Virtual SEL curriculum
for safer schools

Practice-based SEL curriculum that helps students build critical life skills.

Kognito’s Friend2Friend simulations improve school climate by helping middle and high school students cultivate the knowledge and skills to navigate difficult real-life situations, which leads to more positive outcomes both in and out of the classroom.

Engaging for students

Conversation scenarios meet students where they are and provide individual feedback across standardized content.

Evidence-based

Kognito’s simulation methodology has been determined to be evidence-based in peer-reviewed studies.

Seamless for educators

Lesson plans and discussion guides facilitate integration into health curriculum and class discussion.

Tracking & evaluation

Built-in surveys measure impact on school climate and support evaluation efforts.

Explore practice-based simulations that support your district’s social emotional learning efforts

Friend2Friend: Emotional & Mental Wellness

  • Build awareness, knowledge, and skills about mental health while reducing stigma
  • Identify warning signs of psychological distress, including verbal, behavioral, and situational clues
  • Build skills in how to approach a peer in a manner to motivate them to access support
  • Become comfortable asking a friend if they are thinking about suicide

Friend2Friend: Substance Use Prevention

  • Prevent substance misuse now and later in life by giving students the tools to better navigate real-life situations involving substances
  • Identify substance misuse, support services and ways to resist peer pressure
  • Develop positive self-concept and social norms, healthy/unhealthy coping strategies, and refusal skills
  • Practice applying communication skills to help a friend

Friend2Friend: Safe & Caring Schools

  • Reduce school violence through recognition of concerning behaviors and open communication between students and adults
  • Identify own and others’ emotions related to bullying, harassment, self-harm, threats, and other concerns
  • Encourage a peer in distress to open up to an adult
  • Identify potential resources and trusted adults

Johnston Community School District

Johnston Community School District, where 21% of students receive free or reduced lunch and 14% receive at-risk services, leverages Kognito’s Friend2Friend simulation as part of its mental health unit in both 8th and 10th grade health courses.

More than 1,200 students have completed the 25-minute simulation with positive results. Before completing the training, less than 50% of students said they were prepared to talk about their concerns with a friend showing signs of being stressed out. After the simulation, that number rose to nearly 80%. And 34% more students reported that they felt prepared to recommend that a stressed-out friend talk with an adult who can help.

Benjamin Logan Local School District

Nearly 2,000 students are in the Benjamin Logan Local School District in a rural area of Ohio. The district has adopted the Friend2Friend simulation as a peer support program to help students identify friends in distress and motivate them to get support.

Before completing Friend2Friend, just 47% of students felt prepared to help a friend thinking about suicide find an adult who can help. After completing the 25-minute simulation, 78% felt prepared to do so, a 31% increase.

Crisis Services of North Alabama

Crisis Services of North Alabama has reached over 1,600 middle and high school students in local schools with mental health and suicide prevention training through Kognito’s Friend2Friend simulation.

Its Suicide Awareness Educator works with the community and local schools, and appreciates that Friend2Friend makes learning and thinking about the topic less stressful for students—especially those who may have experienced personal loss. “I observed major changes in students’ feelings of unpreparedness to talk to a friend that they are worried about, notice the warning signs of suicide, or to help a friend,” he says.

Set your students up for success with the power of virtual simulation

Get in touch with our team to learn more about how we can support your social emotional learning efforts.

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