CONNECTION STARTER COURSE
Understand your social health.
Strengthen your connection.
Your social health is personal. The meaningful connection you need is unique to you.
It also changes as you and your life change.
The Connection Starter Course helps you understand your social health and the meaningful connection you need at this time in your life, then gives you a practical, attainable way to strengthen them.
Your social health. Your connection needs.
Your Connection Plan.
You have social health needs too.
You probably already pay attention to your physical health and your mental health.
Your social health is another important part of your overall health and wellbeing.
Social scientist and author Kasley Killam defines social health as 'the dimension of well-being that comes from connection and community.'
Like your physical and mental health, your social health is personal. What you need to feel meaningfully connected will be different from what someone else needs, and it will change as you and your life change.
There is no single formula for good social health.
YOUR CONNECTION NEEDS CHANGE AS YOU DO
Your life today probably looks different from your life five, ten or twenty years ago.
Your relationships have changed. Your responsibilities have changed. You have changed.
It makes sense that the meaningful connection you need can change, too.
You might already feel well connected. You might feel that something is missing. Or you might simply be curious about what your social health looks like at this point in your life.
You don’t need something to be wrong before you pay attention to your social health.
WHO THIS
IS FOR
The Connection Starter Course is for adults who want to better understand their social health and strengthen meaningful connection in their lives.
It can be particularly valuable when life is changing, such as:
-
moving somewhere new
-
starting or graduating university
-
changing careers
-
entering or leaving a relationship
-
becoming a parent
-
entering midlife
-
children leaving home
-
retirement
-
navigating grief and loss
-
and other life transitions
These can all change the people, places and routines that support your connection.
You might feel lonely or disconnected. You might have a full life and plenty of people around you, but recognise that something is missing. Or you might already feel well connected and simply want to understand and invest in your social health to keep things going.
You don't need to be a particular age or at a particular stage of life. You just need to be curious about the meaningful connection you need now.
A PRACTICAL WAY TO UNDERSTAND YOUR SOCIAL HEALTH
The Connection Starter Course gives you the structure and space to understand your social health, explore the meaningful connection you need and decide what connection action looks like for you.
This isn’t generic advice about making more friends, joining a club or getting out more.
Your social health is individual. Your connection needs are, too.
Through the course, you’ll:
-
understand your social health and what meaningful connection means to you
-
explore the quality, quantity and frequency of connection you need
-
consider what’s working for you and what might be getting in the way
-
explore your connection to your self, those most important to you and community
-
turn what you’ve learned into practical connection action
-
build your own Connection Plan
THE COURSE
STRUCTURE
The Connection Starter Course takes you through eight structured, practical parts:
-
Understanding your social health
-
Understanding meaningful connection
-
Your loneliness story (if that applies to your current experience)
-
The price you’re paying
-
Connection to self
-
Connection to those most important to you
-
Connection to community
-
Your Connection Plan
Each part builds on the last, helping you understand your social health and connection needs before bringing what you’ve learned together in your own Connection Plan.
YOUR CONNECTION PLAN
You’ll finish the course with your Connection Plan.
Not somebody else’s prescription for a connected life.
Yours.
Your Connection Plan brings together what you’ve learned about your values, your social health and the meaningful connection you need, then turns that understanding into practical intentions for:
-
connection to your self
-
connection to those most important to you
-
connection to community
You’ll consider the connection action you can take, together with the support and accountability that will help you act.
Practical connection action, designed around your life.
TESTIMONIALS
HOW IT WORKS
The Connection Starter Course is self-paced and designed to fit alongside your life.
-
Work through eight structured, practical parts
-
Complete the reflections and exercises at your own pace
-
Build your Connection Plan as you bring everything together
-
Revisit the course and your Connection Plan as you and your life change
-
Get immediate access when you enrol
Take your time. Be curious. Make it yours.
YOUR COURSE
YOUR WAY
Self-directed
Understand your social health and build your Connection Plan at your own pace.
You’ll get the complete Connection Starter Course, including the reflections, exercises and practical tools to understand the meaningful connection you need and turn what you learn into connection action.
-
Complete all eight parts at your own pace
-
Explore your connection to your self, those most important to you and community
-
Develop connection intentions that are specific to your life
-
Build your own Connection Plan
-
Return to the course and your Connection Plan whenever you need to
A$129
Prices are shown in Australian dollars.
You can pay in your local currency at checkout.
1:1 with Phil McAuliffe
Go deeper with Phil alongside you.
You’ll work through the complete Connection Starter Course with Phil, with six 90-minute conversations giving you dedicated space to explore what emerges for you.
Together, you can go deeper into your experiences, challenge assumptions and patterns, explore what might be getting in the way and turn what you're learning into connection action that works for your life.
You’ll also have Phil there to provide the support and accountability to help you keep moving forward.
-
Complete Connection Starter Course
-
Six 90-minute 1:1 conversations with Phil
-
Personalised exploration of what emerges for you
-
Kind and honest challenge, support and accountability
-
A Connection Plan developed around you and your life
A$3,000
Prices are shown in Australian dollars.
You can pay in your local currency at checkout.
Not sure which option is right for you?
You're welcome to contact us if you have a question before deciding.
Photo: Michael White Photography
ABOUT
PHIL McAULIFFE
Phil McAuliffe is the founder of HUMANS:CONNECTING and a speaker and writer working to strengthen social health, meaningful connection and the relational infrastructure that supports them.
His work is informed by both professional expertise and lived experience.
Phil spent 23 years in the Australian Public Service, including diplomatic postings around the world. His career involved working with humans across cultures, communities and complex environments.
Despite a successful career, family and a full life, Phil experienced loneliness as he entered midlife. Trying to understand that experience led him to look more deeply at how humans connect, what gets in the way and what helps us build and maintain meaningful connection throughout our lives.
Today, Phil brings that experience to his work with individuals, workplaces, communities and organisations in Australia and internationally.
Phil's work and insights have been shared through TEDx, BBC World Service, Science, Psychology Today, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and international initiatives advancing understanding of loneliness and social connection.
The Connection Starter Course brings that work together into a practical process you can apply to your own life.
BROCHURE
Prefer to explore this in more detail?
You can download the Connection Starter Course brochure for a deeper look at how the course works.
Start where you are
You don’t need to wait until something is wrong to pay attention to your social health.
You don’t need to become more social for the sake of being social.
And you don’t need someone else’s prescription for a connected life.
You can understand the social health and meaningful connection you need at this point in your life, and take practical connection action to strengthen them.
Your social health.
Your connection needs.
Your Connection Plan.