S4L: Skills for Life
S4L is a series of five 60-minute lessons designed for secondary students. The lessons help students build on their existing strengths and strategies to enhance their social emotional skills which they can use in the workplace and throughout their lives.
Using these lessons
S4L lessons can be used in the classroom to support learning tied to the Ontario Curriculum or incorporated as part of a Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) program.
The S4L SEL lessons compliment the MH LIT: Student Mental Health in Action lessons which focus on developing mental health knowledge and help-seeking skills.
Topics include
- promoting mattering for self and others
- exploring identity and acknowledging strengths
- communicating effectively
- resolving conflict
- understanding stress linked to change and transitions, managing stress at school and in the workplace
Lesson 1: Promoting Mattering for Self and Others
Lesson 2: Exploring Identity/Acknowledging Strengths
Lesson 3: Communication/Conflict Resolution
Lesson 4: Understanding Stress and Managing Transitions
Lesson 5: Managing Stress at School and in the Workplace
Mak, G., Fortier, A., Fowler, H., Bobadilla, A., & Rae, J. (2022). Focusing on uptake: The evolution of an evidence-informed classroom resource for student mental health. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, 41(3),57-75.
- The S4L content is solidly grounded in research about social and emotional learning and has been vetted by practicing teachers, clinicians, youth, and a culturally responsive review team. For more information about the development of S4L, please see the published research article here, Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health23 November 2022, https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2022-023
- The S4L lessons were researched, written, piloted, and revised in collaboration with The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC), The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, the Ontario Secondary Schools Teacher Federation (OSSTF), the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA), and along with the ThriveSMH SMH-ON student reference group.
- The S4L lessons were informed by MH LIT: Student Mental Health in Action, Navigating the Challenge of Change lesson plan.