Positive Psychology: Powerful Interventions for Helping Clients Change

7/28/2019 Positive Psychology: Powerful Interventions for Helping Clients Change

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Speakers:

Mr Clinton Power

Founder and Website Concept Developer-Australia Counselling & Consulting Pty Ltd

Relationship Counsellor for Individuals and Couples

Clinical Counsellor and Gestalt Therapist

www.ClintonPower.Com.Au

Ms Kate Lemerle

Psychologist, Professional Life Coaching & Mentoring

Owner at Chrysalis Wellness Services, Springfield, Queenslandwww.Chrysalis54.Com.Au

www.AustraliaCounselling.Com.Au

Positive Psychology:

Powerful Interventions for Helping

Clients Change
http://clintonpower.com.au/how-i-workhttp://clintonpower.com.au/how-i-work


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Positive Psychology: Powerful Interventions Page 2 of 22

Helping Clients Change 2012 Australia Counselling & Consulting Pty Ltd

[START OF AUDIO]

Clinton Power: Hello! This is Clinton Power from AustraliaCounselling.Com.Au. And

today, Im here with my colleague, Dr Kate Lemerle, who is the Director and Founder of

Chrysalis Wellness Services.

She is a registered psychologist with over 30 years counselling experience in community

health settings, student services, rehabilitation services, and private practice. Dr Lemerle has

been involved in setting up community health promotion programs in rural communities of

New South Wales and Queensland. She has published several book chapters on childrens

resilience and is internationally recognized for her research on teachers stress, promoting

resilience in children, and school-based interventions for promoting positive mental health in

children from culturally diverse background.

She provides intern supervision and training programs for psychologists, social workers,

and others working in the health mental health services, as well as regular community

workshops to promote positive health and well-being. Her academic experience includes

lecturing in health promotion, social work and developmental psychology, abnormal

psychology, positive psychology, and coaching. And today, Im here with Kate to talk about

positive psychology and her perspective on how you can bring positive psychology into your

practice with the client.

So welcome, Kate. Its great to have you on the call.

Kate Lemerle: Thanks very much, Clinton, and thanks for that very broad introduction.

Clinton: Well, lets dive straight in. Can you give us a brief definition of positive

psychology for those who perhaps arent familiar with it?


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Were looking at their engagement. How many times are they actively engaging in

activities that give them a sense of purpose, a sense of meaning, a sense of fulfilment. We look

at their relationships, what are they doing to nurture their relationships to maintain strong and

healthy relationships. We look at what they define themselves as individuals as giving them

purpose and meaning.

I guess those big questions of why am I here?, what is it that I am really here to

achieve? And that takes us on to the final point of paying attention to the accomplishments

that we make, the achievements, the things that we do get done each day. So in a therapeutic

sense for example, we may be working with someone who has a depressive illness, who is

focusing very much on their negative thoughts and negative feelings, on the things that theyre

not getting done through the day.

By setting them small tasks to change their thinking habits and to change the way in

which theyre behaving, we can actually get them to really work through that depression and

make changes that are lasting for a lifetime.

Clinton: So this I understand is quite a paradigm shift from maybe classic psychotherapy

which does tend to I guess focus at times on in a trauma or abuse or the negative emotions, the

negative experiences that people have in their life. I think Im hearing is you really to start to

draw out the positive aspects of a persons life and to try to expand those.

Kate: Absolutely, yes. In a practical sense what wed be looking at with that person is

what they define as their strengths. How have theyve got through some of those difficult life

experiences that they may be spending a lot of time ruminating about, mulling it over in their


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mind, giving those negative life experiences far too much time of day rather than looking at

what was it that helped me to get through that experience?

Clearly I have because its become an experience in my past. But how did I manage to

survive that ordeal and grow stronger for it. So the whole area on post-traumatic growth is

another spin off from positive psychology as well. And looking at what weve learned from

those negative experiences or adversities and so on, and how were putting those that learning

into practice on a day-to-day basis.

Clinton: Whats the kind of research base of positive psychology?

Kate: Sure. Good question, Clinton. Theres a lot of research now, masses amounts of

research that are being done all around the world that are providing a really solid evidence

based on a number of the interventions that are being applied over recent years or being

developed over recent years, but also evidence from neuroscience in terms of how a lot of

these interventions and really quite brief interventions as well are having a profound effect on

brain function.

Clinton: Wow, so neuroscience is having quite an impact on the overall status of

positive psychology as well?

