A team of school counselors, school principals, teachers, and psychologists created the curriculum, which has been developed and piloted in hundreds of schools over the past several years. It meets the standards recommended by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to complete the requirements of Act 71.

Pilot data collected in the fall of 2015 revealed changes in students’ attitudes toward mental health as well as increases in their comfort levels of help seeking upon completion of the curriculum. Further research is currently being conducted and Aevidum will be releasing empirically based outcomes in the near future. In the summer of 2017, Aevidum updated and enhanced the curriculum based on feedback from districts who had implemented the curriculum and added the video module component.

The curriculum was originally co-authored by a school counselor and a health teacher in Hempfield School District, Kandace DaCosta and Linda Miller, with the intent that the content could be co-taught with a Health/Physical Education instructor and a school counselor contributing equally. While we recognize that this may not be a possibility for every district, we recommend that school districts’ Health/Physical Education and Counseling Departments meet to collaborate prior to delivering these lessons. There is information that may be helpful to school counselors and it is possible that some students may require additional support or feel the need to make a referral after the delivery of the curriculum. We have highlighted particular activities within the curriculum where we find it most helpful to include a school counselor.