Our children are taught algebra in school yet few will ever use algebra in their future lives. They are not consistently taught how to take care of or talk about their own minds, yet all will use their minds 24/7 and, at some point, feel anxious, overwhelmed or maybe find themselves in crisis. That’s why we created the A Lust for Life Schools Programme, a 10 week teacher-led programme which aims to build resilience, increase wellbeing & enhance the emotional literacy of Junior Infants to 6th class school children.
About the Schools Programme
The A Lust For Life Schools Programme is an emotional wellbeing and resilience programme for children, developed with best practice in psychology, mindfulness and education. It is a free of charge programme that is designed to equip children with the tools and skills to navigate the ups and downs of life by building:
- Emotional Resilience
- Emotional Literacy
- Emotional Awareness
What’s Involved?
Our digital platform includes:
- Lesson Plans & class activities
- Video & animated content in a Netflix-style gallery
- Mindfulness exercises
- A ‘Try It At Home’ Series
Supported by a Teacher Toolkit to share the educational, psychological context and cross-curricular links of the programme.
What’s Required?
All you need is a screen, audio speakers and an internet connection.
Register on the homepage now to deliver the programme in your classroom.
Introduction to Be Internet Legends
Safety is a crucial component of children’s well-being which is why we have partnered with Google to include components of their online safety programme Be Internet Legends into our Schools Programme. It’s a free educational programme that empowers children and their families to be safer and more confident explorers of the online world by teaching them:
- to think critically and evaluate online spaces and content
- protect themselves from online threats, like bullying and scams
- be kind and respectful toward other people online
“
The topics were very current and the situations were very relatable to the children. The suggestions for questions to ask the children were very helpful and stopped me going off on a tangent.
Lucy Bowen - St Killians School
“
Overall the programme was great, I felt the students really related to it and engaged really well in the programme. They enjoyed the videos with different scenarios, very positive overall.
Nuala Howley - Kilfenora NS
“
The content was very good, it discussed themes that were relevant to the children, the videos were great for kickstarting discussions and the lesson plans were well laid out.
Catherine Kilcommons - St Louis SPS
“
I really liked the current topics, videos, mindfulness videos and the resilience app. Thank you so much to everyone who has worked so hard on this programme, we were delighted to be a part of it.
Maura Ní Thiarnaigh - An Mhodhscoil
“
A great programme that empowers students to be in charge of their own well-being. The hands-on strategies are presented in an appealing manner and can be easily integrated as daily routines.
Anke Caton - St Killians School
“
The children and I loved the programme, it was very user-friendly with very clearly planned out with precise objectives. It’s one of the best and most effective programmes I’ve used since I started teaching 19 years ago!
Pamela Denton - Clonroche National School
Evidence Based
A Lust for Life Schools Programme has been evaluated across an array of empirical research. Indeed, eight studies to-date have accrued evidence for the Programme with a host of research methodologies, ranging from randomised clinical trials to in-depth qualitative investigations of experiences engaging in the Programme. Support for the conceptual model underpinning the Schools Programme was provided by a cross-sectional study published in the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science featuring 129 children from primary schools in Ireland (O’Connor et al., 2021). In line with the Programme’s ethos of promoting positive mental health by cultivating resilience through processes such as mindfulness, the study yielded empirical support for this pathway to positive mental health in Irish primary schools. The conceptual foundation supported by this publication provided the basis for four subsequent interventional trials.
A cluster randomised controlled trial published in the Journal of Positive Psychology & Wellbeing evaluated the effectiveness of the Schools Programme in a sample of 402 fifth and sixth class students (Grennan et al., 2025). Relative to the control group, children who received the Schools Programme evidenced improvements in wellbeing arising from the use of behavioural skills as well as an overall increase in the use of wellbeing skills. Fifth and sixth class students with languishing-to-moderate mental health who received the Schools Programme in a cluster randomised controlled trial published in Behaviour Research and Therapy also evidenced greater mindfulness than their peers in a control group (O’Connor et al., 2022). In addition, fifth and sixth class students (N = 470) in a cluster randomised controlled trial of the Schools Programme published in School Psychology International predominantly reported that the Programme was satisfactory (Clancy et al., 2024).
To support the evaluation of changes in state wellbeing among children who receive the Schools Programme, the Feeling Better Scale (FBS) was developed (McKenna et al., 2025). A study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology & Wellbeing revealed that this measure had excellent internal reliability and good concurrent and construct validity. In accordance, a recent cluster randomised controlled trial (N = 325) found that third and fourth class students who received the Schools Programme evidenced improvements on the FBS total scale, behavioural skills subscale, and number of wellbeing skills used relative to the control group (O’Dowd et al., 2025).
Qualitative research has also elucidated predominantly positive experiences from student and parent samples who engaged in the Schools Programme. A longitudinal qualitative study published in the Journal of Research in Childhood Education illustrated perceptions of the Programme from 20 fifth and sixth class students with low levels of subjective wellbeing (Hoctor et al., 2023). Findings indicated that students enjoyed engaging in the Programme, with many reporting its helpfulness in promoting understanding of thoughts and feelings as well as learning new coping skills in a relatable, interactive and social manner. In line with these findings, a subsequent qualitative study of the views of 21 parents of students who had recently completed the Programme yielded primarily positive results (Listwan et al., 2024). Specifically, the Schools Programme was reported to have enhanced their parenting skills and cultivated their children’s wellbeing skills through psychoeducation and experiential practice of an array of psychological processes, including arousal reduction, problem solving and mindfulness. In conclusion, eight empirical research studies to-date have evaluated A Lust for Life Schools Programme. Future studies aim to advance this body of research by exploring teachers’ perceptions of delivering the Schools Programme and evaluating its effectiveness in promoting wellbeing in first and second class students.
