CorStone Model
CorStone offers a trans-disciplinary, integrative approach to developing and supporting mental health and inner well-being in vulnerable and marginalized youth and young women.
Our programs draw upon practices from fields including Resilience, Positive Psychology, Restorative Practices, Social Emotional Learning (SEL), and Attitudinal Healing.
All CorStone programs are delivered using a training-of-trainers cascade in which master trainers train school teachers and/or community women to lead facilitated peer support groups with students.
The CorStone Model
CorStone programs integrate self-discovery and key skills for inter—and intrapersonal—growth, encouraging youth and young women to apply these to their own lives and to make change in the world.Working from ‘the inside out’, CorStone programs support youth in accessing not only their holistic individual well-being but also their power as ‘change agents’ to bring about positive social transformation in their family, school, village, or community.
Over nearly 15 years, we have refined this approach into the CorStone Model shown below.
In programs based on the CorStone Model, youth begin with sessions supporting them to uncover their unique strengths, understand their values and emotions, and explore what they want in life.
After these self-discovery sessions, they begin to build skills for growth both internally and in relation to others, such as emotion management, goal setting and planning, problem-solving, assertive communication, and conflict resolution.
Through these sessions, youth uncover and amplify their authentic power and become able to transform their own life trajectories, while becoming ‘change agents’ with the confidence and skills to catalyze positive social transformation in their communities.
All sessions employ a facilitated peer support approach providing opportunities for shared learning, group problem-solving, and positive peer reinforcement.
“I realized that problems become easier when I share in the group.”
Girls First participant | Bihar, India