Kate: Yes, absolutely. I think this has been fostered to a large extent by the

development of technology. Obviously, we have far more sophisticated equipment now. For

example, were able to see single neurons firing in the brain. When people are put in to an

FMRI machine and their brain is being mapped as theyre dealing with problems or thinking

about particular issues in their lives, we can actually see which parts of the brain are activating.


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And we realized nowfor example, take something as simple as emotional experiences

which is obviously something where we are often working therapeutically, we can see that

where we used to think that on the limbic system of the deep parts of the brain, the amygdala

for example, were the only parts of the brain being activated.

When we were experiencing negative emotions, we now know that there are

established pathways between the limbic system and right through to the frontal lobes which

are the part of the brain that do executive functioning, higher level, abstract thinking, and so

on.

So we realized that theres a very strong cognitive component to our emotional

reactions as well. This is just one example where neuroscience is starting to give us a lot more

evidence. I think a lot of research has been done and put into the public arena recently by

Norman Doidge, for example, who published a book a few years back called The Brain that

Changes Itself.

This was really ground breaking in terms of pulling together all the research about how

our thinking, turning our minds to dealing with problems can actually physically change the

structure and function of our brain, and start activating parts of our brain that perhaps have not

being well-developed and dampening down those parts of the brain. For example, the

amygdala and limbic system that might be causing us a lot of unpleasant experiences in our

day-to-day lives.

Clinton: These are really fascinating time for research and for particularly the

neurosciences relationship with psychotherapy. But what is the research saying about the

effectiveness of positive psychology and working specifically with depression and anxiety?


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Kate: Yes, good question as well. I think these days all of us working as practitioners

want to know that what were doing does have a good evidence base to it and that theres

good research to support it. Australia is actually being one of the pioneering countries in the

world doing research, evaluating the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions.

A number of very profound studies are being conducted since about 2003, looking

particularly at people who are undergoing coaching programs, and coaching of course is one

way of applying positive psychology. For example, one study looked at goal attainment and

compared people who undertook a 10-week coaching program, compared to a no-treatment

control group.

They actually found that the people who underwent the coaching program, which

looked at focusing on their achievements, setting themselves achievable task, reflecting

everyday on their accomplishments, attending to positive moments, engaging in mindfulness

activities and so on. People who did this actually significantly increased their goal attainment.

And these were people who have been struggling with achieving the outcomes they wanted for

quite some time.

Another study looked at depression and anxiety and stress reactions, and similarly

compared people who took part in a series of positive psychology interventions. Package does

a coaching program. These were peer coaching as well. So they were not necessarily even

achieving or undergoing a coaching program with a professional. They were peer coaching

each other and significant declines in depression, anxiety, and stress.

Another study looked at life satisfaction and psychological well-being. And again,

compared control groups with those who underwent a number of the positive psychology


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interventions. So for example, writing gratitude letter, practicing mindfulness, meditations for

short periods each day and so on. And we saw quite profound increases in life satisfaction and

psychological well-being.

These sorts of studies are being replicated obviously in many other parts of the world

but also research on positivity coming out of the states Barbara Fredricksons research on

positivity. Shes been doing a lot of evidence based research, comparing different approaches

and has been able to identify for example in working with people with depression that if we can

replace one negative thought with three positive thoughts, it seems to create what we refer to

as a tipping point where peoples depression starts to decline and their sense of optimism and

hope for the future increases steadily from that point on.

Simple exercises of getting people to record each day three positive experiences that

theyve had. These might be very minor experiences such as enjoying their cup of coffee in the

morning and really savouring the flavour of that. Going for a walk and really engaging in the

smells and the sounds of the sights that they see.

Very simple activities that can be part of persons day-to-day life, but taking the time to

fully engage mindfully and savour these experiences, and then perhaps use those as positive

reflections later in the day. Very powerful in terms of turning around depression and anxiety

problems.

Clinton: Its very exciting to hear you say this, Kate, because gathering the evidence is

quite compelling for using positive psychology strategies and theories- methodologies in your

therapeutic work.


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Kate: It certainly is, yes. I think in certainly the years that Ive been working within a

positive psychology framework, particularly in the academic environment as well. Ive been

encountered a lot of scepticism. I think when new theories emerged on the market, people

tend to be justified by sceptical about it. And say, Well letsjust be a bit cautious about this

until the evidence starts to roll-in.

But were certainly seeing now some really amazing studies coming in. I guess one of

the most impressive has been the work thats being done by Seligman, and Christopher

Peterson, and so on in the U.S., where theyve established a database of strengths using the

VIA-Values In Action Strengths Inventory.

