About This Lesson
My Life is Worth Living is a mental wellness and suicide prevention series produced by the Cook Center for Human Connection in collaboration with Wonder Media. Each episode models positive coping skills and positive mental wellness techniques. In the resources tab, you will find the episode in the following languages, in the following order: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Japanese.
Character Synopsis: Emily is a creative, sometimes introverted person that has a close relationship with her mother, Theresa. They frequently make each other laugh and have always been supportive of one another. When Emily’s mom started dating someone seriously last year, Emily was excited for her. She has loved seeing her mom so happy, feeling inspired by her capacity to balance career, love, and family. Recently, Emily has been trying to balance this important relationship with her mom with the new uneasiness she has been experiencing about her mom’s fiancé, Brandon. Recurring moments of discomfort with him have now become more recognizable as sexual abuse. Currently, Emily is struggling to connect with her mother about what is going on, feeling guilt and shame about what has been happening, and beginning to have suicidal thoughts. With the support of her best friend Shayla and Shayla’s mother Carla, she is able to feel supported enough to confide in her mother and know that her story matters.
Episode Synopsis: Emily and her mom are decorating their new apartment, Emily is doing virtual therapy, and their shared trauma moves further into the past each day. So why does Emily still feel haunted by negative thoughts? She never saw her mom’s fiancé again after disclosing the abuse, but the feelings of guilt and hopelessness stuck around. With the encouragement of her new support group, though, Emily is finding that sharing her feelings through photography is a strong coping skill – one that keeps her self-worth and the love of her mom and her friends in focus.
In each My Life is Worth Living lesson plan, you will find partner and class discussion prompts, writing prompts, a group activity, and a family resource. This lesson is appropriate for grades 6-12.
