Frequently Asked Questions

What’s so special about Connect?

Today’s children face unique challenges, and their wellbeing and mental health is under huge pressure.

Connect is a wellbeing curriculum that is guided by the scientific literature. Specifically, that psychologically healthy people tend to engage in 6 behaviours (connecting with others, challenging oneself, giving to others, exercising, embracing the moment and self-care), and our curriculum is built around them. Find out more about these on our Approach page. We also train teaching staff in the ‘DNA-V model’, an evidence-based wellbeing approach for young people, through our 2-hour online training course and day long workshops that we provide, for free, three times a year.

At Connect we are committed to providing a curriculum that really works. We have an active Connect research program, where we measure the impact that the curriculum has on wellbeing, behaviour, academic performance, pro-social actions and even friendship networks.

What do I get with my Connect subscription?

Instant access to over 250 weekly lesson plans (with associated PowerPoint files, worksheets and audio files) that are divided according to age; that is, there are 30 Lesson plans for each year group from ages 4-11, plus an Introductory Term for each year group, so the children get familiar with the key language and concepts. You also get access to our Toolbox with bonus reference materials and printable resources, such as end-of-term certificates.

Our online training platform is instantly available upon sign-up, so you can start your Connect journey straight away. We recommend the training for all teachers that will be delivering Connect lessons, as it will walk you through the basics of our curriculum. We also run 3 free online top-up training workshops a year for members.

What is the online training all about?

Teaching staff, effectively. The training teaches staff in the DNA-V model via a series of in-depth videos. We do this because (1) it is important that teachers know the model in order to be able to deliver the lesson plans effectively and (2) because we want the school to immerse themselves in the language of the model so that it can be useful at any point i.e. we feel that 45 minutes a week of intervention may not hit home but teachers that are fluent in the model might use the language at other times throughout the week.

Can you come and train us?

We do offer face-to-face training at an extra cost. If you are interested in this then please contact us either via the contact form or by emailing training@connectwellbeing.education to discuss your bespoke training needs.

Why is it free?

In response to the growing global mental health epidemic, Governments throughout the world are realising that early intervention is better than specialist support later in life. One effective way to do this is with simple psycho-education skills development curriculum-based interventions in schools. We believe Connect can help make the world a better place and we intend to keep it free for all children for as long as we can.

Do I have to do the wellbeing themes in order?

Sometimes, different lessons within the same wellbeing theme (e.g. give to others) are connected, or build on each other, and the lessons within each theme are also ordered to build DNAv skills in a particular sequence, meaning that it is probably best to deliver them in order. However, which theme you deliver is totally up to you.

If you were feeling creative, you could even choose to chunk the lessons according to the DNAv skill instead of the wellbeing theme. For example, you could have a whole semester on the Discoverer skill, which spans across multiple wellbeing themes.