Pillar 1
Self-Awareness
The image: The Iceberg
The question it answers: What is going on inside me?
The HeartWise method
One shared language, from age 1 to 16
HeartWise gives children, families and teachers one shared language for feelings. It begins with five simple feelings and grows with the child through five age bands, from Baby Hearts at 1 to 3 to Brave Hearts at 12 to 16. The same Zones, the same L.A.N.T.E.R.N. steps and the same Six Pillars are met again and again, a little deeper each time.
The Five Feelings
Five feelings to begin with
The anchor emotional vocabulary – happy, sad, angry, scared, tired – widened with age into a rich feelings language.
widened with age into a rich feelings language
- 1–3
- 3–5
- 5–8
- 8–12
- 12–16
The Six Pillars
Six Pillars hold up everything
Every theme, outcome and competency maps back to one of these six. Choose a pillar to see its image and the question it answers.
Pillar 2
Self-Regulation
The image: The Zones & L.A.N.T.E.R.N.
The question it answers: What do I do with a big feeling?
Pillar 3
Growth Mindset
The image: The Seed
The question it answers: What if I can’t… yet?
Pillar 4
Empathy & Connection
The image: The Mirror
The question it answers: What is it like to be you?
Pillar 5
Relationships & Repair
The image: The Bridge
The question it answers: How do we mend what breaks?
Pillar 6
Resilience & Purpose
The image: The Roots
The question it answers: What keeps me standing, and what is it for?
The Zones
Three Zones. All zones are okay.
A three-colour map of arousal: green (calm, ready), yellow (wobbly, rising), red (overwhelmed). Every Zone has a colour, a word and a shape, so colour is never the only clue.
In everyday words: how switched-on or settled our body and mind feel.
Green Zone
calm, ready
The shape: wave
Yellow Zone
wobbly, rising
The shape: zigzag
Red Zone
overwhelmed
The shape: spike
All zones are okay.
L.A.N.T.E.R.N.
The path through a big feeling
Label, Accept, Notice, Take a pause, Empathise, Repair, Next step: walked with the child until it becomes their own.
Younger children begin with the first two or the first four of the seven steps.
Step 1 of 7
Label
Give the feeling a name.
The Iceberg
The need beneath the behaviour
We read the need beneath the behaviour, and teach the missing skill – rather than only managing the surface.
Above the water
The behaviour we can see: the surface.
Individual books may show their own simplified picture, and say so.
One method, five ages
The same method, every age
Teaching the same core ideas again and again, deeper at each band, as the child grows. Choose an age band to see its books.
1–3
Baby Hearts
The Five Feelings arrive as the five faces. Adults co-regulate first: children borrow our calm long before they own their own.
See the books3–5
Little Hearts
Meet the Zones as three colours and a feeling, and begin L.A.N.T.E.R.N. with the first two of the seven steps.
Iceberg: four layersSee the books5–8
Growing Hearts
The Zones grow with the child, and L.A.N.T.E.R.N. reaches the first four of the seven steps.
Iceberg: four layersSee the books8–12
Strong Hearts
The Zones are met matured, and all seven steps of L.A.N.T.E.R.N. are walked.
Iceberg: six layersSee the books12–16
Brave Hearts
The Zones and L.A.N.T.E.R.N. remain, offered with respect and no cartoon framing.
Iceberg: six layersSee the books
Take it further
See the method in the books
Every HeartWise book is built on this one language. Start with the whole framework, or choose the books for your age band.