Tools to Thrive: Homepage - Outside the Box Learning Resources

Fiona Forman is an author, speaker, facilitator and trainer in the area of well-being and Positive Psychology in education and parenting. She holds an M. Sc. in Applied Positive Psychology, the science of well-being, from the University of East London.

Having spent many years as a teacher, Fiona is passionate about placing well-being at the heart of school and family life, and she has seen first-hand the many benefits this brings to both young people and adults alike. She is the co-author of Weaving Well-Being, an SPHE programme for children which is now widely used in Ireland and abroad. Fiona is also the author of Wired for Well-Being, a new well-being programme for Junior Cycle. Her junior programme, Welcome to Well-Being, has also been released in Ireland and abroad.

Fiona is also the mother of 2 young adults, which has deepened her awareness of the importance of equipping our children with the support and skills they need to thrive and flourish, despite the challenges of life.

Her latest book, BRAVER THAN YOU BELIEVE: A Parent’s Guide to Building Children’s Resilience using Positive Psychology Skills has recently been released.

Research shows that having a high level of well-being is the greatest predictor of happiness and success in life for both adults and young people (Layard et al., 2014).
However, young people face ever-increasing challenges and demands as they grow into adulthood; there is a vital need to equip them with the skills and strategies that will help them to flourish and thrive despite these challenges.
The Tools to Thrive programme aims to introduce adolescents to these evidence-based skills, (tools) drawn from the field of Positive Psychology, to develop positive well-being habits for life. Each lesson also indicates the neuroscience behind each tool, in order to give students an understanding of what is happening in the brain as each tool is utilised.
It is a two-year Senior Cycle Well-Being and SPHE programme which consists of 8 lessons designed to be taught over consecutive weeks, where possible. Research indicates that Positive Psychology programmes that are longer than 4 weeks but shorter than 12 weeks tended to have better results (Sin & Lyubormirsky, 2009).