Building Relationship Skills in India

Hope Collaborative values the skill of building and maintaining healthy relationships. In our Relationship Skills module, we work with students to build many skills they will need to seek out and promote positive relationships in their lives, including:

• Identifying what makes a relationship healthy, and knowing what steps they can take in order to develop and support healthy relationships.
• Using effective communication skills (both verbal and nonverbal) to express and assert themselves.
• Defining and respecting relationship needs, boundaries, and rights (their own and others).
• Being able to repair damaged relationships using positive negotiation skills.

Our partners at Presidency School in Nizamabad, India recently began the Relationship Skills module with their students. Over the course of the semester, these young adults will practice and communicate the components of strong relationships and support each other in strengthening the relationships that are important in their lives. We evaluate their progress closely with our partners at The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Shown here: at Presidency School, a group of students presents their class poster at the beginning of the Relationship Skills module, highlighting that healthy relationships are not formed by luck or chance--they are a skill we can always grow and improve! Below, students work on class presentations and one featured "Journey of My Life" poster, highlighting student's ability as storytellers to share the key moments and relationships in their lives.