The Curriculum
A School-Based Mental Literacy Project
The intervention is a ‘literature study’ taught over approximately 3 months in which middle schoolers read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and learn how distress and depression can manifest in a Language Class Unit.
What makes this curriculum unique?
FREE!
Costs are often barriers for school-based mental health programs. We don’t like barriers. Everyone deserves education about mental health so we have made this resource free.
Literature Study
To our knowledge, this is the first school-based mental health curriculum that is embedded within the study of children’s literature.
Universal Appeal
We draw from the narrative of one of best-selling children’s novels of all time which is beloved and transferable across regions and countries.
Skills-Based Learning
Not only do we aim to increase rates of mental health literacy but also to provide skills-based learning so that young people have a practical approach to managing distress.
TEACHER-LED
Teachers facilitate experiential learning where students are asked to consider what they would do if they or their friends were faced with Harry’s difficulties.
‘STRESS BUSTERS’
Youth learn strategies for managing distress and develop a personalized action plan for how to cope when it arises including a toolbox of “Stress Busters” that they can access.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
A CBT-based curriculum is ideally suited for universal mental health education as CBT has strong evidence of effectiveness in treating most common mental health problems including mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders.
DID YOU KNOW?
J.K. Rowling, the author of the bestselling Harry Potter books, suffered from depression and has credited Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) treatment with helping her overcome it. Our group identified that she embedded that experience in the third book in the Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) which symbolically portrays the protagonist becoming depressed and overcoming it by learning CBT skills with the help of his teacher and peers.