Make (Good) Trouble was commissioned by the University of Sussex to create and distribute content to raise awareness of The Rez, a sci-fi podcast adventure for 7–11 year-olds also told through a comic book and a game-based website developed by UK Comic Book Laureate Hannah Berry and a team of writers and psychologists, including Robin Banerjee, Professor of Kindness and Head of Psychology at University of Sussex.
The Rez contains pro-social and emotional well-being messaging about friendship and kindness, designed to help young people prepare to negotiate emotional difficulties and stresses.
PSHE-accredited teaching guide
Make (Good) Trouble was integral in delivering the design and development of new teaching guide and school lesson plans for Key Stage 2, which was awarded the PSHE Quality Mark for teaching resources. Since achieving the Quality Mark, the guide has been shared with the PSHE Association’s national network of teachers and schools. The guides are designed to create a safe and engaging learning environment in which to teach about kindness and communication. More than 1,500 comics have also been distributed, with a second print run to meet demand.
Focus groups
To evaluate the effectiveness of the programme, we developed one-day focus groups and workshops for the University of Sussex, inviting primary age children across the UK to tell us what they thought of The Rez. For our focus groups, we put together fun, interactive and creative sessions to discover what children think. We conduct interviews with children (in groups or on their own, whatever they are comfortable with) as well as taking photographs of the children which may be used for research and promotion, with permission.
Social media campaign
We created targeted social media content to support the launch of The Rez, organising a one-day photoshoot to generate images and video of young people reading the comic, and discussing why they felt it was important to them.
“Our research shows that unfortunately a significant proportion of children are frequently on the receiving end of bullying behaviours. Developing empathy and encouraging kindness can make a big difference when it comes to bullying, so resources that support teachers to bring this into their classroom this are extremely valuable.”
Martha Evans, Director of Anti-Bullying Alliance
“Working with Make (Good) Trouble to develop lesson plans for our PSHE Association-accredited adolescent well-being project has made all the difference to our outreach. It has literally opened the doors to hundreds of schools for us. This means potentially thousands of students are being resourced to support their own mental health and to have healthier media diets. Our impact would have been a fraction of what it is without MGT. We are working with them on a second set of lesson plans and look forward to working with them on new projects we are developing. They are great!”
Martin Spinelli, Professor of Podcast at the University of Sussex and Director of Rezilience Ltd.
👉 Download the lesson plans here!
The Rez is produced in collaboration with:
Make (Good) Trouble CIC
University of Sussex
PHSE Association
Arts Council England
University of Brighton
Hopscotch
Anti Bullying Alliance
Periscope
Millipedia