Promoting Student Happiness: Positive Psychology Interventions in Schools [Paperback]

Grounded in cutting-edge research, this book shows how interventions targeting gratitude, kindness, character strengths, optimistic thinking, hope, and healthy relationships can contribute to improved academic and social outcomes in grades 3-12. It provides a 10-session manual for promoting subjective well-being--complete with vivid case examples--that can be implemented with individuals, small groups, or whole classes. Factors that predict youth happiness are discussed, evidence-based assessment tools presented, and ways to involve teachers and parents described. In a large-size format with lay-flat binding for easy photocopying, the volume includes 40 reproducible handouts and forms. Purchasers get access to a companion website where they can download and print these materials, plus online-only fidelity checklists and parent and teacher notes.

This book is in The Guilford Practical Intervention in the Schools Series, edited by T. Chris Riley-Tillman.

“An extraordinary resource for school psychologists and other school mental health professionals. Suldo very competently makes the case that happiness lies at the core of psychological wellness and that the promotion of well-being is an effective agent of intervention. The book meticulously organizes the evidence for the manualized Well-Being Promotion Program and other high-quality interventions that are ecological, family-focused, and integrated within comprehensive school mental health services. All of these strategies are eminently ‘doable’ because Suldo’s rich appendices provide copies of measures, the manual for the Well-Being Promotion Program, and multiple other tools that enable practitioners to immediately translate the concepts into practice. This would be a great text for a course preparing school psychology students to deliver evidence-based interventions in schools or clinics."--Beth Doll, PhD, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of EducatiolóT