When the founders of a new ACT-based primary school curriculum asked me to create an identity for their new product, I thought it would be another standard ‘run-of-the-mill’ branding job. 3 years later and I’m writing a blog for them as a co-director.

I’d be the first to admit that, growing up and in my early adulthood, I would not have won any awards for my ‘flexible self-view’! I was infinitely self-critical, defensive, and my self-confidence was pretty low. When something went wrong or I was at fault, my snap reaction would be deflect and blame someone else. The thought that I had done something wrong brought up so many negative thoughts and feelings, I could feel almost sick; my coping strategy became avoiding accountability and blaming others.

Throughout lockdown, on many more occasions than I’d like to honestly admit, it felt like I was failing to hook and retain the girls’ attention (which was all the more painful as a teacher mum!) So, I was quite keen to ensure that I, at least, made time during home schooling to focus on their mental wellbeing. We implemented weekly ‘focus on my head and body’ lessons (suitably named by my eldest child) and perfectly prescribed by the Connect curriculum in the form of ready-made lessons and supplementary script aids. We worked through each lesson week by week, using the accompanying Powerpoint presentations, Youtube video links and guided exercises.

The termly themes of the Connect Curriculum are informed by the Six Ways to Well-Being—six everyday actions that can help individuals improve their well-being indirectly. Before we get to the behaviours themselves, I want to describe why this “indirectly” aspect is important. Plenty of research shows direct attempts to increase positive mental states like happiness and reduce negative states like sadness might backfire and actually make us feel worse.

Personally, and professionally, Psychological Flexibility, has made a huge difference to our lives. It has helped us to reach for the stars even when our minds have told us that what we wanted was impossible. In fact, Connect is an example of us using our Psychological Flexibility power to achieve something remarkable.

Prevention is better than a cure, pretty much everyone would agree with that. The idea is simple – if you can avoid something bad happening, then you won’t have to spend time and effort dealing with the fallout.

What makes the Connect PSHE curriculum really unique is that the termly themes are derived from the psychological wellbeing literature, and specifically the work of Dr Geetanjali Basarkod. Dr Basarkod developed the ‘Six Ways to Wellbeing’ along with her PhD supervisors Professor Joseph Ciarrochi and Dr Baljinder Sahdra.

As humans we are born Discoverers! Babies and toddlers explore their new world with no inhibitions or preconceptions; no thoughts, doubts or fears. Take a toddler learning to pull herself up on the sofa; she has no internal dialogue, fretting “but what if I fall down and they think I’m stupid?”, or “I’m no good at this, there’s no point in trying again”.

The Children’s Society recently published a report called Life on Hold, which focused on the impact that COVID-19 has had on children’s lives (particularly those children already disadvantaged). The report detailed how, even before COVID-19, children’s happiness levels were at the lowest they’ve been since 2009/10.