FRIENDS for Life

The world’s leading resilience and life skills programme.

FRIENDS helps children and teenagers cope with feelings of fear, worry, and depression by building resilience and self-esteem and teaching cognitive, behavioural, and emotional skills in a simple, well-structured format.

Developed in Australia and used in schools throughout the world, FRIENDS is the only such program acknowledged by the World Health Organisation for its eight years of comprehensive evaluation and practice. By the end of 2006 well over I 50,000 children worldwide will have completed a FRIENDS program. Recently revised for New Zealand, FRIENDS remains at the cutting edge of excellence.

A wealth of research and practical experience in thousands of classrooms has shown that exposing anxious children to a complete 10-session FRIENDS program can reduce their risk of developing a disorder for up to six years (research data is only available up to six years currently – we hope the skills learned will keep with them for life). Children with normal levels of worry benefit by acquiring resilience to emotional stress.

FRIENDS promote important personal development concepts such as self-esteem, problem-solving, self-expression, and building positive relationships with peers and adults.

Adapted to fit with the New Zealand Curriculum, FRIENDS is run by a school’s own teachers and does not involve any clinical assessment or diagnosis, thus avoiding labelling children as anxious or different. FRIENDS is consistently described as a rewarding teaching experience that encourages the sharing of positive emotions. Students also say they enjoy the program and find it helpful in their day-to-day lives.

In each FRIENDS session, students are guided through a series of class-based activities designed to teach them how to deal with worrying situations, and they complete home activities between sessions. Parents have an opportunity to support their children and learn more about FRIENDS themselves by attending parent sessions that may be arranged by the school.

Before delivering a FRIENDS program, teachers attend a one-day group training workshop. These workshops will be conducted regularly across New Zealand by accredited trainers in association with Lifepaths Charitable Trust.

Anxiety is the most common form of mental disorder, affecting up to 15% of children and teenagers. Anxiety significantly interferes with a child’s ability to confidently handle everyday situations, including relationships with peers, adults and family, and school achievement.

If left unattended, anxiety difficulties may continue into young adulthood, sometimes leading to depression. FRIENDS combats anxiety by fostering an emotional resilience in children and teenagers that will stay with them for life.