Avielle Initiative Seed Grant for Brain Health Research and Innovation & Jeremy Richman Brain Health Research Award

Avielle Rose Richman was born in San Diego, California, on October 17th, 2006, into a family of storytellers. With a spitfire personality, and a love of laughter, Avielle was rarely without a giant grin and often barefoot. Like her parents, she loved stories and demanded them as she was falling asleep, taking a bath, riding in the car, and on every walk she took. She already understood that her life, her growing up, was going to be a series of stories.

A Brief History

The Avielle Foundation was created in 2013 by Jennifer Hensel and Jeremy Richman after the death of their daughter Avielle, along with 25 of her peers and educators in the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. The Foundation emerged as a leader in building compassion and violence prevention by funding research, educational programs, events, and helping to train the next generation of scientists. The Avielle Foundation has benefited countless individuals and communities, especially those living in and around Newtown. The tragedy was further compounded by Jeremy’s death in 2019. To ensure Avielle’s name and legacy live on, the foundation formed a new partnership, with the University of Colorado, Anschutz Campus in 2020, establishing the Avielle Initiative, and now under the Brain and Behavior Innovation Center at CU Anschutz. The partnership between The partnership between CU Anschutz and the Avielle Foundation grew out of the recognition that our organizations approach work with deep passion, enduring hope, and unflinching dedication. We share a belief that real change can happen when organizations and communities work together to develop and implement science-driven solutions to promote brain health, create compassion and ultimately reduce violence.

Remembering Sandy Hook

December 14th marks 12 years since the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. At the Brain and Behavior Innovation Center (BBICEN) at the Department of Psychiatry, in collaboration with the Avielle Initiative and the Jeremy Richman Brain Health Research Endowed Fellowship Fund, we honor the lives lost and reaffirm our commitment to work together to develop and implement science-driven solutions to promote brain health, create compassion and ultimately reduce violence. The Avielle Initiative aims to improve clinical care quality, build empathy, and empower people to improve their own well-being through technology and innovation. The Jeremy Richman Brain Fund supports impactful research, community engagement, and educational efforts to address the root causes of violence in partnership with the Avielle Initiative.

Highlights from the Past Year

The Avielle Initiative Seed Grant for Brain Health Research and Innovation supports cutting-edge brain health research across all stages of the translational science spectrum that will further Avielle’s legacy. The 2024 seed grant supported two projects:

• Dr. Jacob Holzman’s parenting project conducted research aiming to improve parenting strategies for those with executive functioning challenges. Over the past year, Dr. Holzman and his team developed and tested scalable, telehealth-based interventions to enhance parental engagement and child well-being in partnership with Denver Great Kids Head Start program. Nine parents and nine children participated in the group, and parents reported increased confidence and strategies to improve emotional connections with children, commended the program's accessibility and effectiveness, and noted significant improvements in family dynamics and reduced behavioral challenges. One parent said “I am so thankful for this group. I felt reassured, comfortable, and confident while learning ways to improve how I’m parenting. [The group] helped the overall well-being of my child to be a happy, kind, and empathic kid.”
• Dr. Tracy Bale’s Brain Camp, an innovative summer program combining neuroscience education with hands-on art and science activities, engaged 25 children from diverse backgrounds in Aurora, Colorado in a one-week camp. The agenda for the camp tied science, art, and social-emotional learning to promote brain health, emphasizing emotional resilience and self-awareness, and empowering children to prioritize mental well-being. Students created collaborative artwork and five Little Free Libraries distributing 100 books, fostering community awareness about brain health. One student said “I couldn’t wait to come! This is the first time I have ever been excited to attend camp!”, and 100% of students returned day after day. In addition, Brain Camp inspired a student-led afterschool Brain Club, engaging girls in STEM leadership.

The Jeremy Richman Brain Health Research Endowed Fellowship supports young scientists interested in brain health and the development of technology and programs focused on building compassion and preventing violence participating in the Psychiatry Undergraduate Research Program and Learning Experience (PURPLE). In 2024, intern Alan Blankenship highlighted how the program enabled him to research suicide prevention among NCAA athletes under the mentorship of Dr. Matt Mishkind. Alan reflected on the program, stating that this mentorship “enriched my research with a deeper understanding of how compassion and mental health intersect and underscored the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in addressing societal challenges”.

Looking Ahead

This year’s accomplishments reflect the power of collaboration, innovation, and community to drive meaningful change. As we look to the year ahead, we are eager to continue this important work, creating new opportunities to honor Avielle and Jeremy’s legacies and inspire future generations. 

Parenting Project 2024

The Parenting Project, led by Dr. Jacob Holzman, received funding in 2024 from the Avielle Initiative Seed Grant. Collaborating with the Denver Great Kids Head Start program, the project focuses on adapting a brief, scalable parenting program delivered via telehealth to optimize parental executive functioning, thereby improving parental engagement and child well-being. It leverages technology to redesign care, using telehealth to maximize the accessibility of the intervention. In partnering with the Denver Great Kids Head Start program, the team works to create a community-engaged intervention tailored to the needs of struggling families with young children.

Over the past year, nine parents and nine children participated in the group, and parents reported increased confidence and strategies to improve emotional connections with children, commended the program's accessibility and effectiveness, and noted significant improvements in family dynamics and reduced behavioral challenges. In addition, the Denver Great Kids Head Start Program has contracted with Dr. Holzman and his team to adopt this parenting group model program-wide and expand services to provide Teacher-Child Interaction Training (TCIT) through Bluetooth ear-piece to early childhood educators in Head Start classrooms to reduce educator stress and increase educator confidence in managing challenging behaviors in the classroom. The team now supports four classrooms, ten teachers, eight coaches, and over 50 kids.

The same parenting group intervention is being delivered at Children’s Hospital Colorado, and Dr. Holzman’s team is evaluating the program across both settings through his NIH K23 award. The team provided consultation to group providers at CHCO, supporting fidelity to the model. At CHCO, at least 280 people have been enrolled from their routine care.  

Dr. Holzman’s project will continue for a second year, focusing on further expanding reach, refinement of implementation strategies, and analyzing the acceptability and perceived benefits of both the adaptations for parents with executive functioning difficulties and the early childhood educator classroom support. We look forward to seeing the continued positive impact of this project on the Denver Great Kids Head Start Program and beyond. 

One parent said:

“I am so thankful for this group. I felt reassured, comfortable, and confident while learning ways to improve my parenting skills. [The group] helped my child's overall well-being to be a happy, kind, and empathic kid.”

Brain Camp 2024

The Avielle Foundation partnered with DOPsych-BBICen to create science driven solutions to promote brain health, compassion, and to reduce violence. One of the Seed Grant Projects funded by this initiative is the Brain Camp Program, led by Dr. Tracy Bale. This past June Dr. Bale, together with Jessica Fluharty, Ms. Mindingo, and Mr. Sclossberg-Cohen (Artist) brought the Brain Camp to the Isabella Bird elementary School in Aurora.

The Brain Camp is an interactive science and art based program using a creative and engaging activities to teach children about the brain to boost emotional well-being and manage stress. The students learned the importance of brain health through fun and engaging hands on science and art experiments. Camp activities culminated in children designing Little Free Libraries boxes to be installed in their local community to serve as a resource and reminder as to the power and importance of brain health. Empowering kids with the knowledge to talk about the brain and emotional well-being is invaluable.