This book contains a wealth of practical arts activities, which creatively and playfully bring positive psychology concepts - such as flow, character strengths, goals and self-awareness - to life. With straightforward, step-by-step instructions, each chapter includes an overview of a positive psychology concept, followed by associated arts activities, and case examples illustrating the activities' uses in therapy and supervision. Also included are post-activity guiding questions to promote a dialogue between therapist and client, and suggestions for adapting the activities for clients to utilize outside the therapy room. Blending the strengths-based focus of positive psychology with the healing, transformative practice of the arts, this book is for all practitioners wanting to cultivate the mental health, flourishing and wellbeing of their clients using a creative approach.

Positive Art Therapy Theory and Practice outlines a clear, systematic approach for combining positive psychology with art therapy’s capacity to mobilize client strengths; induce engagement, flow and positive emotions; transform perceptions; build healing relationships and empowering narratives; and illuminate life purpose and meaning. Woven throughout are clinical illustrations, state-of-the-art research, discussion questions, and reflections on how therapists can apply this approach to their work with clients, and their personal and professional development. The book also includes a comprehensive list of more than 80 positive art therapy directives, a robust glossary, and lists of strengths and values. Written in an inviting and amusing style, this manual is both entertaining and practical—an invaluable tool for any practitioner looking to apply the most current theory and research on positive psychology and art therapy to their clinical practice.

This resource comprises a collection of accessible, flexible, tried-and-tested activities for use with people in a range of care and therapy settings, to help them explore their knowledge of themselves and to make sense of their experiences. Among the issues addressed by the activities are exploring physical changes, emotional trauma, interpersonal problems and spiritual dilemmas. Designed with simple and inexpensive art tools in mind for individual and group activities of varying difficulty, it also includes real-life anecdotes that bring the techniques to life. This new edition contains extra activities and resources to promote the continuing wellness of patients and clients outside of therapy settings. This new edition of the Expressive Arts Activity Book is full of fun, easy, creative ideas for workers in hospitals, clinics, schools, hospices, spiritual and religious settings, and in private practice.

This book provides an accessible and balanced introduction to positive psychology scholarship and its applications, incorporating an overview of the development of positive psychology. Positive Psychology: The Basics delineates positive psychology’s journey as a discipline, takes stock of its achievements and provides an updated overview of its core topics, exploring the theory, research and interventions in each. Launched as a rebellious discipline just over two decades ago, positive psychology challenged the emphasis of applied psychology on disease and dysfunction and offered a new, more balanced perspective on human life. From its foundations in the late 20th century to recent "second-wave" theories around the importance of recognizing negative emotions, this compact overview covers the key ideas and principles, from research around emotional wellbeing, optimism and change, to posttraumatic growth and positive relationships. The first jargon-free introduction to the subject, Hart introduces the reader to a range of issues, including self-regulation and flow, character strengths and virtues and positive relationships, concluding with a chapter on how interventions can affect happiness and wellbeing. Positive Psychology: The Basics is an essential resource for students, practitioners, academics and anyone who is interested in understanding the essence of a life well lived.

This book is the print version of an open educational textbook for positive psychology. It includes the author's personal journal while preparing for and then undertaking this project.

This best-selling book is an easy-to-read introduction to the ideas and practices of narrative therapy. It uses accessible language, has a concise structure and includes a wide range of practical examples. What Is Narrative Practice? covers a broad spectrum of narrative practices including externalisation, re-membering, therapeutic letter writing, rituals, leagues, reflecting teams and much more. If you are a therapist, health worker or community worker who is interesting in applying narrative ideas in your own work context, this book was written with you in mind.

Over the past two decades, there has been a major increase in research into the effects of the arts on health and well-being, alongside developments in practice and policy activities in different countries across the WHO European Region and further afield. This report synthesizes the global evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being, with a specific focus on the WHO European Region. Results from over 3000 studies identified a major role for the arts in the prevention of ill health, promotion of health, and management and treatment of illness across the lifespan. The reviewed evidence included study designs such as uncontrolled pilot studies, case studies, small-scale cross-sectional surveys, nationally representative longitudinal cohort studies, community-wide ethnographies and randomized controlled trials from diverse disciplines. The beneficial impact of the arts could be furthered through acknowledging and acting on the growing evidence base; promoting arts engagement at the individual, local and national levels; and supporting cross-sectoral collaboration.

This text will present the basics of positive psychology to educators and provide interactive resources to enrich teachers' proficiency when using positive psychology in the classroom.

What is positive psychology? Positive psychology is concerned with the enhancement of happiness and well being, involving the scientific study of the role of personal strengths and positive social systems in the promotion of optimal well-being. The central themes of positive psychology, including Happiness, Hope, Creativity and Wisdom, are all investigated in this book in the context of their possible applications in clinical practise. Positive Psychology is unique in offering an accessible introduction to this emerging field of clinical psychology. It covers: * available resources including websites and test forms * methods of measurement * a critique of available research * recommendations for further reading. Positive Psychology will prove a valuable resource for psychology students and lecturers who will benefit from the learning objectives and research stimuli included in each chapter. It will also be of great interest to those involved in training in related areas such as social work, counselling and psychotherapy.

Learn how to select the right positive psychology (PP) assessment tool for the right situation Written by internationally renowned authors Looks at well-being, traits, states, and behavior Presents the relevant psychometric properties Considers assessment challenges Recommends selection in different settings Explores new directions in PP A comprehensive guide to selecting positive psychology assessment tools This volume gives a state-of-the-art overview of assessment in the field of positive psychology, including a comprehensive survey of current theories, approaches, issues, and assessment instruments. In four sections, leading experts look at different conceptualizations of well-being and discuss specific traits, states, and behaviors. New directions in positive psychology are also explored, including measuring primal world beliefs, imagination, self-transcendent experiences, and nostalgia. Each chapter provides an introductory background to the positive psychology topic reviews the most relevant assessment instruments, and discusses the specific assessment-related challenges. Recommendations for selecting assessment tools are included for specific settings, such as school, relationships, health and clinical settings, leisure, and interventions. This book is a must for positive psychology researchers, instructors, students, and practitioners wanting to select the right positive psychology instrument for the right situation.