Helping Evidence-Based Wellbeing Training Reach More Young People

The Connect Curriculum was created to help schools develop wellbeing skills, resilience and psychological flexibility in young people through a structured, evidence-based programme.

At the heart of Connect is a simple idea.

Rather than focusing solely on mental health difficulties once they arise, the curriculum focuses on helping young people develop the skills needed to live well, navigate challenges and build psychological wellbeing over time.

The challenge was not a lack of expertise.

The challenge was making a complex body of psychological knowledge accessible, engaging and practical for the educators responsible for delivering it.

Connect combines evidence-based wellbeing principles, psychological flexibility and the DNA-V model into a structured curriculum designed for use within schools. However, for teachers to confidently deliver the programme, they first needed a clear understanding of the ideas underpinning it.

Working alongside Dr Nic Hooper and the Connect team, we helped transform this expertise into a training resource that could support teachers as they learned the curriculum and prepared to deliver it within their own schools.

Rather than overwhelming learners with academic theory, the training was structured around practical explanations, relatable examples and clear guidance, helping educators understand not only what the curriculum contains, but why it matters.

The result was a resource that allowed schools to experience and understand the thinking behind Connect before introducing it to young people.

More importantly, it helped make a complex evidence base easier to access, understand and apply in real-world educational settings.

The project demonstrates an important principle.

Valuable expertise creates the greatest impact when people can understand it, engage with it and confidently put it into practice.