The Brain Care Campaign: A student-led initiative founded with care and compassion
A deep dive into how a group of young women is contributing to their community through neuroscience-based mental health initiatives.

Founded in 2025, the Brain Care Campaign is a student-led initiative dedicated to making neuroscience-based mental health education accessible. In an interview with The Medium, the Brain Care Campaign shares how their compassionate approach empowers students, marginalized groups and women in STEM. 

Judi Alkurdi, founder and President of the Brain Care Campaign, is a third-year neuroscience student at McMaster University. Alkurdi’s passion to contribute beyond a traditional neuroscience approach gave birth to the idea of the campaign. 

Fueled by her love for neuroscience, an eagerness to help others, and a desire for a community with like-minded individuals, Alkurdi decided to focus on creating a global, female-led organization dedicated to making brain health education accessible to all. 

Grounded in diversity and openness 

Alkurdi expressed her pride in the diverse talents of her executive team. The Brain Care Campaign is formed by seventeen young women from various backgrounds and experiences. These women are united by their dedication to promoting brain health education and their passion to give back to their community. 

The campaign encourages diversity through the variety of executive members’ ages, academic backgrounds, and home countries. Some team members are based in the U.S., while some are from Pakistan. 

The campaign also welcomes executive members who are not in postsecondary education. Both their Outreach Manager, Faria Shahzad, and their Social Media Assistant Manager, Saaria Kahloon, are grade 11 students in high school. 

As the Brain Care Campaign’s Outreach Manager, Shahzad works to connect with external partners in their campaign, such as shelters and volunteers who take part in their workshops and events. 

On the other hand, Kahloon assists the Brain Care Campaign’s Social Media Manager, Salma Charif, a first-year Life Sciences student at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM). 

Kahloon and Charif work to gain public interest in the campaign through their social media presence. Their initiatives, such as the series “What does mental health mean to me?” encourage individuals to share their mental health experiences on the Brain Care Campaign’s social media platforms and build community.

As biology students, Charif and Alkurdi oversee the campaign and ensure it stays grounded at its core. “Neuroscience is the backbone of the campaign,” said Charif.

The team works to transfer brain health information to those with less access to education. And using their expertise in neuroscience and other STEM-related fields, the Brain Care Campaign works to ensure the accuracy of information they share. 

Nevertheless, they recognize that information about brain health needs to extend beyond STEM. “Brain health belongs to everyone,” said Shahzad.

Despite the majority of their executives being in logic-driven and male-dominated STEM fields, the Brain Care Campaign emphasizes compassion and inclusion in its initiatives. 

“Our campaign makes marginalized groups feel represented,” said Kahloon, who often ensures their social media content reflects various perspectives on mental health. Kahloon, along with Alkurdi, prioritizes having a genuine passion and interest in helping others. As a high school student, Kahloon understands firsthand how stress and uncertainty about post-secondary education can affect one’s mental health.

“We want to create a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing how they feel about brain health and mental health,” said Alkurdi. She also noted how respect and openness with team members is important to ensure they are open to new ideas and flexibility within their positions. 

“You can’t limit a single role to one person,” said Alkurdi. The majority of the executive team comprises volunteers. Since many members live outside of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the majority of the executives’ communications take place online. Hence, volunteers are critical for workshop planning and research.

“Volunteers come from diverse backgrounds, which makes the team richer. They bring new perspectives and ideas,” shared Alkurdi.

Volunteers are active participants in the Brain Care Campaign’s workshops and attend activities alongside workshop participants. They bring a level of authenticity to the campaign’s initiatives. 

“We don’t want to scare [the attendees] by just standing around,” said Alkurdi. “We want to participate and make it feel like a community.”

Workshops designed with care 

Workshops are distinct depending on the group they are catered to. Some events take place at orphan programs, while some take place in nursing homes and women’s shelters. The campaign takes a personalized approach to cater to each of its target audience’s needs. 

Based on their consideration for each group’s unique perspectives and experiences with mental health, the Brain Care Campaign’s workshop activities and topics are adjusted to cater to various audiences. For instance, women’s shelters and orphan programs often tackle the impact of trauma and bullying, while student-oriented workshops focus on chronic stress and academic anxiety. 

However, these topics are lightly touched on, with an aim to balance between not overwhelming participants, while educating them on methods to combat mental health challenges.  

“[Deep mental health work] can be too much [for participants] altogether in one session,” said Alkurdi. Therefore, the Brain Care Campaign focuses on activities that help individuals gently work through their emotions.

With an interest in pursuing a career in education, Shahzad is passionate about educating children about mental health. “It is so important to bring forth [mental health] ideologies early,” she said.

To take advantage of their education, the Brain Care Campaign’s executives apply their knowledge learnt in school to real life. As a result, much of the campaign’s activities are shaped around neuroscience concepts. For instance, neuroplasticity is encouraged by letting participants play with Play-Doh. While painting and journaling are incorporated to relieve participants’ stress. 

These activities provide accessible mental health knowledge to the public and underprivileged communities.

The campaign’s upcoming workshop with Good Shepherd, a women’s shelter in Hamilton, will take place in April. The workshop aims to offer a sense of support and community to shelter residents. The Brain Care Campaign will lead a session on how stress shapes the brain and mental health, as well as offering tools for neuro-resilience.

Empowering women in STEM

As a women-led organization, the Brain Care Campaign centers on women’s experiences, emotions, achievements and strength.

“To say that we are a woman-led organization is an honour,” shared Alkurdi. “Behind every great achievement in the world, there was a woman who worked hard, combated discrimination and adversity, and pushed through challenges to make a difference for other women.”

Considering the lack of female visibility in neuroscience and other STEM fields, the campaign works to inspire other women to pursue the sciences and come together for important causes.

“Neuroscience can come from anyone,” stated Shahzad. “It is women’s time to shine and show people that we can do something. It starts with creating a community that showcases what is possible when [women] come together, and lead conversations about mental health.”

“It’s really meaningful to be part of a female-led team, where I get to see women actively leading and shaping conversations in neuroscience,” shared Charif.

Kahloon added, “It means a lot to me to have women see themselves represented in male-dominated fields. And to inspire them to create a space where women’s voices are heard.”

The Brain Care Campaign strives to provide more workshops to amplify the voices of marginalized groups and offer personalized mental health support.

“Through this campaign, I hope to encourage more open conversations about mental health and help people understand that taking care of your brain is an essential part of taking care of yourself,” shared Alkurdi.