Donna Jackson Nakazawa
Award-winning writer and author
Michelle Icard
Speaker, educator, and author
Girls on the Brink: Helping Our Daughters Thrive in the Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression, and Social Media
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Girls on the Brink from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Nakazawa and Icard that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
Anyone caring for girls today knows that our daughters, students, and girls next door are more anxious and more prone to depression and self-harming than ever before. As award-winning writer Donna Jackson Nakazawa deftly explains in Girls on the Brink: Helping Our Daughters Thrive in the Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression, and Social Media, new findings reveal that the crisis facing today’s girls is a biologically rooted phenomenon: the earlier onset of puberty mixes badly with the unchecked bloom of social media and cultural misogyny. When this toxic clash occurs during the critical neurodevelopmental window of adolescence, it can alter the female stress-immune response in ways that derail healthy emotional development.
Though puberty is a particularly critical and vulnerable period, it is also a time during which the female adolescent brain is highly flexible and responsive to certain kinds of support and scaffolding. Indeed, we know now that a girl’s innate sensitivity to her environment can, with the right conditions, become her superpower. Nakazawa details the common denominators of such support, shedding new light on the keys to preventing mental health concerns in girls as well as helping those who are already struggling. Drawing on insights from both the latest science and interviews with girls about their adolescent experiences, the author carefully guides adults through fifteen “antidote” strategies to help any teenage girl thrive in the face of stress.
Nakazawa is the author of four books that explore the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and emotion, including The Angel and the Assassin, named one of the best books of 2020 by Wired magazine, and Childhood Disrupted, which was a finalist for the Books for a Better Life Award. She will be in conversation with Michelle Icard (FAN ’22), the author of Fourteen Talks by Age Fourteen and Middle School Makeover.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on our website and YouTube channel.
Event Sponsors
- Baker Demonstration School
- Barrington D220
- Beacon Academy
- Catherine Cook School
- Chiaravalle Montessori School
- Chicago Jewish Day School
- Compass Health Center
- Countryside Day School
- Evanston Scholars
- Evanston Township High School D202
- Family Service Center
- Family Service of Glencoe
- Foundation 65
- Francis W. Parker School
- Glencoe D35
- Gorton Center
- Haven Youth and Family Services
- Hyde Park Day School
- Kenilworth D38
- Lake Bluff D65
- Lake Forest Academy
- Lake Forest Country Day School
- Lake Michigan Association of Independent Schools
- Latin School of Chicago
- Mindful Psychology Associates PC
- Morgan Park Academy
- Near North Montessori School
- New Trier High School D203
- New Trier Parents’ Association
- North Shore Country Day
- Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy
- Pope John XXIII School
- Rebel Human
- Regina Dominican College Preparatory High School
- Rogers Park Montessori School
- Roycemore School
- Sacred Heart Schools
- Science & Arts Academy
- Stevenson High School D125
- The Alliance for Early Childhood
- The Avery Coonley School
- The Family Institute at Northwestern University
- The Frances Xavier Warde School
- University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
- University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Parents’ Association
- Winnetka D36
- Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District
- Wolcott College Prep
- Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart
Upcoming Events
The Miraculous from the Material: Understanding the Wonders of Nature
Alan Lightman, Ph.D.
Professor of the practice of the humanities at MIT and author of seven novels
Dacher Keltner, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, University of California at Berkeley, Faculty Director of the Greater Good Science Center, and bestselling author
ON ZOOM
The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions
Michael Norton, Ph.D.
Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Sam Sommers, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Racial Equity and Diversity Lab at Tufts University
ON ZOOM
