Welcome to DEAL

Samaritans DEAL (Developing Emotional Awareness and Learning)
programme helps schools develop the skills that young people aged
14-16 need to cope with life's challenges and develop their
emotional health and wellbeing.
The resources aim to help
students to develop an understanding of the meaning of the term
‘emotional health’ as it relates to them, and their
friends/family/peers. The lessons also seek to help students to
identify coping strategies for stressful or difficult situations
they may face, and to reflect on the positive and negative
consequences their choices could have.
Flexibility
DEAL can be taught as part of a lesson on a range of
subjects, including English literature, drama, RE and geography.
Samaritans has developed DEAL so that emotional health is seen as
relevant to learning generally, rather than any one specific area
of the curriculum, reflecting the fact that emotional
health-related skills are important to all parts of life.
DEAL materials are designed not just for use by PSHE
specialists, but also by generalist teachers like form tutors or
pastoral staff, and can be used as a series of lessons or as part
of a collapsed curriculum day.
The materials cater for different learning styles, and are based
on a facilitative style of teaching, which encourages pupils to
express and develop their own ideas and ways of thinking about the
issues in question.

Dealing with emotional stress
In this mp3 audio download, celebrity supporter Danny McNamara
of Embrace discusses how he dealt with emotional stress.
If the audio file above does not
work, you can download
the mp3

DEAL with Poetry - an additional module
Samaritans have been working with The Poet Society, Poet in the
City and "Lapidus – Creative words for health and wellbeing", and
have created another module of the Samaritans’ Developing Emotional
Awareness and Learning (DEAL) programme.
This new module promotes the use of poetry as a form of self
expression. Approaching difficult issues indirectly through poetry
stimulates young people to think about emotional health issues in
their own lives.
The additional module contains 4 session plans that can be used
in both small groups and in classroom environments.
Find out
more about the DEAL with Poetry Module
More information
Free lesson
plans and resources
DEAL
feedback
National
Curriculum links
Give your views on
DEAL
Samaritans in Schools Report
2008
This report seeks to give an overview of
Samaritans work in schools, the current work by local branches
and evaluates the uptake of the DEAL (Developing Emotional
Awareness and Learning) programme.
Further information
For more information, contact:
Sam Oakley
Development Manager
s.oakley@samaritans.org
Samaritans has 202 branches across the UK and Ireland and your
local branch may be able to support your staff in delivering DEAL,
or visit the school to talk about Samaritans. However, it does
depend on volunteers being available and will vary from region to
region. Find your local
branch