The Challenge

'The future calls us to measure and then make policy around well-being rather than just around money. This measurement will be part of our gift to our prosperity.' 

  - Dr Martin Seligman, Flourish (2011)

How can we create the conditions for every individual to flourish? How can we build wellbeing and resilience into the lives of our communities? What skills need to be developed for living a happier, more meaningful and engaged life and help prevent mental health issues becoming problems?

Mental health problems and their corresponding social and cultural issues are on the rise in Australia. Dr Martin Seligman has demonstrated that mental health practice over the last century has focused on helping people find a way not to feel bad, but often has not given them the tools to feel good, to flourish.

'Flourishing' focuses on the strengths and character of the individual to help build resilience to overcome challenges and build wellbeing. This capacity creates better, stronger and more positive relationships between individuals, families and institutions.

By integrating the tools of wellbeing and resilience into our communities we can begin to deal with the causes of mental illness rather than it's symptoms and give every individual the skills to flourish in their daily lives.

Flourishing is the goal of positive psychology. it is underpinned by five key elements (PERMA): Positive emotion, Engagement, positive Relationships/social connections, Meaning (purpose) and Accomplishment.

Taking young people as the focal point, this residency will look at the key touch points in our lives - family, school, social services and peers - and how positive psychology, in the form of the tools for wellbeing and resilience, can be built into those interactions. The focus on young people also allows the residency to provide those tools to the broader community through the training of teachers, families and public servants as well as young people.

Dr Seligman sees schools as an influential and necessary space for building these skills for families and young people. He believes that, where possible, well-being should be taught on three grounds: as an antidote to depression, a vehicle for increasing life satisfaction and as an aid to better learning and more creative thinking. 

Strong partners in the education and mental health sectors are providing their insight, experience and can-do approach to this residency.

Find out more about the science behind positive psychology and the ways it is being used around the world.