Kathy’s Story: Clinical Meets Practical

FocusedKids was created by Kathy Hegberg, a family and child therapist. Initially designed with preschool-age children in mind, FocusedKids recognizes that the brain is exceptionally receptive to learning during early-childhood.

As a clinical child and family therapist, Kathy witnessed the profound impact of teaching children about their brains. She realized that when children were taught about their brains, they felt less shame about their actions and gained a sense of hope and empowerment in understanding themselves and their actions better. Teaching kids about their brains and how they work (a.k.a. brain empowerment) often became the catalyst for their individual change and healing. Building on this realization, Kathy founded FocusedKids and transitioned to a classroom setting, inspired by programs like MindUp and Momentous Institute. Now, over a decade later, FocusedKids has positively influenced the lives of over 5000 students and more than 600 educators.

Check out this video of Kathy explaining what FocusedKids is all about so you can see where the program originated.

Over the course of the past decade, FocusedKids has expanded and evolved to cater to the needs of children ranging from two years old all the way through middle and even high school.