Revere board hears Brain Enrichment Initiative pitch to train high‑school mentors for middle‑school mental‑health support

Dan Flanagan and two colleagues told the Revere Board of Education during a work session Aug. 12 that the Brain Enrichment Initiative (BEI) is a mentorship‑based mental‑health curriculum that trains older students to mentor younger students in small groups and connects participants to community partners for additional services.

Flanagan said the BEI curriculum is trademarked and built around social‑emotional learning combined with “brain education” drawn from research; mentors are typically ninth‑ and tenth‑graders who receive four weeks of training and then deliver a multi‑week curriculum to middle‑school mentees. “Our curriculum…is taught to mentors in ninth or tenth grade. They become the mentor in the program,” Flanagan said. He described a 40‑lesson library the program adapts to district needs.

The program’s Nut Graf: BEI leaders said a central aim is prevention — to give students leadership skills, emotional‑regulation tools and a local support network before mental‑health problems become severe. The presenters cited a pilot in Akron Public Schools and said the district saw…