Friends for Life
Children
Proven Anxiety Prevention
World Health Organization Recognized Resilience Curriculum
Social and Emotional Skills Training
Embracing Cultural Diversity
An interactive curriculum that helps children develop coping skills, emotional regulation, and problem-solving through engaging, age-appropriate activities. It fosters empathy, resilience, and peer connections, leading to improved emotional control, social awareness, and positive self-talk.
The FRIENDS Acronym
To help participants remember the key concepts and bring structure to sessions, the program uses the FRIENDS acronym:
F
Feelings
Understand your feelings. Show empathy to others
R
Relax
Have quiet time. Focus on the present.
I
Inner
thoughts
Change unhelpful to helpful thinking.
E
Explore
solutions
Learn to find solutions to challenges. Think of consequences.
N
Now
rewards
Try your best and be happy with your efforts.
D
Do it every
day
Use your coping skills in challenging situations.
S
Stay
Strong
Share your skills with your family and community.
Helping Children Overcome Anxiety
Anxiety affects over 20% of children in this age group. If left unaddressed, it can severely impact development and even create challenges later in life. Children may worry excessively about things like homework, social gatherings, or even distant events such as natural disasters.
What Children Learn
- Cope with their own emotions and understand others’ feelings
- Develop positive thinking, emotional regulation, and problem-solving skills
- Build confidence and self-esteem
- Embrace happiness, bravery, and smooth transitions into adolescence
Flexible Program Delivery
The program can be adapted to suit schools and families, as long as:
- 1 Facilitators have first been trained in the program/s being delivered.
- 2 The sequence and structure of the program/s is followed.
- 3 Each participant receives his or her own private book, which can be used to review the skills practiced, during delivery of the programs. For example, at home with parents, carers, siblings or extended family.
Delivery Mode Options
The following modes of delivery can be adapted to suit participants and school curriculum, each equally effective.
- 1.5 hour weekly sessions over a single school term (preferably term 2 or 3)
- 45 minutes weekly sessions over the course of 2 school terms (preferably terms 2 and 3);
- 15 minutes daily sessions (after morning tea), where the same activity is repeated daily for a few weeks, using new examples until the skills become second nature;
- School holiday programs (2 hours across 5 days)
- Weekend intensives - over 2-3 full days