The aim of this project was to complete the development and evaluation of the Learning to BREATHE (L2B) program, a curriculum designed to facilitate the development of attention and emotion regulation skills within the context of public high schools.

The Learning to BREATHE program is designed to be presented in twelve class sessions linked to standards for health education and may be presented as a unit within regular classroom health curricula. The themes and practices in the curriculum are supported by a body of research that identifies emotion regulation skills and executive function as fundamental to personal, social, and academic success. Learning to BREATHE fills a major gap in social-emotional learning (SEL) programs by providing a developmentally appropriate curriculum for high school students that can be used in the classroom and by exploring how to integrate SEL programs into the existing structure and curricula of high school.

This project was conducted in two public high schools in Central Pennsylvania with a sample of students (N=320) that represents the diverse socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic diversity of the general population in the area. The main objective was to develop an extensive training model for teachers and/or counselors to deliver the program within regular high school classes.