Miriam Akhtar’s Bio

Miriam Akhtar, MAPP ’09 from University of East London, was one of the first positive psychologists to go into practice in Europe. She graduated with Distinction from the Masters in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) at the University of East London. While there she worked with the charity In-Volve applying positive psychology with vulnerable and disaffected young people, later publishing her research in the Journal of Groupwork.

Miriam loves being a practitioner of positive psychology and applies the science as a trainer, coach, and consultant through Positive Psychology Training: The Wellbeing Consultancy. Miriam runs Positive Psychology Masterclasses in the UK where she is also one of the Penn Resilience Program’s facilitators. She is on the faculty of the Portuguese Executive MAPP at the University of Lisbon, and she is a visiting lecturer at the University of East London and at the University of the West of England.

Miriam’s purpose in life is to put people on the path to happiness, and she gets her greatest job satisfaction from coaching people and witnessing them spiraling upwards towards a greater well-being and flourishing.

Before she started developing positive psychology intervention programs, Miriam made programs for broadcast on TV and radio. She is an award-winning BBC Radio 4 producer and a past recipient of the Medical Journalists’ Gold Award. She plays to her strengths in communication through the audio CD, The Happiness Training Plan and her book, Positive Psychology for Overcoming Depression: Self-Help Strategies for Happiness, Inner Strength and Well-Being, which shows how to use positive psychology interventions as evidence-based self-help for depression. It is the subject of a bibliotherapy study which has demonstrated the book’s efficacy at reducing depression and improving well-being.

Miriam’s special area of interest is in developing and delivering positive psychology interventions. Her PositivePsychologyNews.com articles are here.