Open Parachute was built on Dr. Hayley Watson’s PhD research into school bullying interventions, combined with her clinical psychology practice and 15 years of experience working with schools globally. The Open Parachute Courageous Independence Model provides schools and districts with a guided structure for building Courageous Independence in students, which is the ability to understand their own internal reactions and make proactive choices to live up to their fullest potential.
The Open Parachute Courageous Independence Model contains three critical elements: Building resilience in students; Building confidence in teachers to support their students; And building skilled role models in the school community (including caregivers and staff) that can reflect well-being practices to students. These skills are embedded in the school community through our Being Well Model. This model provides a simple, practical skillset that can be practiced and reinforced throughout the school day to build student resilience.
Open Parachute is continually engaged in analyzing the platform's built-in outcome measures for students and teachers. Outcome reports are available for all our schools that would like to track the impact of the Open Parachute program within their school community.
If you would like to learn more about the purpose of the program, please see our Help Article: How Teaching your Students Mental Health Skills Builds Resilience
Further information on the theory behind Open Parachute can be found in our Resource Hub: