Testing a Conscious Discipline Intervention in Kisumu, Kenya

We are testing delivery of Conscious Discipline (CD), a transdisciplinary, trauma-responsive, brain-based pedagogy aimed at adults--parents, caregivers, teachers--first. Its focus is on self-regulation and co-regulation, conflict management, relationship-building, and empathy. Delivery is through play-based community classes by CHPs who have undergone extensive training in CD, including training in adverse childhood experiences, attunement and attachment, the nurturing care model, and adult skills such as composure, assertiveness, encouragement, offering choices, positive intent, and empathy, and delivering consequences. The premise is that all behavior is communication, and misbehavior is a call for help or a sign of missing skills. Adults are taught a simple brain model through which to view their children, with a focus on adult-adult relationships, adult-child relationships, and child-child relationships. We have completed 8 months of delivery and are transitioning to waitlist control families in the next 6 weeks (mid 2026), with current intervention families continuing to receive support and visits from their CHPs. We use rigorous assessment methods to measure for change in child development patterns and characteristics, child well being, adult wellbeing and characteristics, and adult fidelity to the model. Early anecdotal data indicates widespread stakeholder approval and observed changes among children and households. The East Africa Center for Child Neurodevelopment (www.eaccnd.org) is a registered nonprofit in Kenya. It is based in Kisumu and partnered with the Adaptive Model for Research and Empowerment in Communities (AMREC) and with Kisumu West subcounty Department of Public Health. EACCN is affiliated with its sister organization, the Caribbean Center for Child Neurodevelopment, based in Grenada, and with its recently formed parent organization, the Global Center for Child Neurodevelopment, based in the US. Funding is from various private and public sources, and we are currently seeking additional funding for Kenya in particular. Whilst currently working with parents and caregivers of young (age 0-3) children, EACCN's goals include partnering with other organizations and expanding to other counties, expanding CD training into other childcare and preschool settings, and following the children in our intervention programs long-term. EACCN's mission is to support and foster healthy brain development among children in East Africa and all developing global south regions worldwide. Its vision is a world in which all children feel safe, connected, and cognitively empowered to effectively resolve conflict within themselves and with others in a socially sustainable way. Founded in 2022 by Drs. Randall Waechter, Barbara Landon, and Susannah Otieno-Leppanen, the EACCN is comprised of a dedicated team of researchers, social entrepreneurs, early childhood development (ECD) experts, policy consultants, volunteers and ECD stakeholders who apply a holistic approach to support the neurological development of children across communities.