Some people seem to know how to ride the waves of life, setting the right course and avoiding the drag of the current. What is it that sets these people apart? How do some people bounce back from adversity then grow and prosper, while others struggle to move on?  What is it that people who are happy, healthy and confident do differently?

It isn’t easy to work this out alone. But where do you start when looking for support? Positive psychology coaching may be an option for you to explore. Now more than ever, people are seeing the benefits of seeking out the right levels of support to help them fulfil their personal and professional goals.  As a Certified Positive Psychology Coach, I work with evidence-based measures to help my clients develop the habits that allow them to flourish by acting to forward their goals. Positive Psychology is backed by a vast body of professional research, meaning that a coaching model based on positive psychology concepts, can offer a more structured and reliable approach to supporting individuals to achieve their goals.

What is Positive Psychology Coaching? 
Positive Psychology is the science of what makes life worth living, such as purpose, meaning and the ability to flourish. Dr Martin Seligman, the founder of modern Positive Psychology, summarises this as ‘the scientific study of what enables individuals and communities to thrive’.

Dr Seligman is a leading authority in the fields of Positive Psychology, resilience, learned helplessness, depression, optimism and pessimism. He is also a recognised authority on interventions that prevent depression and build strengths and wellbeing. He has written more than 250 scholarly publications and 20 books.

Positive Psychology has seen tremendous growth over the past two decades because it provides an evidence-based blueprint for doing the things that can support wellbeing, even in the toughest of times. In a nutshell, Positive Psychology supports the idea that we can gain greater happiness, wellbeing, and achievement through conscious choices, attitudes, and actions, particularly when we:

• Cultivate the positive: positive emotions, experiences, values, strengths, expectations, and relationships.
• Cope effectively with the negative: painful emotions, experiences, challenges, stress, and disappointments.
• Commit to personally meaningful goals and take sustained action toward achieving them

There is a strong synergy between coaching and positive psychology, which can be used as a theoretical and evidence-based approach to helping people achieve their goals. A popular definition of coaching using Positive Psychology includes:

“Positive Psychology Coaching is a scientifically-rooted approach to helping clients increase wellbeing, enhance and apply strengths, improve performance, and achieve valued goals. At the core of PPC is a belief in the power of science to elucidate the best [development methods].” Kauffman, Boniwell, and Silberman (2010).

Positive Psychology resources include a multitude of assessments, resources, tools, and feedback models that can help a coach to build a highly tailored, structured coaching journey that backed with measurable evidence. Developing an understanding of negative thoughts and behaviours versus positive thoughts and actions, and knowledge which is needed to achieve goals and objectives is at the heart of the process. 

“Positive Psychology Coaching allows individuals the time and commitment to tackle areas of life they feel they need help with, in structured and proactive ways.” (Moore, Jackson, & Tschannen-Moren, 2016)

What are the Benefits of Positive Psychology Coaching? 
Research indicates that five benefits are associated with this methodology: 

1. Improvement in Desired Performance and Goals
Positive Psychology Coaching can increase motivation to work towards desired performance and goals, both for individuals and in groups. Coaching offers individuals the opportunity to explore and develop clarity over what they want to achieve, as well as their short and long term goals.

Most importantly, coaching with a positive psychology approach focuses on taking action to make wished-for goals a reality. This means being prepared to work through setbacks and learn from mistakes as well as taking time to enjoy any triumphs along the way. 

2. Increased Openness to Personal Development
People often sense what it is that holds them back from living the life they want rather than settling for the one that is happening to them. It is not easy to find the motivation to uncover, explore, and reassess the habitual thought patterns and resulting behaviours that prohibit change.

Tackling these issues is more challenging when you have little or no support. Coaching with Positive Psychology offers individuals the tools and methods needed to explore the areas to work on and to forge forward with the beneficial changes they want to see. 

3. Developed Ability to Identify Solutions
Learning how to identify solutions rather than become stuck on problems is the key to maximising our potential. One way to achieve this is to broaden and build our capabilities by understanding our core strengths (Kauffman, 2006).

Recalling the strengths, skills and attributes that supported us in the past enables a resourceful frame of mind. This can be achieved by a skilled coach helping an individual to remember a time when they, for example. felt confident and capable. The resulting sense of self-efficacy encourages exploration of how present-day issues might be dealt with more successfully. 

4. A Greater Sense of Ownership Over Self
A core component of coaching with Positive Psychology is the focus on ‘build what’s strong’ rather than ‘fix what’s wrong’ (Seligman, 2006). This can be an empowering approach for individuals who perhaps get stuck in ruminating circles, focusing only on negative experiences or emotions, and finding it hard to cultivate more helpful ways of approaching challenges.

Working with a coach skilled in this methodology, individuals begin to learn self-acceptance for all parts of them, turning inwards for personal strengths to overcome past hurts or current negative experiences. This can help individuals realise they have many innate gifts they can tap into and puts them firmly back in control of how they think, act, and respond.

5. Improved Self-Awareness for Strengths and Weaknesses
Knowing more about our strengths and weaknesses, we can understand what motivates, energises or derails us. Then we can apply this awareness to shape personal and career success by doing more of what we enjoy and less of what we don’t. There are a number of ways individuals can gain a clear understanding of their strengths and weaknesses which include psychometric assessments, self-reflective models and tools.

Find out more about being coached with Positive Psychology:  
Should you wish to arrange a 30-minute complimentary discovery session to find out more about how my coaching approach might work for you, please contact me via connect@beverlylandais.co.uk

Sources: 

https://wholebeinginstitute.com/wbi-positive-psychology-certified-coaches/

https://positivepsychology.com/positive-psychology-coaching-certification-training/