Happy children do better at school and in life – they are more productive, creative and successful. The world of education is recognising the benefits of a positive education to help children feel good and function well so that they flourish. Helping children to recognise and use their strengths helps develop their abilities and well-being. Studies in child mental health have demonstrated that learning optimism prevents depression and anxiety in children, roughly halving their incidence over the following two years .

Here are some of the positive psychology initiatives in the state and private education sector in the UK:

The Penn Resilience Programme is a well-being programme for children, which was created at the University of Pennsylvania. This programme was piloted in Hertfordshire, South Tyneside & Manchester.

• In East London the Newham Resilience Programme has been established.
• Wellington College in Berkshire has a well-being programme
• Rookesbury Park School in Hampshire is an example of a developing ‘school of strengths’

Positive Psychology Training and our associates are involved in many of these initiatives. Our speciality is in positive youth development, in particular positive psychology for disaffected young people. Miriam ran a groundbreaking study in 2008-9 applying positive psychology to alcohol-misusing adolescents. The pilot was a great success with binge-drinking down significantly and an equally significant increase in well-being. The vast majority of the disaffected young people in the pilot re-engaged with education. You can read more on this page.