10/23/2025
What are people scared of?
Our programming is meant to help people get reps in the face of their actual fears. So, we have to know what really scares people in order to create programming that provides the opportunity for relevant/high-value practice.
Valuable practice leads to self-efficacy, knowing you can do the thing you’ve practiced doing.
In the case of our work with people, face fears they actually have in the lives they are actually living.
We know a lot about what people are scared of and how those fears have been changing since 2020.
What has remained true is that the #1 BIGGEST FEAR among people 15 years and older is FAILURE.
While “loss of a loved one” (parent, sibling, child) is on the rise, particularly among women, they are still far behind fear of failure or fears in the “neighborhood of failure” (disappointing self/others, not living up to expectation of self/others).
For sophomores, this is how the FEAR PROFILE of girls differs from boys.
In our seventh year of partnership, we continue to work with BMHS students to practice - all day! - in their real fear so they can build real bravery and use it in their real lives.
Thank you to our incredible Brave Activation team: Ashley Boles-Riley, PhD. Ricki Estopier Ayala Jasmine Docal Henry Jodi-Kay Hylton-Senior Lakin Roland Kylie Loftis Jalen Coleman-Lands M.S. Eon Goldson Monique Swain, MSW, LCSW-C Xav Handfield
And our partners from BMHS Amanda Saunders Brynna Sherony Abigail Greer, Ed.D Kimberly Weaver Samuel Hardwick and Naya Washington
