After five years of research and development alongside Clinical Psychologists, researchers and teachers, the Motus program is making a big impact in schools. The program teaches children how to understand and protect their minds through education on emotional literacy, cognitive behavioural therapy, neuroscience, diet and sleep education, emotion regulation, mindfulness, empathy and social skills.
Research has demonstrated that mental health issues in adults can be prevented if there is a proactive approach taken from a young age. The ‘7 Steps to Emotional Intelligence’ program allows children to grow up with a healthy understanding of their emotions and how to manage them. This enhances their social skills, develops their friendships, and allows them to develop strong support systems to cope with difficult life events.
Research has shown that emotionally intelligent children are better decision makers. Emotional intelligence acts as a buffer against dangerous situations for your children and it gives them a better insight into what career they want to pursue in the future. Emotional intelligence education increases the likelihood that children pick the rights choices to ensure they are on the right path to becoming happy and successful young adults.
If children are able to regulate their emotions, it allows them to focus on their academics. Research has shown that emotional intelligence is better than any other skill or trait, including IQ, in relation to predicting academic success. Emotional intelligence gives children the opportunity to develop an internal coping system and interpersonal relationships, which allows them to flourish academically.
Research shows that children who score higher in emotional intelligence are not only less likely to develop future mental health problems but they’re also more likely to be better decision makers, to be more liked by others and to perform better academically. Furthermore, the transition into secondary school is a critical window of emotional development so we want to equip students with the necessary tools.
The program targets year 7/1st year. Therefore, the age group is 12 – 14.
This is a program that we are currently developing, which is going to focus on emotional development and sexual health for students aged 15 – 17. Coming soon.
We carry out the program at your school premises.
The program is taught by two psychology graduates who have been Garda Vetted/DBS cleared. The facilitator is required to have a psychology undergraduate degree and specified training, and the assistant is required to be undertaking an undergraduate psychology degree and specific training. As the teachers are generally younger, we have found that the children engage further.
We carry out the workshops throughout the entire school year. We advise that you book at the start of each term or at least two or three months in advance so you are not left disappointed. If you wish to book for September, we recommend you book before March.
Our program involves 3 x 2 hour lessons spread over 3 weeks. If requested, we can carry out a full school day program.
The workshop is based on the evidence based 7 Steps to Emotional Intelligence.
The workshop is mixed in with lots of games and activities so the children remain engaged throughout the day and they learn while having fun.
It is broken into three lessons as follows:
We do not speak about anything of a sensitive nature such as suicide or self-harm.
As we know mental health is more important now than ever, we have adapted our workshop to ensure that the safety of your students and our staff is of paramount importance. Check out our Covid guidelines, which have been signed off by a Covid Compliance Officer.
This involves a one hour seminar immediately after school about why there has been an increase in mental health problems, what we teach the children, how to maintain a positive mental health environment and how to take care of your own mental health. The seminar slides are then sent to the school via email after the seminar.*
*Due to Covid-19, this has now been reverted to an online zoom webinar at the end of each month.
The school is welcome to do a parent only seminar or a teacher only seminar (which can be included in Croke Park Hours).
We offer a two hour seminar on how to take care of your own mental health independent from the workshop.
The teacher gains access to our app alongside a short handbook. It involves the teacher doing five mental health activities with the students each week. While this is optional, schools who complete it each week gain points to help them win mental health awards at the end of the year. This helps the children develop habits that will boost their mental health and it also continuously goes back over the education from the workshop.
The teaching resources involve simple activities for the children that go back over what they learned in the workshop.
We have carried out the program in several special schools. The program is adapted to include more games, less technical information and more emphasis on the emotional management aspect. We dorecommend that the program would be more suitable to children with special educational needs over the age of 12.
We ask the school to break the classroom into five clear tables. The only thing we need is access to an interactive whiteboard and a regular whiteboard. We bring all other resources.
In order to book, the only details we need is how many children are in the class and to agree on a date. Once that is confirmed, we then send you a confirmation email with details on what will happen on the day, Garda Vetting, parent letters and payment options. Send us an email at team@motuslearning.com or give Eoin a call on 0877502188.
If you follow us at Motus Learning on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, we post published research papers, blog posts backed up by research and a podcast with experts in the field of psychology and well-being. We also have online courses and a teacher hub that teachers can avail of.
Send us an email at team@motuslearning.com or give Christy a call on 0873312120.
