Janice Houlihan
Founder & Executive Director · Franklin, Massachusetts
“CYN was built from a simple belief — every young person deserves connection, safety, and community.”
Janice Houlihan has spent more than 20 years at the intersection of youth development, social work, and social-emotional wellbeing — in schools, nonprofits, and communities nationwide.
With an M.Ed. and a career rooted in social work, she designs environments where young people are seen, heard, and centered. Her work has long focused on upstream prevention: building daily practices that help students and educators manage stress, strengthen connection, and reduce harm before crises escalate.
Belonging and safety, built in from the start — that conviction shapes Connected Youth Network.
Research from school-based mindfulness work — including randomized trials led through Inner Explorer — demonstrates why safe, consistent daily practices matter.
Reduction in reactive behavior in K–5 classrooms (RCT)
Fewer bullying incidents in the same trial period
Decrease in teacher stress with daily mindfulness
Increase in student GPA alongside calmer classrooms
Connection matters — but safe belonging matters even more.
After years working with young people, one pattern became clear. CYN was created to intentionally design spaces where youth feel seen, supported, and empowered.
— Janice Houlihan
Explores how neuroscience-informed interventions — assessed and advanced through organizations like BrainFutures — can improve outcomes in K–12 education, the workforce, and aging populations through practical, evidence-based brain fitness approaches.
Documents how daily mindfulness in schools can reduce bullying and reactive behavior — including trial findings where bullying incidents fell by half — and why brief, consistent practice helps students and teachers build safer, more positive classroom cultures.