Session Planning - Nourishing Minds

Creating a Session Plan

Designing Sessions That Flow

A well-planned session keeps teens engaged while building their mental health skills. Our template and pre-designed plans give you a clear roadmap, so you can focus on meaningful conversations instead of wondering what to do next.

Why Session Planning Matters

In the Nourishing Minds program, we provide a template to help facilitators create great sessions that are customized to the needs of their teen group. Not ready to build your own session plan yet? Check out the pre-designed session plans in the Cookbook. Let’s look at what session planning will do for your group.

Outlines Objectives

The session plan will guide you to decide what you’d like for your session to achieve. Would you like to help teens recognize and process emotions? Or maybe manage stress better? Or some other goal that leads to improved mental health?

Provides Structure & Manages Time

The session plan organizes activities in a logical sequence and helps you to allocate time to keep sessions focused, productive and engaging.

Enhances Flow & Encourages Participation

A well-paced session embraces a flow that keeps everyone in sync, sparks collaboration and strategically times activities to keep everyone engaged.

Facilitates Reflection & Continuous Improvement

With built-in moments for reflection and feedback, each session gets sharper, discussions get deeper, and next time gets even better.

Inside a Successful Session Plan

The following pages are examples of how a recipe is transformed into a co-design session. Read through them and to see how each person prepared and crafted the session. Allow for flexibility and adapt each time you meet with your group.

Guiding Philosophies

Program Essentials