23LC 01 005 - PRIMARY ONLINE FRIENDS FOR LIFE TRAINING

Dates of online workshops: Tuesday's 24th, 31st & 7th of February 2023 from 3pm - 5.30pm 

What is the Programme About?

‘FRIENDS for Life’ is an evidence-based anxiety prevention and resilience building programme.

It helps students, aged 8-12 years, to develop resilience by teaching effective strategies to cope with the normal everyday challenges, including worry, stress, change and anxiety.

Who should attend?

Class teachers, special education teachers, principals, will all benefit from attending training. Schools should, as far as possible, facilitate two/three teachers attending training, particularly if the programme is new to the school.

What will the Online Training Involve?

In order to deliver the programme, teachers attend the accredited training sessions, facilitated by NEPS. Due to restrictions caused by Covid-19, our previous two day face to-face training will now be available online over three afternoons; this has been approved from the programme developers FRIENDS Resilience. Teachers will have to attend in full all three sessions for accreditation and to access the books and resources after training. This is required to deliver the programme with fidelity.

What is the ordering process for Books?

Following attending the three training sessions in full, teachers will be registered as certified facilitators with FRIENDS Resilience, can order books and access resources for running the programmes in their classrooms. Following training, schools and/or trained facilitators order books from FRIENDS Resilience through their online Hub and receive free resources following book purchase.

What are the Costs?

There is no cost for training teachers or substitution costs due to the online nature of the training. After training, the current cost per child for a printed activity book is currently €9. The facilitator/teacher manual is between €20-€50 (depending on the book format and exchange rate on date of purchase). Each child must have their own book. There must also be one facilitator manual available for the teacher delivering the programme.