Brain XP
The Brain XP Project
The Brain XP Project is the new center of teen mental health. Here at Brain XP, we provide peer-based & lived experience based mental health resources. Our training as mental health advocates is our lived experience, and all of our content reflects that. *We are not mental health professionals.
From blog posts to music videos to podcast episodes and more, Brain XP offers free and easily accessible mental health materials for youth, teens, caregivers, and families.
We also offer support through our Brain XP Community, which is our all-inclusive online social media community where we post content that focuses on teen mental health awareness.
Brain XP provides trainings, live presentations, and other lived experience based services to help educate youth, teens, caregivers, families, and general audiences about teen mental health.
Brain XP showcases new & upcoming young creators who are interested in mental health by giving them a platform to spread mental health awareness and grow as mental health advocates. For more information about our programs for aspiring influencers as well as established creators, please visit our Creators tab.
The Brain XP Project is the new movement and future for teen mental health! Utilize our resources, interact in our community, and learn from our lived-experience peer based educational materials. You do not want to miss out on this new wave of teen mental health advocacy, so stay in touch with us and keep checking back here on our website for new info and more opportunities to participate in our project.
Brain XP’s Concept
The creation of the Brain XP concept was truly a journey. It all started with a 16 year old girl who lost all of her friends due to the stigma surrounding her mental health challenges. This girl goes by the name Sailor Smoak (born Christine Marie Frey) who is the Brain XP Project’s founder.
Sailor was a straight A student with tons of friends, and she was extremely interactive, outgoing, and happy. When she entered middle school, she noticed that something felt different inside of her, but she couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. Little did she know that these feelings would end up changing her life so drastically and so fast.
At 11 years old, Sailor realized that the feelings she was experiencing were symptoms of anxiety. At 12, she began experiencing symptoms of depression, psychosis, and bipolar disorder in addition to her anxiety. By the time she was 13 years old, Sailor had been expelled from school due to the stigma surrounding her. She lost all of her friends in her support network, and she felt hopeless.
One day when Sailor was 13 years old, she and her mom Debbie went for a walk with their dog Sparky. Sailor felt immense rage building inside of her. This rage came from being labeled as mentally ill by her former friends, other parents, and school administration. On this 20 minute dog walk, Sailor confided in Debbie and told her that she hates being called mentally ill. Debbie and Sailor started brainstorming different terms that they could use to replace the label of mental illness, and it was then that Debbie came up with the term Brain XP.
Brain XP stands for Brain eXPanded! This is our new positive term for teen mental illness. Brain XP acknowledges that teens who struggle with mental health challenges think in creative, intuitive, and insightful ways. It is almost as if their brains are expanded.
We do not label struggling teens as sick, crazy, or psycho. Instead, we shine a positive light on struggling teens because we believe that with management of symptoms and maintenance of healthy minds, struggling teens can thrive and achieve incredible accomplishments!
Brain XP’s Mission
Brain XP is dedicated to erasing the stigma surrounding mental health by changing its language to be far more positive. We aim to spread the message that mental health is a priority!
We are here to provide mental health education that is based purely on lived experience. Brain XP gives youth, teens, and caregivers the opportunity to access relatable mental health materials at their fingertips.
Through our concept, online community, peer storytelling, social media content, and all of our other Brain XP offerings including ways for youth to participate in our project programs, we spread a unique message of hope that is needed so much in our world today.
