The program
A structured program, not a one-off assembly.
Level Up runs as a facilitator-led series of 10 or more weekly sessions with the same group of young people, in the setting where they already are. The point is repetition and practice — skills you use once are skills you forget.
How it runs
The shape of the program
Level Up is delivered by a facilitator to a group, on a weekly rhythm, over ten or more weeks. Each student works from their own copy of the Level Up workbook, which carries the material between sessions.
Scope, group size and scheduling are agreed with each organization before the program begins — a DAEP campus, a probation cohort and a church youth group are not the same room, and the program is not run as if they were.
- 10+ weekly sessions with a consistent group
- Facilitator-led, delivered in your setting
- Every student works from their own workbook
- Group-based, participation-driven, discussion-heavy
- Designed for ages 11 to 19
Six things that make a session different from a lecture
Every session draws on these. Which ones, and in what order, depends on the topic and on the group in front of the facilitator.
- Interactive workshops
- Sessions are run as workshops, not lectures. The facilitator works the room rather than the front of it.
- Open discussion
- Direct conversation about things students are already dealing with — without talking down to anyone.
- Role plays
- Difficult conversations practised out loud, in a room where getting it wrong costs nothing.
- Activities
- Structured exercises that make an idea physical instead of theoretical.
- Team projects
- Work that puts communication, problem solving and accountability under real pressure.
- Real life scenarios
- Situations students recognise, worked through step by step — including what each choice actually costs.
The curriculum
What students work on
Eight core skills, taught, practised and returned to across the program — each with a place in the workbook where students work it through in their own words.
- 01
Confident communication
Saying what you actually mean — to a teacher, a boss, a friend, a parent — without shutting down and without blowing up.
- 02
Positive self-talk
Noticing the running commentary in your own head, and learning that you get a say in it.
- 03
Healthy & unhealthy relationships
What respect looks like in practice, what control looks like when it is dressed up as care, and how to tell them apart early.
- 04
Weighing cost vs. benefit
Slowing a decision down long enough to ask what it actually costs — in time, in trust, in options later.
- 05
Anger management
Recognising the physical signs before the reaction, and building a set of responses that are not regret.
- 06
Problem solving
Breaking a situation into parts you can do something about and parts you cannot, then working the first list.
- 07
Making better choices
Practising decisions in low-stakes scenarios so the pattern is already there when the stakes are real.
- 08
Setting & achieving goals
Turning “one day” into a first step small enough to take this week.
Themes the whole program is built on
These are not separate lessons. They show up in the language of every session, in the workbook prompts, and in how the facilitator handles the room.
Being straight with you
What Level Up is not
Youth programs get oversold constantly. Here is what we are not claiming.
Not therapy or clinical treatment
Level Up is an educational life skills program. It is not counselling, therapy, psychiatric or medical treatment, and it is not crisis intervention. It does not replace any of them.
Not a punishment
Level Up runs in disciplinary settings, but it is not a consequence. Students are not treated as a problem to be corrected.
Not a guarantee
We do not promise improved grades, reduced incidents, better behaviour or any other outcome. What we commit to is a well-structured program, delivered properly, that young people engage with.
Next step
See it running in your setting.
Tell us who your group is and what your constraints are. We’ll come back by email with a straight answer about whether Level Up fits.