Ross Szabo
Behind Happy Faces Mental Health Curriculum
“The Behind Happy Faces Curriculum fills a critical gap in our campus mental health promotion efforts. Whereas we have excellent counseling services and strong suicide prevention and gatekeeper training, we need a broad-based method to engage large populations of students in recognizing mental health as an essential component of their learning experience. Behind Happy Faces makes thinking deeply about mental health approachable. It speaks through personal stories, conceptual frameworks, and engagement modules that meet students where they are and compels them to take proactive steps to promote their own and their friends’ positive mental health.”
About Ross Szabo
For over a decade, Ross Szabo, CEO of Human Power Project, has worked with students of all ages, campus professionals and health organizations to address critical mental health education.
Ross is an award winning speaker, author, curriculum designer and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. He has spoken to over 2 million people, is the co-author of Behind Happy Faces; Taking Charge of Your Mental Health and a blogger for the Huffington Post.
Ross has received numerous honors and awards for pioneering the youth mental health movement including having his work entered into the Record of Congress.
About The Curriculum
Mental health has quickly become one of the most critical topics facing people today. Depression, anxiety disorders, anger control problems, disordered eating, lack of sleep and substance abuse are greatly impacting members and chapters. Behind Happy Faces is an award winning, first of its kind mental health curriculum. The program uses educational videos and lesson plans to enhance the emotional development of members. The lessons utilize messaging that has been tested on over 1 million people, research from leading social psychologists and content creators from the film and television industry, to engage members with this proactive and impactful educational program.
Over 200,000 high school and college students are utilizing Behind Happy Faces. The curriculum has been used at numerous colleges and is also used at some of the top private high schools in New York City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and by two public school districts in California. The NCAA is overseeing a pilot study of the curriculum for student athletes at 6 universities.
The goal is to give participants the tools they need to address mental health proactively by providing a more complete education of mental health, developing a more expansive vocabulary to discuss emotions and teaching them about coping mechanisms and the important steps to help a friend.