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The Container Store Offers $10,000 in Scholarships for Charisma Virtual Social Coaching

Jeremy Kaspar, Leslie Morgan, Maria Johnson and LaTisha S. Brandon celebrate the announcement for Autism Acceptance Month.

Center for BrainHealth

Latest collaboration with Center for BrainHealth celebrates Autism Acceptance Month.The Container Store, the nation’s leading retailer of storage and organization solutions, custom spaces, and in-home organizing services, will fund $10,000 in scholarships for Charisma™ Virtual Social Coaching, a strength-based social skills training developed by Center for BrainHealth.Charisma is a personalized, avatar-driven program that provides real-time, unscripted social coaching in a safe, non-threatening virtual environment. Drawing on extensive cognitive neuroscience research, this program is demonstrated to help people with social challenges to build confidence in their ability to connect with others. Charisma is accessed via a personal computer with internet connection; clients can be located anywhere.“As people become confident in their social skills, the personal transformation can be life-altering,” said Maria Johnson, MA, CCC-SLP, director of Charisma at Center for BrainHealth. “We are enormously grateful for The Container Store’s continued support, so that cost is not a barrier to access.” The scholarships are being announced in celebration of Autism Acceptance Month. Charisma has been proven effective for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) – as well as people with social anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), social pragmatic communication disorder and learning disabilities, those who are gifted and talented, high-achieving, twice exceptional (2E), and those seeking individualized social-emotional coaching. “We are thrilled to support Center for BrainHealth, which has deep experience in providing strategies and resources to improve brain health for people of all abilities and all ages,” said LaTisha Brandon, vice president, DE&I, culture and charitable giving at The Container Store. “We are celebrating Autism Acceptance Month with scholarships that will expand access to the powerful Charisma Virtual Social Coaching program.” The scholarships are The Container Store’s latest initiative supporting the Center for BrainHealth’s nonprofit mission; for the past dozen years, the company has helped underwrite the center’s popular speaker series that raises public awareness and understanding about the brain’s lifelong ability to get stronger and help people thrive in their lives. In February 2023, this collaboration expanded to include support for the first annual BrainHealth Week.CONTACT Stephanie Hoefken 972.883.3221 stephanie.hoefken@utdallas.eduABOUT CENTER FOR BRAINHEALTH Center for BrainHealth®, part of The University of Texas at Dallas, is a translational research institute committed to enhancing, preserving, and restoring brain health across the lifespan. Major research areas include the use of functional and structural neuroimaging techniques to better understand the neurobiology supporting cognition and emotion in health and disease. This leading-edge scientific exploration is translated quickly into practical innovations to improve how people think, work and live, empowering people of all ages to unlock their brain potential. Translational innovations build on Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Tactics (SMART™), a proprietary methodology developed and tested by BrainHealth researchers and other teams over three decades.ABOUT THE CONTAINER STORE The Container Store Group, Inc. (NYSE: TCS) is the nation's leading specialty retailer of organizing solutions, custom spaces, and in-home services – a concept they originated in 1978. Today, with locations nationwide, the retailer offers more than 10,000 products designed to transform lives through the power of organization. Visit www.containerstore.com for more information about products, store locations, services offered and real-life inspiration.

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Maria Johnson, MA, CCC-SLP

Director, Youth and Family Innovations Lead Research Clinician and Trainer, Charisma Virtual Social Coaching

Jeremy Kaspar

Director of Strategic Partnerships

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