Resilient Relationships
Resilient Relationships — Because the Quality of Our Relationships Shapes Everything The relationships young people form in adolescence set patterns that last a lifetime. This curriculum helps them get it right. Resilient Relationships is a seven-lesson curriculum that goes far beyond basic relationships education. It connects the resilience skills pupils have been building since Year 7 directly to the relationships in their lives — friendships, family, romantic relationships and the deeper beliefs that drive how they connect with others. Pupils explore what healthy and unhealthy relationships actually look like, how to set boundaries and communicate assertively, and how to recognise the signs of abusive relationships. Uniquely, the curriculum goes deeper into Big Sticky Beliefs — the deeply held, often unconscious beliefs that shape how we behave in relationships and how we see ourselves within them. Understanding and shifting these is where real, lasting change happens. Relationships and Sex Education is statutory. But this curriculum goes well beyond compliance. Research shows that reinforcing resilience skills across different, relevant topics — including relationships — is what makes those skills truly transferable. Young people don't just learn about relationships; they learn about themselves. Part of the Bounce Forward Healthy Minds suite — evidence-based, developmental, and built for real life.
Lessons
7 lessons in this module.
Resilient Relationships - Introduction
The opening lesson of the Resilient Relationships series reconnects students with the core Resilience Skills from earlier modules and applies them to relationships for the first time. Students revisit the ABC model (Activating event–Beliefs–Consequences) in the context of relationships, explore the full spectrum of relationship types, distinguish healthy from unhealthy relationships, examine the beliefs that help and hinder them, and build their understanding of healthy relationship foundations through a relationship triangle model. The lesson also covers the role of sex in relationships and the importance of building strong foundations before deepening connection.
Healthy Boundaries
This lesson explores what healthy relationship boundaries are, why they matter, and how to set and communicate them assertively. Using the "Smart Love" framework, relationship scenarios, and the assertive communication technique revisited from Year 8, students practise boundary-setting conversations — including how to end a romantic relationship. The lesson also addresses toxic and abusive relationships, warning signs to watch for, and where to seek help if someone feels unsafe.
Relationship Characteristics and Parental Responsibility
This lesson broadens the focus from romantic relationships to the responsibilities that come with parenthood, and deepens students' understanding of consent. A structured debate on common consent myths opens the lesson before students complete a relationship-type quiz. The lesson then shifts to parental responsibility — legal, emotional, and financial — culminating in a group activity where students consider everything that needs to be in place before bringing a child into the world.
Big Sticky Beliefs and Relationships
This lesson introduces Big Sticky Beliefs (BSBs) — the deep, often invisible assumptions people hold about how the world should be — and explores how they differ from the situation-specific Gremlin Beliefs studied in earlier modules. Through the ABC model, case studies (Hannah, Jenny, and the recurring character Dennis), and reflective pair work, students learn to recognise when an overreaction in a relationship is being driven by an underlying BSB, and begin exploring their own world-view beliefs.
Identifying Big Sticky Beliefs
Building on the introduction to Big Sticky Beliefs (BSBs) from Lesson 4, this lesson equips students with a practical technique - "what" questions, for identifying BSBs in themselves and others. Students begin with a relaxing music exercise, then explore their own world-view through anonymous sentence completions. Using the Bodhi case study and a set of "what" question prompts, pairs practise drawing out BSBs, before the lesson closes with personal reflection on times they have overreacted and what underlying BSBs might have driven those reactions.
BSBs and Human Connections
This lesson deepens students' understanding of Big Sticky Beliefs (BSBs) by showing how they drive out-of-proportion reactions in real relationship situations, and then teaches students how to modify or challenge unhelpful BSBs. Through a Take 5 breathing exercise, short drama performances based on three relationship Activating Events, and guided evidence-checking using Lucas as a worked example, students practise noticing when a BSB is "in play" and reworking their ABC to reach a more helpful response.
BSBs and Planning for the Future
The final lesson of the Resilient Relationships series brings together everything students have learned about Big Sticky Beliefs and resilience skills, and projects them forward into the future. Using the Lucas example as a bridge from the previous lesson, students consider how the BSBs they hold now could shape their lives in ten years' time, create a personal Resilience Plan, and reflect on the lasting benefits of the resilience skills for their relationships and wellbeing.