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Overview of the Well-Being Promotion Program

The Well Being Promotion Program (WBPP) is an evidence-based program that addresses students’ social-emotional wellness, ultimately increasing their readiness to learn and academic success. The WBPP is grounded in positive psychology, or the study of factors, traits, activities, and situations that help people thrive. The program develops students’ skills in increasing personal happiness.

Why focus on student happiness and deliver the WBPP?

Past studies show that happier students earn better grades, perform better on standardized tests, have more positive attitudes towards school and learning, have better social relationships, are physically healthier, and have fewer symptoms of mental health problems like depression and anxiety. The WBPP provides a critical SEL experience that can translate into lifelong skills that promote emotional and academic success across the years.

What does the WBPP entail?

The WBPP is a Tier 2 social-emotional learning (SEL) intervention that provides targeted support to students who are identified through schoolwide screening as having room for growth in happiness. The WBPP is a manualized program that is facilitated with small groups of eligible students by school mental health professionals (e.g., counselors, school psychologist) and research staff. The WBPP groups meet once per week for approximately 45 minutes throughout the 10-week core program and then once per month through the end of the school year. To minimize loss of instructional time, meetings can be held on a rotating schedule, elective period, or lunch. The exact meeting times and places are selected by the school leadership team. 

How are school mental health professionals involved in the WBPP?

The WBPP interventionists (“counselors”) are school mental health staff or trainees, including school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, and other student support services personnel. To guide initial orientation to the WBPP manual, counselors complete a multi-day professional development before or at the beginning of the school year. During this initial training, counselors will become more knowledgeable about positive psychology and group counseling and practice leading the WBPP sessions through role play activities. While providing the WBPP, counselors will co-lead the WBPP with a colleague or research team member and receive ongoing support during program delivery through weekly 30-minute coaching sessions.

What skills do students learn through the WBPP?

Each week, the counselor and co-leader lead students through exercises outlined in the WBPP manual (e.g., guided discussions, hands-on activities, writing prompts) that tap into the following topics:

How are caregivers involved in the WBPP?

The caregiver component of the WBPP includes one information session (with parents in-person or remote) followed by 10 weekly handouts. At the information session, caregivers are introduced to positive psychology and the intervention goals, learn the benefits of high well-being, and receive a schedule of student activities. All caregivers receive weekly handouts providing (a) an overview of the lesson covered in the student session, (b) description of homework assigned to students that week, and (c) suggestions for caregivers to apply intervention strategies in their own lives and/or as a family unit. Regular communication with caregivers is intended to further the knowledge and skills students learn each week in their session.

What materials are needed to facilitate the WBPP?

The WBPP intervention manual is contained in the book, Promoting Student Happiness: Positive Psychology Interventions in Schools by Shannon Suldo. The book has 10 chapters that provide: an overview of the correlates, benefits, and assessment of happiness; the theory behind the WBPP intervention targets and specific activities; goals and activities within each of the core and follow-up sessions; and a comprehensive example of how a school mental health team collaboratively implemented the WBPP at an example middle school. A detailed appendix with reproducible forms includes session protocols that outline planned activities for use by interventionists, as well as student handouts, fidelity checklists, and 1-page caregiver handouts for each session. The research team will also share an interventionist website that serves as a one-stop shop for digital versions of all intervention materials as well as helpful tips and supplemental activities.