Background: The traditional training for clinicians focuses on the lessening of symptoms as the primary way to reduce suffering. But in the last decade and a half, compelling evidence from positive psychology has emerged showing the importance of helping clients identify, explore, and build their resilience through evidenced-based positive interventions.
Workshop overview -Tomasulo
The steady, persistent, challenging and immensely broad work emanating from Martin Seligman has offered a foundation for positive psychology (Seligman, 1992, 2002, 2011; Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2001;Seligman, Ernst, Gillham, Reivich, and Linkins, 2009). Such history has recently yielded a new platform from which positive psychology can thrive (Seligman, 2011). PERMA is the acronym for well-being reflected in our positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement. This workshop is derived from these principles and the evidenced –based research on positive interventions (Linley and Joseph, 2004; Lopez and Snyder, 2009).
Positive psychology is an emerging subfield that addresses important questions about how we lead our lives, find happiness and satisfaction, and deal with life's challenges. Firmly rooted in modern research and theory-building, participants will study, among other things, hope, resilience, the physical and mental benefits of positive emotions, and the relationship between happiness and finding success in relationships and at work. Over the past decade researchers and practitioners from around the world have studied happiness and wellbeing and a variety of techniques and practices have evolved that offer more than simply some relief from depression, anxiety, and stress. These are proven ways to be more positive and joyful in life with long-term and significant benefits. Drawn from hundreds of published studies in positive psychology, participants will leave with experience in these techniques and a plan for applying them and measuring progress.
This is an experiential and didactic workshop which will use lecture, demonstration, videos, discussion and participant interaction through psychodramatic role-playing with each other to learn and develop these well research and proven techniques. Interventions with gratitude, meditation, forgiveness, kindness, hope, resilience and compassion will be highlighted (Linley and Joseph, 2004; Lopez and Snyder, 2009).
Abstract: The traditional training for clinicians focuses on the lessening of symptoms as the primary way to reduce suffering. But in the last decade and a half, compelling evidence from positive psychology has emerged showing the importance of helping clients identify, explore, and build their resilience through evidenced-based positive interventions.
Dan holds a PhD in psychology, an MFA in writing, and is the first licensed psychologist and psycho-dramatist to graduate from the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. In addition to teaching at New Jersey City University he works for Martin Seligman, The Father of Positive Psychology, at UPenn for the MAPP program. He is also a consultant for the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyer’s College and writes blogs for psychology today, PsychCentral and Answers.com. He was recently honored by Sharecare as one of the top ten online influencers on the topic of depression.
