What is Applied Positive Psychology

Applied – Practical action orientated.  Working with real issues and situations aiming for tangible outcomes.

Positive – Progressive and outcome orientated.  Coaching is not therapy and we take the stance “nobody is broken in need of fixing”.

Psychology – Science of character.  Using a range of researched and evidenced models including cognitive theories and behaviourist techniques in service of humanistic aims which address the relevance of social psychology.

Enabling individuals to relate positively with themselves and their world.

Some examples of the many APPs I incorporate within my coaching and training follow – they are described in their simplest and broadest terms to give a sense of each.  I also administer a range of psychometrics when and where useful.

Environmental Psychology

The field of Blue Health studies the science of our connection with Blue Space…  Blue Mind is a term coined by my good friend Dr Wallace J Nichols, to describe our brains on water.  J’s aim was to make Blue Health Science common knowledge, but also (importantly) to encourage everyone to fall in love with water – championing the Jacques Cousteau quote “people protect what they love”.

Over the years he brought together a collective of us: scientists, artists, philosophers and health practitioners to explore themes around out brains on water aiming to change the way we value water.

In 2024 J passed away handing the responsibility of continuing his work to those of us who live and breathe Blue Mind.  This whole site is flooded with Blue Health Science and Blue Mind Philosophy and every interaction I have incorporates the insights from studies into our connection with Blue Space / Water.

As a Blue Health Coach and the developer of Blue Health Coaching water is central to all aspects of my work and lifestyle.  More can be discovered about Blue Mind and Blue Health here.

Symbolic Modelling with Clean Language

Blue Spaces are rich in symbolism, and metaphors flow all around us offering a safe foundation to discuss analyse and interpret events with a degree of objectivity.  Skilled coaches can work with symbolic modelling without verbalised content and so we might not ever be required to know the full details of the client’s topic of exploration.

Clean language uses a range of questions to reduce “stuckness”.  These are aimed at moving between global, specific and abstract in order to access less conscious processing within our brain.  Since the questions at times create ambiguity, the logical / rational part of the mind is required to allow greater creativity to emerge and this in turn shifts perspective.

From time to time even the most high performing individuals experience blockages in progress and clean language is excellent for creating traction to move forwards. Our approach is both playful and provocative and this allows clients to reduce the censoring of their thoughts, allowing them to cut through to the questions and answers that make the biggest difference for their progress.

EI / EQ

Emotional potential (otherwise known as emotional intelligence EI) is innate – most of us are lucky enough to be born with the ability to sense and remember emotions and to process and learn from emotions.

Emotional efficacy (often assessed through emotional quotient measures EQ) relates to our developed abilities to notice, understand, use and respond to these within ourselves and others.

Welcome to the “affective domain” – be sure to recognise, regulate and respond with elegance.

The terms EI and EQ are regularly used interchangeably, essentially EI /EQ is interested in not only do we “understand” and can “”describe” emotions, more-over are we using emotional information and developing our innate potential to improve communication with ourselves and others?

Since EQ has significant variability, some measurement tools have been strongly challenged as predictors for performance, yet since we know that results rely on far more that cognitive intellect, it is sensible to suggest that through developing the skills associated with Emotional Intelligence we can improve our ability to relate and inter-relate with ease.

Self Awareness, Self Regulation, Self Motivation, Social Awareness, Social Skills

We tend to explore 5 dimensions of emotional competence, which when blended with deeper APP models can be useful for leveraging EI and therefore improving work and home relationships.  Through self and peer feedback we can explore and develop 25 factors relating to how a person perceives emotions in themselves and others, and manages emotional states in order to communicate more effectively.

Our EI development offer is integrated into broader personal and leadership development coaching and courses rather than being introduced as an entity in and of itself.

Transactional Analysis

Are you creating ripples or waves?

Essentially TA explores the games we play and often the descriptors used within TA resonate well for those within teams or taking a leadership role. The term transaction highlights an interconnection between ourselves and others externally or between our internal thoughts and our actions.

We might explore ego state tendencies or personal drivers and how these assist or limit you in certain situations, thus allowing you to minimise conflict and increase collaboration.

It might be that the scripts you play yourself are out-dated or unhelpful and through changing these your energy and motivation increase.

Maybe your intention differs from the impact of your actions, creating drama and an imbalance between passiveness and aggression and you simply want things to be ok.

Assessing patterns through a number of TA frameworks enables a greater transparency in our communication.

Through guided activities you can begin to rewrite the rule book and ensure fair play.  We start with understanding and recognising your role in the game and how through changing your patterns, the wider transaction adjusts to benefit all.

Summary

These are a few of the models and approaches incorporated into a deliberately hybrid coaching and training approach. Reading the About page will give further background into additional models and insights drawn upon during any development activity.