Well over 2 million people worldwide have completed that survey online, and the data

thats being collected from that is now be ing used for a lot of profiling work. But also being

used to identify what people are actually doing that is increasing their use of their strengths or

their character strengths, those resources that we have within ourselves that helps us remain

resilient and cope with adversities. So really huge database and very powerful evidence thats

coming out of research now.

Clinton: Thats extraordinary. What are you seeing in terms of its effectiveness in

working with relationships and couples? Does it have applications there?

Kate: Yes. This is an interesting area. I think a lot of people within counselling can shy

away from working with couples because obviously its a fairly complex area. Youre not just

working with one person but youre working with two, and often youre working with the

impact of extended family, which is affecting the couple relationship as well.


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I do a lot of marriage counselling in my work and Im very much actively engaging

positive psychology as a framework that Im using. So getting people to think about or getting

couples to think about their emotional bank account, this is a concept that comes from

Gottmans work, where youre getting them to look at each other and identify what it is they

admire about each other, what is it that they appreciate about either the person with whom

theyre sharing their life or the actions or behaviours of that person.

Doing simple things like writing gratitude letters. These days people dont write letters,

they text. But even by sending a gratitude text through your partner through the day we find

that increases peoples moods and their positivity. So really what were doing here is trying to

reactivate that sense of attachment and that sense of belonging, which we know from many

years back, I guess thinking of Maslows hierarchy of needs. One of our most fundamental

needs is a sense of belonging and attachment.

So if you find youre working with a couple where connection with each other has

become strained, getting them to actively engage in things that is strengthening that

attachment. So building up that emotional bank account. Not just saying thank you to each

other. For example, if someone has unpacked the dishwasher, its very easy just to say thank

you rather than saying, I really appreciate you unpacking the dishwasher. This has freed me

up to spend a bit more time doing something that I enjoy, and I really appreciate the help that

youre giving me.

It takes a little bit more time, but it actually has far deeper impact on a couple

relationship. We also look at things like how often do these people play together, how often do


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they activate humour. Do they engage in laughing together? What do they do in terms of

reminiscing about the positive times that they have had?

Typically, in a strained relationship, theres a lot amount of energy being invested in

whats missing or whats gone missing or whats not working rather than saying, Well, lets pay

attention to what is working. We are still here with each other, we havent walked away. So

how can we start to build on the strengths that are still existing no matter how flimsy they may

be.

And of course, basic communication skills. Teaching couples positive problem solving

which is moving them beyond the arguments about what the problem may be, and typically the

tangents that are brought in many red herrings are dragged into couple arguments.

But to say, Lets focus on one particular problem, lets set aside a period of time, lets

address this in the same way as we would if we are having a board meeting at work. There is

an issue that needs to be resolved. We need to consider our options or how we might go about

solving that. We need to weigh out the pros and cons of those.

Were teaching couples basic problem-solving getting them to rehearse those are part

of coaching process within the therapeutic appointment that they have and then going home

with homework exercises so that were aiming to get that transfer of learning across to their

home environment.

Clinton: And how are you seeing the couples you work with response to these positive

psychology interventions and what outcomes you seen?

Kate: Yeah, a couple of good examples. Im working with a couple at the moment, lets

call them Bob and Mary. Bob and Mary actually grew up living opposite each other, so theyve


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known each other for most of their lives. They had a bit of a relationship, a bit of an adolescent

fling, and when they were about 15 or 16, Bob then moved away, moved interstate. And

shortly after moving into state, Mary discovered that she was pregnant. I think she was about

17 or 18 at that time.

So theyve had a long relationship, roughly around 20 years. Theyve got two children

now, their first child and a subsequent child. They came to counselling because they were

feeling as if their relationship had just run its course.

They were finding it very boring and uninteresting. Not spending a lot of time with each

other. Not unhappy, but not happy. And I think this is a good example of a couple where you

can very quickly apply positive psychology interventions.

What I did with them was to get them to start reflecting on experiences that theyve

have had of over 20 years of knowing each other, and what were the high points. Each of them

had to make a list of three to five experiences that they have had with the other person that

really gave them a warm feeling inside that it was a nice good positive memory that they had.

And then to sit down with each other and exchange lists and spend five minutes talking about

those experiences.

They were quite surprised that they both identified very similar experiences that they

recalled those same events, and actually found that theyre quite humorous events, funny

things that have happened along the journey that theyve had with each other. They actually

came back up to their first sessions saying that it was amazing that theyd actual ly sat down and

talk with each other more deeply and more meaningfully. And they had some laughs together


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because they remembered each of them remembered different aspects of those funny

experiences.

