What We Do
Most people don’t know what essential personal life skills are, but they do recognize when there are problems,
many of which result from a lack of these skills.
Our main goal is to help all people, starting with children, to become their best selves so they can win the biggest game -- LIFE! We believe this can be accomplished by teaching essential personal life skills in all schools starting from preschool through high school. It is our firm belief that curriculum to teach these skills should be included as a routine part of all school curricula at every grade level, and that if it were, our children would be better prepared for life. We know that parents want their children to ultimately get and keep good jobs; we also know that employers want employees who already have these skills. So, we continue to ask this question:
"Since parents want their children to ultimately get good jobs, and since employers want employees who have good essential personal life skills, why are we not including curriculum to teach these skills in all our schools?"
Toward this end, here are the three primary things that SELF does:
1. We ADVOCATE for essential personal life skills curriculum to be mandated for inclusion as a stand-alone subject in all schools for K-12th grades.
2. We EDUCATE through the content of our website, which includes simple sayings and tips, as well as through our free Alive2Thrive curriculum, which teaches about essential personal life skills and how to apply these skills to their lives.
3. We INVEST in students in our state by helping to initially fund essential personal life skills curricula as a part of the routine curriculum in our schools for children in grades K-12.
We also INVEST in families in our community by offering our Hand-Up Tuition Assistance program to help hard-working parents of pre-schoolers, who are not receiving government assistance, by offsetting a portion of the tuition at quality early learning centers we work with.
The chart below shows some of the life problems or symptoms that can result from NOT having essential personal life skills. Click on any “X” in the chart below for a link to the corresponding page of our free Alive2Thrive curriculum that may have lesson content to help address that specific problem.
Please review our website for other information including sayings, tips, words of wisdom and our free Alive2Thrive personal life skills curriculum, which is a comprehensive program offering students, parents, teachers, administrators, and mentors the critical resources they need to help students and adults become better equipped to tackle life’s challenges.
If viewing this site on a mobile device, please turn the device horizontally to best view the chart below.
| Domestic violence | Broken families, emotional instability, physical trauma, fear, medical expenses | x | x | ||
| Bullying others | Social and school problems | X | x | x | |
| Racism | Stress & other health concerns, discrimination | x | x | x | |
| Depression/anxiety | Poor relationships, job loss, family dysfunction | x | x | x | x |
| Suicide | Family trauma, stress for loved ones | x | x | x | x |
| Drug or alcohol dependence/abuse | Poor health, job loss, family trauma, legal troubles | x | x | x | |
| Eating disorder(s) (anorexia, bulimia, etc.) | Poor health, emotional instability | x | |||
| Poor job performance | Unable to advance, poor pay, job dissatisfaction | x | |||
| Marital/family issues | Divorce, disharmony, dysfunctional family dynamics | x | x | x | x |
| Low self-esteem | Risky behaviors, poor judgment, lack of motivation | x | x | ||
| Incarceration | Family trauma, relationships suffer, future job potential decreases | x | x | x | x |
| Anger | Arrest, incarceration, bad relationships | x | x | ||
| Fear | Family & work relationships suffer, stress | x | x | ||
| Debt | Bad credit, homelessness, stress | x | x | x | |
| Poverty/homelessness | Stress, financial ruin | x | x | x | |
| Poor health/self-care | Medical problems, relationships suffer | x | x | ||
| Obesity | Health problems, hygiene issues, social anxiety | x | x | ||
| Guilt, shame, self-blame | Lack of motivation, depression, anxiety | x | x |
Santoro Education Lifeskills Foundation (SELF)
SELF is dedicated to helping everyone learn important lessons about health and self-character as early in life as possible. We believe that through learning essential personal life skills as early as preschool and continuing from grades K-12, people will have foundational life skills to help in ALL areas of life. This implementation will ultimately reshape humanity and upgrade our society.
If academics is like the car that drives you, then essential personal life skills are like the steering wheel that guides you.
You can’t drive a car without a steering wheel, right?
We can use your help
How to Use This Site
This website is a free common-sense approach to help ALL people become their best selves and win the biggest game: LIFE.
We advocate for and provide a simple means of avoiding or treating some life issues that stem from the lack of essential personal life skills, and the journey starts with the first step.
Please click on each of the tabs at the top of the pages for a peek at all of the free resources this site offers, which range from a full curriculum program called Alive2Thrive to individual short “sayings.”
This site is not intended as a replacement for professional medical care for physical or mental health problems, which should be addressed by a licensed professional.