To support our mission, we are pleased to welcome you to our Connection Curriculum. We are so excited to work with you to empower students and staff to make intentional connections. Loneliness is one of the only shared human experiences that every person has faced in their lifetime, and currently the rates of loneliness have reached epidemic levels. Studies continue to show that loneliness has a multiplier effect on both mental and physical health challenges. We believe the solution to loneliness starts with intentional connection. When we are connected with others, we feel less lonely. When we hear similar stories with shared experiences, we feel less lonely. 

Through this curriculum, we feature stories from individuals with unique and diverse experiences, challenges and successes. These stories are provided to inspire individuals to connect with others and provide a place for conversation and reflection as they build empathy. 

Each month we encourage students to connect with themselves and to complete a connection challenge to focus on the relationships in each of their lives. Our challenges are focused around the relationships in students lives that they want to enhance and grow. The following month, accountability partners in class will engage students together on how the challenge went and continue the cycle throughout the year. These accountability partners are another layer of support to protect our students in this epidemic of loneliness.

Our curriculum fits with the other Social Emotional work already being done in schools. Whether you are using a scripted SEL curriculum, focusing on Restorative Justice, or anything in between and beyond, the Connection Curriculum is designed to layer with those programs to support your students needs.  

Through our videos, conversations and challenges, we hope that you will engage with your students to create a culture that is focused on ending loneliness. 
 

program overview

Each month you will receive a video with supporting materials. It is our hope that you use the video to start a conversation with your students to build their empathy skills. You have access to questions to help facilitate conversations with your students. We recommend that you create small groups of 2-4 students that will have ongoing conversations throughout the year. These accountability partners create a safer place for students to show vulnerability and really engage in conversation. As you lead the conversations, these small groups become a place where your students can share their emotions and thoughts. Each month, the accountability partners also provide a logical place to check in on how the challenge from the previous month went. In addition to being a pedagogical best practice, these groups allow students to also build connections--an important element to ending loneliness. 

Each month, we have students connect with themselves to develop a habit of acknowledging emotions and building a strong foundation of self awareness. We then challenge students to create deeper relationships with the people in their lives. The challenges are designed around relationships that fit into concentric circles with the student at the center--circles of care or influence. We encourage you to support your students as they identify and develop the relationships that matter to them. 

The process of connecting with self and checking in with accountability partners is designed to be repetitive so students build strong habits in these areas. Our challenges are sometimes more novel and fun to keep the work feeling new, however, we know that routine matters so using a challenge over again is absolutely appropriate.

an important recommendation:

We recognize that there may be big reactions to the material our storytellers share in the videos. We highly encourage you to partner with your school counselor, or local mental health resource providers along with the program to access the care your students may need. We continue to develop a database of resources on our website to help you as well.