I was working as a youth counsellor when I stumbled across the Diploma, and as it had been many years since completing my psychology studies, I had been keen to upskill and refresh my knowledge. Then I happened to come across a webinar where Sue discussed some of the central tenets of positive psychology, and I had one of those “This is it!” moments.
I was first introduced to Sue Langley and the positive psychology work of the Langley Group in 2017 while working at the Sydney Opera House. I found the content inspiring and very complimentary to the work I was already doing in the people skills and leadership development space. My colleague and I were inspired to gain accreditation in the Strengths Profile tool and further reaped the benefits of these concepts by implementing them across the business.
I was completely burnt out after COVID-19 and found the trainees I was supervising in the same position. I wanted to gain some skills to improve my workplace performance and learn new skills to pass on to my trainees. I aspired to get some real hands-on experience and evidence-based knowledge on how to do this.
First and foremost, I am a better parent because of the Diploma, and I enjoy my children more. The tools I was given help me tackle the challenges that life throws at us. Professionally, I was given the opportunity to develop a Positive Psychology programme for Year 10 students. I taught this for two years and we gathered wellbeing data from across the school. I used this data to complete a Masters in Psychology which I was able to present at IPPA in Vancouver 2023.
My purpose of ‘supporting people’ saw me intuitively incorporating many of the topics of positive psychology and wellbeing into my work and learning and development programs. My role is to make the whole organisation and its people more change capable. To me, that means our people need to be resilient, adept at navigating change, and confident in understanding their emotions as they do.
As an early morning person, I did find the night classes challenging at times! However, Sue was always full of so much energy that it was almost impossible for this not to rub off on me – in a positive way!
I have been successful in doing a TEDx talk on Positive Psychology and Mindfulness and have set up my own business (The Happiness Branch). I have now left Aviva to work on this full time. The Happiness Branch helps people and businesses flourish through positive psychology and mindfulness.
The Diploma of Positive Psychology and Wellbeing simply changed everything…. Upon arriving back at work after completing the diploma.... Along with the combined efforts of our L&D team of professionals, we launched the LIFE Live & work well programme in August 2018. The programme has reached across the business, from Australia to New Zealand and all major cities, and it is now a stable programme as part of the Wellness offering.
It really is SO difficult to choose what to share about how my learnings from the DPP and positive psychology have impacted my life. There are so many things that I learned, both big and small, that add up to significant ripples and in some cases, tidal waves!
So, you see, the Diploma of Positive Psychology and Wellbeing course has inspired me to start ripples wherever I can, and wherever possible collectively with other DPP Graduates. I’m just one student, working with others to increase our impact on our beautiful Illawarra region. Imagine how many other ripples are happening around the country!!
