Hear to Help
Teaching skills that matter to promote community, connection, and compassion.
Format
Hear to Help is an interactive workshop designed to empower students with essential active listening skills to be a supportive friend, build empathy, and create safer, more supportive peer communities. Through discussion, activities, and guided practice, participants learn what support truly means.
Students will explore the core components of active listening—using internal and external skills – while also addressing healthy boundaries and safety considerations. Students will leave with a clear understanding of when a situation requires adult support.
By the end of the session, students will be able to:
- Understand what emotional support is—and what it is not
- Learn and practice core support skills, such as Active Listening, Validation, and Paraphrasing, Reflecting, Reframing, and more.
- Respond supportively to realistic peer scenarios
- Recognize when and how to seek adult help
Our Approach
Minding Your Mind’s adult facilitators engage students using a trauma-informed, narrative, and relational approach to foster group connection and meaningful engagement.
Content and delivery are adapted to fit the setting, audience, and time available.
Recommendations for success:
- This workshop can complement Changing Minds: Stories Over Stigma and Kind Minds or be delivered on its own.
- To maximize the effectiveness, an in-person workshop is preferred.
- Suggested time: 35-50 minutes.
Benefits
Active listening is a foundational communication skill and a key building block of supportive relationships. When young people feel heard, validated, and understood, they are more likely to share concerns and seek support—an important protective factor for youth mental health.
Teaching students how to listen and respond supportively also strengthens peer connections and increases confidence in helping a friend while reinforcing healthy boundaries and when to involve a trusted adult. School-based peer support approaches are increasingly recognized as a valuable complement to professional mental health services because they promote belonging, encourage early help-seeking, and help reduce stigma around mental health conversations.
Suggested Donation: $500
Recommended Presentation Time: 35-50 minutes
“These speakers are always remarkable. The time, the energy and the care they put into their presentations. It has been life changing for students to learn about the speakers’ stories. Many have shared with me that they have now opened up to someone about what they are feeling and going through because of Minding Your Mind. I cannot thank you enough.”
—Krista Gainty, health teacher
Did you know?
- Students who feel connected to peers and trusted adults at school are significantly less likely to experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
- Stronger feelings of connection at school are associated with significantly lower rates of suicidal ideation and attempts among adolescents (Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology).
- Practicing active listening skills helps build empathy, emotional awareness, and stronger relationships, which are linked to improved well-being and resilience (American Psychological Association).
Through guided practice and discussion, students develop practical communication skills that help them support friends, recognize when someone may need additional help, and contribute to more connected and compassionate school communities.