Positive psychology in action

I am loving the variety of my vocational days. Yesterday Jenne took me to three workplaces in the medical industry that had a focus on preventative health care. We visited a centre for young people with mental health conditions, an aged care facility and a 'health city' where they developed and implemented health programs for people with diabetes, heart and lung disease.

It was a very inspiring day, I must say. The two lessons for the day were around the focus on wellbeing (not on illness or disability) and the way they engage with their clients.

I was so touched by the way each person I met talked about the people in their care and I was inspired by the interventions they have developed that focus on the total wellbeing of the person. There was a very strong undercurrent of respect for the individual. There wasn't pity or sympathy just empowerment and a desire to facilitate quality of life.

In psychology and health care there is sometimes be a tendency to look at fixing the symptoms or problem or curing a disease. It is single minded as opposed to wholistic and it can be depressing for the patient rather than empowering.

Jenne shared that the underlying philosophy and framework for care was by two theorists Socrates and Antonovsky. In essence it is about meeting people where they are or helping them to help themselves. This puts the responsibility in individuals hands. But the beautiful thing about it, is that it gives them ownership over their own life. It gives them meaning, purpose and a sense of achievement and personal control.

I realised, unbeknownst to the health care workers, they are actually using positive psychology principles intuitively. Every workplace I visited, facilitated wellbeing using positive psychology principles. It was quite exciting to see it in action, and in an a industry typically focused on cure rather than prevention.

This has given me lots of food for thought around how these principles can be applied practically and further evidence that positive psychology in practice can create positive change.