Emotion Explorers for schools and organisations

Emotion Explorers is a calm-skills and feelings-vocabulary programme for children in Years 5 and 6. It's an educational programme, and Steady Session offers no psychological services.

Who it's for

Students in Years 5 and 6, roughly ages 10 to 12, in Australian primary schools. It runs in groups of about five. Five is small enough that every child stays in the conversation. To reach more students, a school adds more groups rather than making one group bigger. The school decides who joins a group, and it isn't presented as a behaviour group.

What children practise

Children practise three things: noticing how a feeling shows up, naming it more precisely, and choosing a helpful next step that suits it.

Who delivers it

Emotion Explorers will be delivered by facilitators trained by Steady Session, at a school or organisation that holds the licence. Steady Session publishes the materials and will train facilitators; it doesn't run the programme in schools itself. Facilitator training is coming, but it isn't open yet.

Emotion Explorers is currently a pilot programme, and during this first pilot I facilitate every session myself.

I hold a Working with Children card and an NDIS Worker Screening card.

What the school provides

A quiet space, a regular time slot, and its usual consent and duty-of-care processes. Families receive an introduction and consent form before their child joins.

Training and licences

Your school or organisation holds the licence. You put forward someone to be trained by Steady Session, and you can buy a licence once at least one trained person is listed on it. The trained people listed on your licence can then run Emotion Explorers with groups at your school or organisation, using the full published materials. The materials can't be copied, shared or republished. Training is coming, but it isn't open yet. Terms and price are available on request. See How licensing works.

Privacy and safety

  • No child has to tell the group anything private.
  • Any role-play uses made-up stories, never family stories or stories about trauma.
  • Any child can step out of an activity and watch instead, with no fuss.
  • If a child tells the facilitator something that suggests they or someone else may be at risk of harm, the facilitator must pass it on under the school's student protection procedures.
  • Facilitators remain responsible for following the school's child-safety and duty-of-care procedures.
  • More on Safeguarding.

What to expect

Reviews of school social and emotional learning programmes find small to moderate average gains (Durlak et al., 2011; Cipriano et al., 2023), and I plan on that basis. Emotion Explorers hasn't been trialled under its own name yet, so I don't claim results for it.

What it isn't

Emotion Explorers is skill teaching. It isn't a behaviour group, and it doesn't replace professional support, your GP or your school's wellbeing staff. It works alongside a school's existing wellbeing and pastoral care. It isn't a whole-school wellbeing framework and it isn't an unstructured chat.

If you are worried about a child's safety right now, call 000. Other support: Lifeline 13 11 14, Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800, 13YARN 13 92 76, Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636. This isn't a replacement for a GP or your school's wellbeing staff.

Register interest

I'm taking enquiries from primary schools, P&Cs and community groups. Use the contact form to ask about training, licences, terms or price.

References

  • Cipriano, C., Strambler, M. J., Naples, L. H., Ha, C., Kirk, M., Wood, M., Sehgal, K., Zieher, A. K., Eveleigh, A., McCarthy, M., Funaro, M., Ponnock, A., Chow, J. C., & Durlak, J. (2023). The state of evidence for social and emotional learning: A contemporary meta-analysis of universal school-based SEL interventions. Child Development, 94(5), 1181-1204. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13968
  • Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405-432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x