Announcing the Positive Psychology Toolkit (Sponsored by PPND)

Effective psychological interventions are listed in literally thousands of articles. Many describe brief but sometimes vague ways of improving our well-being through different exercises.

For example, research by many people including Rash and colleagues has shown that gratitude exercises work. But how many times do articles show you how exercises should be applied in real-life settings?

Positive psychology is a science, but its critics poke holes at it. For example Miller labels it “repackaged self-help.” This seems to happen because there are many practitioners out there who do not have the necessary tools and instruction in order to apply it effectively. But Wampold, Lyubomirsky, Seligman, and many others show the tools exist.

For application of positive psychology, one size does not fit all. Is it possible that the criticism comes about because so many positive psychology practitioners do not have access to a broad enough range of tools to tailor their interventions to meet the needs of particular people?

This seems to be the case. At the Positive Psychology Program, we asked our audience “What kind of resource would you like us to create next?” The overwhelming majority replied that they were looking for positive psychology exercises, interventions, and questionnaires in a handy printable PDF-format that they could start using with their students and clients right away. There were no sources offering an end-all collection of the latest positive psychology tools with supplemental readings, applications, and research.

This is quite surprising as positive psychology is a rapidly expanding field. There are several books out there, but most of them only carry a handful of exercises.

We figured it was about time to change all this. That’s why we set out to create the Positive Psychology Practitioner’s Toolkit, an online database that grants our members access to all kinds of positive psychology exercises, assessments, scales, questionnaires, and worksheets allowing any therapist, coach, or researcher to apply positive psychology tools effectively in practice.

We have collected the permissions to use all of these tools, so that you do not have to worry about intellectual property rights and can safely print them and hand them out to your students, employees, or clients.

Reach your goals as coaches, therapists, or practitioners with your clients and organizations. Share these tools with your students and build your courses around them. Let us help you help others.

Editor’s Note: The editors of Positive Psychology News are proud to sponsor the Positive Psychology Practitioner’s Toolkit. In the spirit of transparency, if you use the links from this site to purchase the toolkit, a part of your fee will support the ongoing operation of Positive Psychology News.

 
 

Sign up for the Positive Psychology Practitioner’s Toolkit.

 

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References

Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want. New York: Penguin Books.

Miller, A. (2008). A Critique of Positive Psychology—or ‘The New Science of Happiness’. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42 (3-4), 591-608.

Rash, J. A., Matsuba, M. K., & Prkachin, K. M. (2011). Gratitude and Well-Being: Who Benefits the Most from a Gratitude Intervention? Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 3(3), 350–369. Abstract.

Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410-421.

Wampold, B. E. (2001). The Great Psychotherapy Debate: Models, Methods, and Findings. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Wampold, B. E. & Imel, Z. (2015). The Great Psychotherapy Debate: The Evidence for What Makes Psychotherapy Work, 2nd edition. Routledge.

Photo Credit: via Compfight with Creative Commons licenses
Thank you courtesy of vernhart
Kindness courtesy of theloushe

The toolkit image is used courtesy of the Positive Psychology Program.

Learn more:

(Access to the Positive Psychology Program’s youtube channel, starting with the one about the toolkit.)