Here at Only7Seconds, we are on a mission to end loneliness. One of the ways we do that is through our Connection Curriculum. The Connection Curriculum is grounded in Circles of Connection with each person at the center of their relationships. Through three types of lessons, the curriculum builds on those circles.

In the Personal Connection lessons, participants engage with their own story building capacity to connect with the people in their life arriving at the outcome: MY STORY MATTERS. In the lessons featuring the I Know Lonely Storytellers, questions are provided to support community discussion focused on three types of empathy (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral) which are essential for building stronger bonds across the circles. When students have engaged with these lessons, they learn that EMPATHY MATTERS. And finally, the Connection Challenges allow for intentional connection across the different circles of connection in their life, arriving at the outcome: CONNECTION MATTERS. Together, using their own story, empathy and connection allows students to feel less lonely.

We recognize that every school and place that supports youth is different, and we know that doing this work will make a difference. We encourage you to create the situations that allow students to get the most out of this curriculum. We believe that is through the relationships they have. To help you do that we have a sample calendar that helps to pace the 30 lessons over the course of the school year or the period of time you have! Each lesson takes about 30 minutes, and we suggest doing them consistently over time to keep the conversation about connection top of mind.

Additionally, setting up the classroom or workspace to support students is important. We have seen success where our curriculum is used school wide to deepen the connections throughout the school. Each facilitator role is a critical one. You guide the conversation and can be an example for relationship building. You can use your own stories or the ones included in the curriculum—we have provided a facilitator guide and slides for you to use, but encourage you to make this your own. Dig in deeper where you are most comfortable and use our material when the topic is new to you. Practice the lessons at home or with friends and see how they help deepen your own relationships. We have also provided a letter you can send to parents.

program overview

We recommend students work with the same small group over the course of the curriculum—2-4 students holding each other accountable to making connections, finishing the journal, and engaging in questions with the videos. Research shows that even when groups don’t know each other well at the start, accountability groups allow for deeper engagement and provide opportunities to connect.

The videos and journals are important aspects to the curriculum and are designed to allow students to step outside of themselves and engage with empathy building. If your students are slow to engage, use wait time and model your answers for them. We have found that doing these repeatedly leads to rich conversations by the second or third video. As far as the journals go, the format is not as writing heavy as a traditional reflection journal, but we hope it provides the same use—a time for students to slow down and dig into what they know about themselves and what they know about their relationships in order to find ways to connect with people in their lives. This is such an essential element and we hope you put a priority on time to allow students to complete it with intention.

And, finally, ongoing research and feedback is paramount to us. Having students complete the UCLA Loneliness Survey at the beginning and end of the curriculum helps us evaluate how effective our work is. If you have suggestions or questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. Not only will your input help us to grow our lessons for years and students to come, it helps us to include you in the work. If you have ideas for personal connection lessons or connection challenges, send them our way. And if you or a student is interested in becoming one of our storytellers, we would love to talk to you.

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 understand the structure of support and access the care your students may need. We continue to develop a database of resources on our website to help you as well.