Immediately, they had started reconnecting with each other and as they both said , We

were actually talking. This is the first time for years that weve sat down and we really had a

conversation with each other that wasnt about the children or wasnt about who puts the

garbage bins out, and this sort of thing.

So this is a good example. We then moved on and got them to start practicing

expressing appreciation in the way that I explained earlier. Not just saying thank you but to

express appreciation to give each other gratitude letter once a week, a short overview of the

reasons why they each value having that person in their lives.

And theyre coming back now saying that they actually feel closer than they ever have in

their lives, and that they putting that down to the fact that they have obviously matured along

the way. But now theyre looking at each other almost through fresh eyes for the first time that

theyre seeing each other as adults and theyre adult companions.

Its a very successful story, obviously not all of them end quite so successfully. But even

getting a couple to the point where they realized that they have so little in common that

walking away from each other and moving on is a dignified way of dealing with their

relationship, and doing that with grace rather than doing that with acrimony and hatred and

dissatisfaction.

Clinton: Absolutely! But as I was listening to you speak, Kate, I was just imagining we

couldnt certainly rule out that something neurologically was happening to that couple as they

started to implement your interventions.


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Kate: Thats right. Yes, Im sure if we could take bio-chemical studies wed see

increasing levels of serotonin happening in their brains, wed certainly be seeing their mirror

neurons being activated. This again is where were seeing some very exciting work in the areas

of neuroscience, and this whole new discovery of mirror neurons which are basically activated

when we see another person having an emotional experience.

We experience to some extent that emotions ourselves. A classic example of this that

helps people understand, where watching a movie, theres something really sad happening in

the movie, and we immediately start to feel sad. We empathise with the person whos

experiencing that sad occurrence within the movie.

Now, in our minds we can say of course these are just actors, its not really happening to

this person. But because theyre exhibiting a sad emotion, we have that sad feeling ourselves.

Likewise, if we go around and we look at people who are expressing happiness and so on, we

feel warm inside when we see a young couple who are obviously very much in love with each

other. We might gaze longingly at that, but we thinkyou know that lovely feeling to see that

expressed.

When we are engaging in this our mirror neurons that are being activated are very

simple intervention that we can get couples to do for example is just to sit and smile at each

other. This immediately activates those mirror neurons, raises serotonin levels, and starts

activating those positive parts of the brain.

Clinton: Its exciting work. You mentioned before coaching relationships, and Im

curious, how do you use interventions in the workplace? Is it a similar strategy or a different

perspective?


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Kate: Workplace is a more complex setting because obviously you are dealing with

organizational factors there. Some of those may be quite flexible and of course obviously, in

other work places the emotional experiences that people are having could be very much a

consequence of organisational practices and those things like workplace morale and so on.

I actually do take a few clients employee-assistance program referrals. So these are

people who are coming for counselling sometimes for personal reasons, but more often than

not because they are experiencing discomfort, unpleasantness in the environment at work, for

example, bullying and harassment and so on.

Obviously, to some extent our hands are tied in that case. We cantjust go back to the

organisation and say, You need to completely turn around the way youre treating your

workers. This tends not to go down very well, but getting people on an individual basis to do

very simple things as Ive already expressed, acts of kindness towards other people.

So rather than withdrawing and sort of isolating themselves in the workplace to go out

of their way to do an act of kindness for somebody else even if that person has done them

wrong in some way.

Writing a forgiveness letter, simply forgiving someone for behaving in a way that has

affected the individual negatively in some way, upset them in some way, frightened them in

some way and so on. To be able to step back and to forgive has a very powerful effect onI

guess rebuilding that sense of positivity that people can have.

Simply smiling at people going in to work and smiling and saying, Good morning I hope

you have a lovely day. One thing that I know is done in a number of workplaces, and Ive

heard about this being done in a number of workplaces is leaving anonymous notes on


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somebodys desk or on their computer thanking them for some particular quality that that

person brings in to the workplace.

Obviously, this can have quite a profound effect on your boss to leave a note saying , I

really appreciate you for This particular character strength, your humour or your flexibility

or your open mindedness. But try and to look at that person through fresh eyes and say, We

all have deficits, we all have character flaws, but we also all have strengths.

I think in the work place, we dont express enough of those strengths. We tend to stay around

the water cooler winging and griping rather than saying, Im grateful that I m here because

Clinton: And the picture youre painting for me, Kate, is a lot of these interventions can

be quite simple and quite small, but as you say profound and powerful.

