A Lust for Life is an award-winning Irish mental health charity driven by a mission to educate and empower young people to take care of their minds through early mental health education programmes. Over the last number of years we have been working towards this mission to equip young people with the skills and tools to manage their mental health by developing and rolling out a primary schools mental health education programme. The A Lust For Life Primary Schools Programme is a free of charge 10 week teacher-led programme which aims to build resilience, increase wellbeing and enhance the emotional literacy of Junior infants to 6th class school children and has reached 50% of Irish primary schools. Now, we are growing this impact up into post-primary schools.
Introducing the Rising Minds Programme, a brand new secondary schools programme developed by teachers and guidance counsellors, psychological experts, and young people.
This evidence-informed programme captures the heart of mental fitness: growing stronger through challenge, rising to meet life with skill, managing emotions, building positive relationships, and nurturing minds that are compassionate, capable, and resilient.
Over the course of 10 flexible teacher-led lessons that are anchored in empowering language, creative storytelling, and age-appropriate neuroscience, teachers can empower young people with the skills and tools to understand and manage their wellbeing, while delivering a programme that supports the JCPA and Junior Cycle Wellbeing Guidelines.
Our aim is for the programme to support young people throughout their secondary school lives, starting in 1st year and working our way up to 6th year, and November 2025 marked an exciting milestone in this journey as we launched the pilot of our 1st year programme with +1,000 young people around Ireland.
Complete the registration below to register your class for the programme
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Access and download lesson plans and supporting materials for each lesson
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The students engaged really well with the lesson and loved the movement-based activities. The ice-breakers supported inclusion, allowing all students to participate confidently. The lesson flowed well and students are really engaging with the programme.
Pilot Teacher - Pilot School
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I learned how to calm down and get back on track when upset and that things are not always black and white.
1st Year Student - Pilot School
Register Your School
Please complete the registration form to sign your school up for the programme.
