Did you know that GAINS publications go all the way back to 2006? In honor of the newest form, The mindGAINS Blog, we are sharing a brief history of GAINS publications, all of which are archived and available for members through mindgains.org.
Connections and Reflections. From 2006 – 2011, GAINS published several issues a year of magazine-style collections of articles, art, and more, entitled Connections and Reflections. Bonnie Badenoch, as editor-in-chief, along with Lauren Culp and Carol Landsberg, teamed to launch the publication, as well as forming the core founding board of the GAINS organization itself. Lauren, who continues to serve on the GAINS Board as Treasurer and is a past-president, contributed articles about IPNB applications and her unique IPNB comic art. Current GAINS Secretary Kirke Olson started writing a column applying IPNB to education, from the very first issue, that became a cherished, regular feature. He has continued writing his way into the hearts and minds of educators everywhere, authoring The Invisible Classroom (available in the Norton series). Current Past-President Debra Pearce-McCall joined the publication fun in 2007, as a co-editor. She also wrote a variety of feature articles, including several on IPNB applications to leadership which led to co-authoring an article on leadership with Dan Siegel.
Our wonderful advisory board folks contributed existing or pre-pub chapters and articles, and participated in fabulous interviews. Each edition also included full color photos and graphics to illustrate the articles, as well as various forms of art, as we recognize, value, and welcome all forms of communication. Over the years, we were gifted with many wonderful authors, including current GAINS President Richard Hill, whose articles for GAINS may have opened his writer’s path to his third book, coming out later this year (The Practitioner’s Guide to Mirroring Hands) and Membership Chair Lynda Klau, who continues to write informative and engaging articles about human possibilities. The GAINS publications involved an IPNB infused, time and attention intensive, relational editing process that nurtured many folks who have continued to write and publish their original works about IPNB. We covered themes from Leading in an Upset World to Embodying Interpersonal Neurobiology, which sound quite relevant for today! Full color, downloadable pdfs of over a dozen issues of Connections and Reflections are available to GAINS members.
The Journal. In 2012 and 2013, Bonnie and Debra co-edited two annual issues, each over 100 pages, entitled The Journal for Interpersonal Neurobiology Studies, again overflowing with original articles – like Seeing the In-between, a gathering of GAINS advisory board members’ stories about personal awakenings to interconnectedness; and again, including what we described in one issue’s introduction as “our usual mix of scientific research, theory, relational applications, art, and personal narrative”. This mix outlines the ingredients of the IPNB smorgasbord we are continuing with The mindGAINS Blog.
E-books. In 2014, the Annual IPNB Conference, coordinated by Lifespan Learning and held at UCLA each March, was celebrating GAINS Advisory Board member (and one of the originators of IPNB) Allan N. Schore. We really wanted to join in and honor him, so GAINS issued an e-book, edited by Debra Pearce-McCall, compiling the best of eight years of GAINS articles about Allan, his contributions to IPNB, and applications of his work. In 2015, Debra edited another e-book coordinating with the Annual IPNB conference theme, which we are honored included a preview chapter from advisory board member Steven Porges with his latest thinking on play, a number of other wonderful original features, relevant chapter reprints, personal stories contributed by advisory board members, and more. The ebooks Honoring Allan N. Schore, and The Power of Play, as well as all of GAINS publications, are freely available to GAINS members through mindgains,org, as full color, downloadable pdfs.
The GAINS journey transitioned and the time-intensive, edited publication format was phased out. We shifted our focus on IPNB in content and process to virtual conversations. GAINS created our Living Journal, which includes conversational webinars featuring IPNB relevant experts, as well as our mindGAINS Book Club, and these took off in 2016. Both are broadcast live for all, with recordings also freely available to GAINS members. Our first Book Club read was Dan Siegel’s newest book, mind, and we were really glad to have Dan join in many of the book club conversations. All these webinar events are planned and facilitated by our wonderful Education Committee, which is chaired by Board Member Mary Meador, assisted by Board Members Mandy Shewfelt, Liz Braun, and Kirke Olson.
The best ways to keep in touch and learn about future dates for these gems is through our newsletter (thanks to Board Member Liz Braun who produces these), Facebook page (thanks to Board Member Michelle Shahbazyan who oversees this), and Twitter (thanks to Board Member Lauren Culp who oversees this) as well as checking our site home page. If you have not yet connected with GAINS through Facebook or Twitter, follow us on these consistent sources of quick items relevant to IPNB.
(To complete our quick tour of current and upcoming GAINS projects: We will be doing a special membership outreach with our new website launch, coordinated by Board Members Lynda Klau and Greg Czyszczon. Big thanks to Board Members Mandy Shewfelt and Richard Hill for dedicated and extensive work on the website redesign and launch. We are going through an IPNB-informed organizational team-building and strategy planning process, led by Vice President Lynn Redenbach. We are planning to expand the GAINS board again in the coming months – send an email to us quick and let us know if you are interested in being on the board or helping on a committee.)
And now, in 2017, we are creating our newest form of publication for our creative community of IPNB researchers, theorists, translators, applicators, innovators, and co-creators – The mindGAINS Blog.
What might you contribute?
With gratitude and excitement,
Debra Pearce-McCall
GAINS Blog Team
Past-President
Debra Pearce-McCall, PhD, psychologist, consultant and coach, speaker and writer. Student of the mind since age 12; committed to curiosity, compassion, and gratitude. Focuses: applying IPNB to leadership and mentoring and to professional and global ethics, and consulting with folks to help them infuse their work with IPNB. More at debrapearcemccall.com.