A 501(c)(3) building the World Mental Health Curriculum

Teach children the skills most adults had to learn the hard way.

Managing emotions, building relationships, resilience, identity, teamwork: the skills nobody ever taught us. Rise to Wellness is building the World Mental Health Curriculum, a free, evidence-informed program for grades 4-12, delivered in classrooms by our own trained educators. Every child is measured with validated assessments, because a program this important has to prove it works. First Boston, then schools in Pakistan, then every country after that.

Fund the next milestone → See how it works
Children in a classroom at a school in Karachi, Pakistan

Students at a school in Karachi, Pakistan. Hope, an NGO running schools and hospitals across Pakistan, has agreed to implement the curriculum at their Zia Colony school once it's complete.

1 in 7
children aged 10-19 lives with a mental health disorder
WHO, 2024
~50%
of lifetime mental illness begins by age 14
NIMH
30
core skills the curriculum teaches, from emotional regulation to conflict resolution
3.5 yrs
of curriculum development, first school partner committed
The problem we're solving

Most mental health interventions arrive after the harm.

Therapy, medication, crisis lines: all essential, all reactive. We treat children once they're already struggling, then wonder why the trajectory doesn't change. The skills that protect mental health (naming an emotion, tolerating discomfort, repairing a friendship, asking for what you need) are rarely taught explicitly. So children improvise. Many improvise badly.

We believe most mental health struggles begin with one missing skill: the ability to handle life's events in an effective, healthy way. That skill can be taught.
Our approach

Six modules. Thirty skills. Real, measured change.

Children don't learn to regulate emotions from a single lesson, any more than they learn to read from one. Our curriculum is delivered through worksheets, role-play, group activities, and dialogues, so skills are practiced, not just explained. Pre- and post-assessment with validated psychometric instruments measures actual change.

Module 01
Preparing for peer review

Managing Your Emotions

Understanding and managing anger, sadness, and fear. The inner work that makes every other skill possible.

Module 02
Preparing for peer review

Building Relationships

Verbal and non-verbal communication, social skills at baseline and advanced levels, and the habits that make healthy connection possible.

Module 03
In development

General Happiness

Appreciation, gratitude, optimism, psychological flexibility, acceptance, conquering fear, and the daily practices that sustain wellbeing.

Module 04
Preparing chapters for peer review

Getting What You Want

Assertive skills: saying no, expressing yourself, fogging. Plus persuasion, resilience, and goal-setting.

Module 05
Preparing chapter for peer review

Creating Your Own Identity

Values, personal accountability, and responsibility. The internal compass a child carries into adulthood.

Module 06
In development

How to Be Part of a Team

Conflict resolution, teamwork, and leadership. The skills for every group a person ever joins after school.

The method

This isn't a workshop. It's research-grade curriculum design.

Anyone can write a feel-good lesson plan. The hard part is proving it works. We're building rigor into the program from day one.

Validated psychometric assessment

Every child is pre- and post-assessed using standardized instruments (emotion regulation, social competence, resilience, anxiety, and more) administered on a precise day-by-day schedule we've already designed.

Academic peer review

Each module goes to outside reviewers, researchers in child development and clinical psychology, before it ever reaches a classroom.

Our own trained educators

We place trained Rise to Wellness educators in partner schools to deliver every lesson themselves. Nothing is added to a school's workload, children get the lessons the way they were designed, and consistent delivery is what makes our outcome data worth trusting.

Free for every school and child

Schools pay nothing. The work is funded through grants, sponsorships, and community fundraising, so adoption never depends on a school's budget.

Designed for global deployment

Only 1 of our 13 assessment scales has a validated Urdu version for ages 8-18. We're in discussions with research teams to secure validated Urdu translations of the other 12, the first step toward a curriculum that works across languages and cultures. 1 ready, 12 to go.

Where we are

The next twelve months are about moving from page to classroom.

We're past the "good idea" stage and into execution. Here's the roadmap your support accelerates.

Now
Preparing two modules and additional chapters for peer review
"Managing Your Emotions" and "Building Relationships" are being finalized alongside drafted chapters from "Getting What You Want" and "Creating Your Own Identity." Everything going to outside reviewers will be teachable in our first programs.
Active
Summer 2026
Crowdfunding campaign launch
Launch our first crowdfunding campaign to fund two things: validated Urdu translations of the 12 assessment scales that still need them, and our first Boston pilot programs.
Next
Fall 2026
12-week Boston youth wellbeing pilot
Deliver completed modules through a 12-week community-based pilot in Boston, sponsored by Northeastern Crossing and the Office of City and Community Engagement at Northeastern University. Collect our first pre and post outcomes data.
Next
2026-2027
Urdu translation and validation of 12 scales
Work with Pakistani universities and translation organizations to translate and validate the 12 remaining assessment scales for ages 8-18, so children in Pakistani schools can be assessed in their own language.
Planned
2027
Remaining four modules complete
Full six-module curriculum drafted, peer reviewed, and ready for school integration.
Planned
2028+
School integration & global expansion
Approach schools for academic-year integration, beginning with pilot sites in Pakistan and Boston.
Planned

Help us teach the generation that comes next.

A child who learns to manage their anger at nine is a different parent at thirty. Multiply that across a classroom, a school, a country. That's the compounding we're building.

Make a donation →