Kate: Absolutely, yeah, very much so.

Clinton: Can you give us maybe share with us an example of someone you worked

within a coaching situation or a workplace that you had a really good outcome with using

positive psychology interventions?

Kate: Yes, I can. One lady that I was seeing whoshe was a workplace referral initially

and transferred across go to mental healthcare plan and came across as a private client for a

treatment for depression. A lot of people are coming with depressive illnesses and anxiety.

She was particularly depressed. She was really quite suicidal when I first saw her.

So this is a good indicator how serious the problem is for her. Very, very frustrated in

her work place, very dissatisfied with the job that she was doing, so that was contributing to

her depression. But also she was very socially isolated. She had moved up to Queensland


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about five or six years earlier from somewhere in New South Wales, but hadnt managed to

establish to a circle of friends.

She was very isolated. She had actually taken on foster caring, so she was foster caring

for children on weekends. But on the weekends that she didnt have the children that she was

caring for, she would literally spend the entire weekend in bed and very depressed, a lot of

suicidal rumination and so on.

Obviously, I started by some of the more traditional approaches working with

depression just trying to get her to become more physically active particularly in most

weekends where she was not having the kids with her. Getting her to get out for walks and

start practicing some mindfulness activity so that while she was walking, she was noticing how

her body felt. She was paying attention to the things that she could smell and see and hear

around her rather than engaging in a sort of very negative self-destructive thinking.

I got her doing an activity where at the end of every day she had to reflect back over the

things that she had done well through the day and what exactly she had achieved and what

strengths of hers she had drawn on. She actually went online and did the VIA character

strength survey. And so that became a core tool that we use in the work with her.

So having identified her top strengths, she was able to actively use those. Then we

moved towards building optimism rather than this constant focus on pessimism by getting her

to identify things that she could do. Not the things that she should do, because she was doing a

lot of this already berating herself saying, I should be doing this, but I cant get myself

activated to do it.


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We started with just with just possibilities. What could you do on a weekend when you

dont have the kids that might be reaching some of those goals that youve set for yourself?

And she identified building up stronger social networks. Obviously, this is a very important part

of well-being is that sense connection with other people that sense of belonging that I

mentioned earlier.

She began to set herself tasks where on that weekend, her primary task was to phone

one of her friends in New South Wales and have a chat on half an hour, which she identified as

this was quite achievable. And then at the end of the day, she could reflect back on that.

We use a shift in language here rather than ruminating which is focusing more on the negatives.

We have people to reminisce or think back and reflect on the positive experiences.

She had to start keeping a journal of the positive experiences that shed had each day,

how shed activated her strengths and how she might go about activating her strengths o r

putting those into practice more actively in the future.

She made very, very steady progress. Within a matter of a couple of sessions, her

suicidal ideation had really seriously dropped back to virtually nothing. Very occasionally it

would creep in. She was actually feeling a lot more optimistic about going to work. She had

had a number of discussions with her boss about her dissatisfaction and had been able to

negotiate a greater diversification of tasks that she was able to do at work.

And of course then this sets up a positive feedback loop. So because she was being

challenged more at work, she was thinking more creatively, she was enjoying that intellectual

challenge of the job that she had to do, and then obviously something more positive that she

could reflect back on at the end of each day and set herself tasks to grow herself.


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So where she identified certain self-limiting beliefs, for example, that were holding her

back, she was able to I guess use a lot of the cognitive therapies that arent traditional therapies

to identify those but to replace those and mentally rehearse having positive thoughts about

herself, seeing herself at her best and doing some mental rehearsal of herself having an

excellent day where she felt satisfied and fulfilled, and looking at meaning and purpose.

We started to think more big picture about this job is one stepping stone. This is where

you are at the present. But where would you like to be at the end of your working career?

What would you like to be able to reflect back on and say , This is the journey that Ive

travelled that has been part of my working career, my jobs that Ive achieved and this is how

Ive grown from each job so in a sense taking some ofStephen Coveys work and saying begin

with the ended mind, looking and then turning around and looking backwards and say, Well,

this is where we start to make plans. And identify perhaps this job has a time limit to it, but

over the next one to two years, where would you see yourself taking the next step in your

career pathway.

In a matter of six to eight sessions, she really accomplished an enormous amount of

turnaround and is thriving as a consequence. So it really does have a powerful effect when we

apply this systematically.

