energy supply to here

• This type of energy needs to be used

• If stifled, energy can explode - punch, kick, hitting etc. 

• In movement, but moving other parts as well ex) hitting a tree with a stick but also stomping, and moving feet around 

• It’s important for us to stay in our green brain as an adult and not let our red brain take over - keeping the situation calm 

Freeze Response

• Heart rate slows down 

• Think a ‘play dead’ type of situation 

• Lack of energy in exterior muscles - slumped look - dissociation 

• Chemicals that are being released are working like morphine - shutting down 

• Can dissociate for short or long amounts of time 

• Can be as simple as when giving instructions

- more likely for females 

- trauma in early years that have stopped you from being able to move 

- being locked away, sexual abuse etc. 

- some use self harm to dissociate 

OSR - oversensitized stress response 

• When the stress response is overactivated frequently and for long periods of time 

• ex) activating fight or flight 

sandpaper brain - need to let things heal; what doesn’t hurt you at first can over time; what hurts someone who’s been through a lot may not hurt the next person the same way 

• How can we interact and react to ‘sandpaper brains’ 

• Students

• Teachers and colleagues 

We need to attuned - be able to recognize the needs of others and respond appropriately 

“The kids come in and it’s like a dance - but the dance can change styles at any moment and the student is the one who is leading” - the change is like a complete song change 

Relationship

Predictability

Status