Putting the “we” in wellbeing through belonging research

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the rates of loneliness and isolation. Belonging, being a fundamental human need, plays a significant role in understanding loneliness and isolation, as well as promoting mental health and wellbeing. Several factors influence the feeling of belonging, and across the different life stages, belonging is crucial to psychological, social, and overall functioning of an individual. In schools, helping students develop a sense of belonging to school positively impacts their wellbeing. Considering its positive influence, promoting students’ belonging should be a priority through wellbeing education. Wellbeing education focuses on competencies for belonging, opportunities to belong, motivations to belong, and perceptions to belong which are based on the meta-integrated framework for building belonging. Targeting attributions and adopting a systems approach through a socio-ecological lens must be considered in developing interventions. In order for such interventions to succeed, school policies supporting belonging should be in place.