Educating Students About the Importance of Human Connection

The GenWell Project is a Human Connection Movement whose mission is to make the world a happier and healthier place by educating people about the importance of human connection to their health and happiness and then inspiring them to take action. None of us were ever educated about the importance of human connection in our lives and now the research clearly shows that staying socially connected and building supportive networks around us are the single largest indicator of happiness in our lives, reduces anxiety and depression, increases empathy compassion and resilience, strengthens your self confidence and your immune system, and can increase your chances of living longer by up to 50%. As we wake up in the middle of a pandemic and long before, this message needs to be in the hands of our young so that they can make conscious decisions to start valuing and building those healthy connection habits early in life, We are not a mental health campaign and we are not anti technology. We are a proactive human connection movement that wants to educate society (young people in this case) about the health benefits to human connection, that will allow them to make the best decision on how they use their time to stay happier and healthier. The project would be to build of an in-school (or virtual) presentation that could be delivered by students who believe in the message and who want to share it with their peers. It should be compelling, engaging and should have some leave behind information or tools that can help people take the first steps and start or re-start building healthy connection habits for their health or for the health of someone they know. The project would include doing the research about the topic, building the presentation and tools, testing it with other students and then working with the organization to secure other speaking opportunities at colleges and universities across North America who see the need for students to hear this critical information.

Building the Canadian Human Connection Movement

The GenWell Project, a registered Canadian NFP and charity partner of Framework Foundation, is a grassroots Global Human Connection Movement whose mission is to make the world a happier and healthier place by educating people about the importance of face-to-face social connection as a proactive step we can all take for our health, happiness and longevity, as well as for those around us. We share information, research, tips, and motivation through our social channels and our website, to empower people create healthy connection habits starting today and we activate around two weekends a year, in the spring and fall, when we want to be the catalyst that inspires people to reach out and get connected face to face with family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. We have so many opportunities to be part of this incredible movement that it really is a mutual decision between the student and the Executive Director, whom you will have direct contact with, to see what you would like to do. 1) Help build a functional CRM to help us maintain and grow our community in an organized fashion. 2) Help us reach out to and build a network of organizations that can support Canadians who are struggling with their social health, which is one of the root causes of mental health issues. 3) Support our Executive Director in maintaining and focusing on the priorities of the movement at any one time. 4) The opportunity to work on and be part of a partnership team that is working to build greater connection to the business community across Canada. We are really excited to have your support in building this movement. Gratitude, Pete

MacEwan - Social Isolation Project

We would like to discuss the possibility of several approaches to better understanding, sharing and activating against the issue of social isolation, disconnection and loneliness in marginalized communities. Understanding - We would like to take a deeper look into the issue of social isolation and loneliness within a selected marginalized community (to be aligned). We want to better understand the issue, the emotions and the depth of the wound, so as to better recognize the seriousness of the emotion behind the issue. Sharing - As we better understand, we believe that the first step in moving forward is to share our purpose and mission and the evidence behind the work that we are trying to do. In this case, we want to share the importance of human connection in general and then, using the info from above, connect the information to the situation and emotions that are experienced within the community. Activating - We would like to develop a series of activations that could be leveraged within the selected community to catalyze greater human interactions. These activations could range from simple day to day opportunities, through to more complicated and resource intensive activations. The goal of each activation is to make human connection easier, more likely and happen more often.