Choose Hope This School Year

August 23, 2022 By Leave a Comment

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It has been a tough couple of years for our youth. Between the global pandemic, civil unrest, and world events outside of their control, our children are experiencing hopelessness at unprecedented rates, with over 50% of young girls in the United States alone experiencing persistent states of hopelessness.

We also know that hopelessness predicts weapon-carrying on school property, violence. Self-harm, addiction, and more. 

Yet we are never taught how to proactively manage hopelessness, and activate hope.

Every child deserves to start the new school year off with HOPE. 


Officers of the Arlington County, Virginia Police Department with graduates of the precinct’s Hopeful Minds program.

Ensure every child knows the “how-to” of hope by asking your church, school, after-school programs, clubs, parents, and even police precincts, to teach the Hopeful Minds curriculums. In honor of the new school year, the curriculums have been updated to include: 

  • The latest research on hope and mental health
  • The Five Keys to SHINE for Hope, an easy mnemonic to teach kids of any age the critical hope skills they need to thrive (Stress Skills, Happiness Habits, Inspired Actions, Nourishing Networks, Eliminate Challenges)
  • New activities to better teach hope skills based on feedback from parents and educators 

The Hopeful Minds curriculums and resources are free for download at www.hopefulminds.org/curriculum. Paperback versions of all the curriculums and hopework books are also available for purchase on Amazon or for wholesale at Ingram Content Group. 100% of the purchase profits go directly to iFred, a 501(c)(3), and the Hopeful Minds program. 

The current Hopeful Minds curriculums include:

Whether you are a parent, a teacher, a youth leader, or just a concerned citizen, you have the power to inspire hope in youth in your community and around the world. 

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Filed Under: Children, Education, Hopeful Minds, iFred, Mental Health, Research, Schools for Hope, Youth Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
About Kathryn

Kathryn Goetzke has over 30 years of experience in marketing, branding, and strategy. She was recently appointed to be a representative at the United Nations for the World Federation for Mental Health. Kathryn is the Founder of iFred, the International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression, through which she created Hopeful Minds and Hopeful Cities, two programs dedicated to sharing the “how-to” of hope with children, parents, and communities globally. Kathryn presented at Harvard University, the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Never Alone Summit. Hopeful Minds was featured in a documentary by the BBC, and her products and projects have been featured in global media.

Kathryn is a Partner at Innovative Analysis, LLC, where she consults businesses on activating hope in the workplace, and created a college program Hopeful Mindsets, a marketing strategy and course for college students to activate hope on campus. She is the author of the Biggest Little Book About Hope and host of The Hope Matrix Podcast. In her role as Chief Mood Officer at The Mood Factory, she created the first nationwide cause marketing campaign for mental health through her brand Mood-lites, which achieved over 35M in retail sales. Ms. Goetzke serves on advisory boards for FundaMentalSDG, Y Mental Health, Women’s Brain Project, and the Global Mental Health Movement.

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