Clinton: Thats a fantastic case study, Kate. Im taking furious notes here myself

because I feel so inspired. Again, just about this very simple and powerful methodologies that

youre speaking about. Im aware that you have a training for clinicians coming up on the 4th

of

May in Brisbane around this very topic positive psychology. Tell us a little bit about the

training for therapists that might be interested in this.


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Kate: Yes. Thanks for the opportunity to do this. Theres not a lot of positive

psychology training that is available to counsellors and mental health practitioners and so on.

Ive actually been teaching a course at the University of Southern Queensland over the last

couple of years and I have developed a number of programs.

What Im looking at doing is introducing just a very basic one day overview called

Positive Psychology in Practice. And this will cover the theory behind what Ive been talking

about today looking particularly at the research evidence that supports these different

interventions that we applied.

So were looking at giving people a more solid understanding of psychological theories.

Where does positive psychology come from? What branches of psychology that we may

already be familiar with are actually feeding in and supporting this new way of working? In

particular though, what I want to do is to spend the bulk of the day actually giving people case

studies where theyll be working on identifying what particular intervention would be a

powerful by working with this particular client.

Im looking at dividing it into doing a number a case of studies where were looking at

clinical situations, so people presenting with psychological health problems, looking at groups.

A lot of work is now being done both in schools, in school settings, workplace settings are

starting to come on board.

But were seeing a big burst of growth with not only states but also nations are taking

on board this whole notion of measuring positivity and well-being. We give a few examples of

some of these exciting work thats happening but more importantly give people the

opportunity to pick up some of these skills and practice, and look particularly at the


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interventions that have a good research evidence-based. It wont be just talk and chalk, itll be

very hands on as well.

Clinton: Fantastic! It sounds like a wonderful training. For those therapists who

perhaps cant get to Brisbane to your training, do you offer distance supervision or training for

people in other states?

Kate: Yes, I do. Im available for supervision. There are details about that on my

website for people who might be interested with our wonderful technology of Skype, we can all

be on opposite ends of the earth and still communicate effectively. So supervision is available.

I have a number of interns who are doing their Psychology Board of Australia, 4 + 2 pathway, so

theyre picking up these skills in positive psychology, and also running workshops for

organisations who are interested in getting their staff trained in applying this within the

workplace setting as well.

Clinton: So just tell us, whats your website, Kate, and the best way for people to

contact you.

Kate: The website iswww.Chrysalis54.Com.Au .

Clinton: Great! So the whole information will be on there. And if youre interested in

registering for the workshop, that is also on Kates website,www.Chrysalis54.Com.Au. And just

to end, Kate, any other resources or books that you recommend to therapists who really want

to start to dip their toes in the waters of positive psychology.

Kate: Yeah, sure. I think you cant go pass Barbara Fredricksons book on Positivity.

This has been out for a number of years now, but it really is fundamental research but also a

very handy little paperback that gives very practical tips as well. A book that I find particularly
http://www.chrysalis54.com.au/http://www.chrysalis54.com.au/http://www.chrysalis54.com.au/http://www.chrysalis54.com.au/http://www.chrysalis54.com.au/http://www.chrysalis54.com.au/http://www.chrysalis54.com.au/http://www.chrysalis54.com.au/


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helpful in coming out with interventions for clients is Sarah Corries book, The Art of Inspired

Living. This is just a self-help book but theres some very practical exercises you can get in that

as well.

Bob Murrays book, Creating Optimism is another self-help program. Its particularly

targeting depression and has a lot of the positive psychology interventions in it. For people

who are sort of interested in the broad theory behind positive psychology, again, I dont think

you can go pass Corey Keyes book called Flourishing and of course Martin Seligmans recent

book that came out as well on Flourishing.

Theres a new book by Laurel Mellin. I havent actually read this myself yet, but Im

really looking forward to starting called Wired for Joy. This is again very easy to read little

paperback. But it looks at the neuroscience behind the positivity and applications of positive

psychology. So that gives you a bit of a broader view of the books that are on my must read

list.

Clinton: Great! And well put the links of those books in the replay page as well. Its so

tangible your passion for this area, Kate, and I really appreciate your time and generosity in

particular sharing case studies which I know I find so helpful. And I imagine so many other

therapists find it very helpful.

So I hope we can speak again in the future. I wish you all the best for your training, and

thank you again.

Kate: Thank you, Clinton. Have a fantastic day!

Clinton: Bye for now.

Kate: Bye!


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[END OF AUDIO]

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and counsellors.

Documents

Positive Psychology: Powerful Interventions for Helping Clients Change