Behind Happy Faces...

Behind Happy Faces...

A first of its kind, evidence-based, award-winning program.

About the Program

Behind Happy Faces Mental Health Curriculum is a first of its kind, evidence-based, award-winning program, that is used by hundreds of thousands of students and adults nation-wide. There are different versions of Behind Happy Faces depending on where you want to use the curriculum.

Behind Happy Faces is widely-scalable and effective, because it uses a two-part system to teach lessons. The curriculum utilizes creative PowerPoint presentations to expose participants to the knowledge necessary for understanding mental health in their lives. The interactive exercises that coincide with the PowerPoint presentations have been constructed to maximize retention and improve participants’ emotional relationships to themselves and others. This system is designed to deliver information in a short timeframe, in order to meet participants where they are, in the culture that they live.

What's Involved

Behind Happy Faces focuses on teaching participants:
A definition of mental health;
A new vocabulary for mental health;
How to build effective coping skills;
Descriptions of the most common mental health disorders;
A definition of mental health;
Importance of sympathy, empathy and compassion;
Differences between good stress and bad stress;
How to use good stress in your life;
Brain development and risk-taking;
Upstander intervention;
How to help a friend;

Curriculum Options

Behind Happy Faces is accessible by a subscription to our website. After logging in subscribers have access to all of the materials necessary to effectively teach lessons. The materials include the purpose of each lesson, facilitation guides, PowerPoint presentations, videos and train the trainer materials.

Check out these options to decide what will work best for you:

colleges

9 Lessons include:
Facilitation Guides
PPT Presentations
4 or 8 videos
Each lesson is 15-20 minutes
Monitoring & evaluation

greek life

Fully customizable lessons in an organization’s or campuses colors and logos include:
Facilitation Guides
PPT Presentations
Videos
Lessons can be 15-45 minutes in length
Monitoring & evaluation

student athletes

Check out our partnership with Hilinski’s Hope:
Facilitation Guides
PPT Presentation
Video
Lessons is 90 minutes
Monitoring & evaluation

Middle school

9 Lessons include:
Facilitation Guides
PPT Presentations
4 videos
Each lesson is 45 minutes
Monitoring & evaluation

high school

8 or 18 Lessons include:
Facilitation Guides
PPT Presentations
4 or 8 videos
Each lesson is 45 minutes
Monitoring & evaluation

corporate program

Fully customizable programs perfect for:
Employee presentations
HR trainings
Team meetings
get the program

Research

Three independent evaluations of Behind Happy Faces were conducted and validated by expert review to assess the validity of the curriculum. The evaluations sought to understand the way in which the course impacted stigma about mental health issues, attitudes towards seeking professional help for mental health issues and coping and self-efficacy.

The evaluations used Fischer and Farina’s (1995) Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help Short Scale (ATSPPH), Corrigan’s (2001) General Attributions Questionnaire (GAQ) and Chesney and colleagues (2016) Coping and Self-Efficacy Scale Short Form (CSESS). 


As a result of participation in the Behind Happy Faces Mental Health Curriculum participants showed:

  • Confidence

    Increased confidence in addressing a crisis with friends

    challenges

    Increased confidence in dealing with mental health challenges

    attitudes

    More favorable attitudes about others seeking help for mental health issues

  • Self-care

    More favorable attitudes about seeking help for mental health issues for themselves

    the future

    More preference towards thinking about therapy for the future should they need it

    seeking help

    More inclination towards seeking psychological help when in crisis

  • stop stigma

    Decreased stigma about people with mental health issues

    knowledge

    Less anger, fear, danger, and felt less pity towards people with mental illness

    positivity

    Increased ability to stop themselves from unpleasant thoughts

  • TOOLS

    Increased ability to keep from feeling sad when appropriate

    Ability

    Increased ability to manage emotions by keeping their minds off unpleasant thoughts

    Skills

    Increased problem-solving skills and ability to seek social support

Get in Touch

If you would like more information about our curriculum please contact us using the info below.

Contact Human Power Project

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    We are standing by to answer any inquiries regarding Human Power Project.
    • "We’re proud to partner with Human Power Project to change the way young people view mental health."
      ~Cynthia Germanotta, President, Born This Way Foundation
    • "I recommend this program to every college campus."
      ~Karen “Casey” Carr, Associate Dean of Students, Cornell University
    • "It’s a powerful and effective curriculum!"
      ~Doug Everhart, Director, Health Education Center, University of California at Irvine.
    Copyright 2019, Human Power Project
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