The Healthy Hearts, Healthy Community middle school series introduces the topics of nonviolence, social-emotional learning, and healthy relationship skills that prevent interpersonal relationship violence and is designed for auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners. Curriculum delivery may include traditional classroom presentations, a Community Circle session, and/or an Art Empowerment Workshop (AEW). Traditional classroom presentations involve a digital slide presentation and activity. Community Circles are trauma-informed, empowerment-centered spaces where students learn about violence prevention and healthy relationship skills through group discussion and interactive activities. Art Empowerment Workshops (AEWs) are strengths-based, trauma-informed workshops that teach a specific social-emotional learning or healthy relationship skill using the arts.Â
6TH GRADE | Emotions / Friendships
Community Circle: Identifying and Communicating Emotions
Students will learn how to 1) identify, validate, and communicate their emotions in a healthy way; 2) overcome barriers related to identifying and communicating their emotions; and 3) foster emotional safety in their relationships.
Art Empowerment Workshop (AEW): Self-Care Stones
Students will create self-care stones that can be used as a coping and self-regulation tool when they experience difficult emotions.
Traditional Presentation: Creating and Maintaining Friendships
Students will learn how to identify different signs of healthy, unhealthy, and harmful friendships. They will also learn how to navigate conflict within their friendships, and how to re-evaluate or end a friendship.
Traditional Presentation: Communication and Multiple Feelings
Students will learn the importance of communication (both verbal and non-verbal), as well as practice identifying specific forms of healthy communication through role-playing.
Traditional Presentation: Hot Buttons and Calming Strategies
Students will learn about the different levels of anger, the importance of acknowledging feelings, and how to identify and practice calming techniques.
Example Session Structure
One-Day Session: Identifying and Communicating Emotions Community Circle
Two-Day Session: Identifying and Communicating Emotions Community Circle (first day) & Self-Care Stones AEW (second day)
Three-Day Session: Identifying and Communicating Emotions Community Circle (first day), Self-Care Stones AEW (second day), & Creating and Maintaining Friendships traditional presentation (third day)
7TH GRADE | Healthy Relationships / Consent
Community Circle: What Healthy Relationships Are (And Are Not)
Students will learn how to 1) identify the qualities of healthy relationships, unhealthy relationships, and harmful (abusive) relationships, 2) identify the relationship values that are important to them, and 3) communicate their relationship values in a healthy way.
Art Empowerment Workshop (AEW): Values and Relationship Garden
Students will create a garden that represents their healthy relationship values.
Traditional Presentation: Practicing Healthy Habits
Students will have the opportunity to self-examine their own habits and decide which areas of themselves they can nurture in order to interact positively with others and themselves. Participants will learn tangible skills on how to practice self-evaluation and healthy communication when they feel dissatisfaction.
Traditional Presentation: Giving and Getting Consent
Students will develop their understanding of what consent looks and sounds like, as well as strengthen their skills in identifying whether or not consent is present.
Traditional Presentation: Supporting a Friend
Students will learn how to support a friend experiencing an unhealthy or harmful relationship, how to check in with a friend who may be engaging in unhealthy or harmful behaviors, how to access support resources, and how to prioritize setting personal boundaries and self-care.
Example Session Structure
One-Day Session: Healthy Relationships Community Circle
Two-Day Session: Healthy Relationships Community Circle (first day) & Values and Relationship Garden AEW (second day)
Three-Day Session: Healthy Relationships Community Circle (first day), Values and Relationship Garden AEW (second day), & Giving and Getting Consent traditional presentation (third day)
8TH GRADE | Challenging Conversations / Boundary-Setting
Community Circle: How to Have Challenging Conversations
Students will learn how to 1) identify the conversations that are challenging for them to have, 2) address the barriers they experience when having these conversations, and 3) approach these conversations in a healthy way.
Art Empowerment Workshop (AEW): My Connections
Students will create a mural that represents the personal connections they have in their lives.
Traditional Presentation: Understanding Relationships
Students will learn how to identify healthy, unhealthy, and abusive relationship behaviors. They will also have the opportunity to explore their own values in friendships and relationships, as well as how to determine and navigate relationship milestones.
Traditional Presentation: Setting Boundaries
Students will explore their own boundaries and values, identify the difference between healthy and unhealthy boundaries, and practice verbalizing their boundaries in a healthy way.Â
Traditional Presentation: Ending Relationships
Students will learn how to identify when it’s time to end a relationship, how to navigate the transition in a healthy way, and how to prioritize self-care when experiencing change.
Example Session Structure
One-Day Session: Challenging Conversations Community Circle
Two-Day Session: Challenging Conversations Community Circle (first day) & My Connections AEW (second day)
Three-Day Session: Challenging Conversations Community Circle (first day), My Connections AEW (second day), & Setting Boundaries traditional presentation (third day)