Author: ICEP Europe

Dr Moya O’Brien will travel down under in a few weeks to present at the Positive Education Schools Association (PESA) Annual Conference in Geelong, Australia.

The theme for this year’s conference is Connect. Dr O’Brien will be conducting a workshop at the event entitled BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH NATURE CONNECTEDNESS. Moya will discuss the importance of connecting with nature in developing and maintaining our wellbeing and boosting our resilience. Participants will reflect on their own connection to nature and the psychological impact of nature on their wellbeing. Embedded strategies and tools using nature inside and nature outside the classroom will be explored. Participants will take away practices and techniques that will enhance their own skills in supporting and building resilience in young people they work with.

During her time in Australia Moya will also be meeting with schools and associated professionals to promote ICEP Europe as a leading international provider of online Professional Development Education for teachers. If you are interested in meeting with Dr O’Brien in Australia or the UAE please get in touch with ICEP Europe through the website or by emailing m.obrien@icepe.eu.

The psychology of hope is a relatively recent area of research. Traditionally psychology has focused mainly on people’s weaknesses and problems – on what was wrong, not what was right. As Martin Seligman, founding father of positive psychology put it, psychology has been too preoccupied with repairing damage and disease when our focus should be on building strength and resilience, especially in our students.

Hope is essential to resilience, and survival. Although most positivity arises when you feel safe and secure, hope is the exception. If everything were going your way, if life were without challenge, then there would be very little that you would need to hope for. Hope really comes into play when circumstances are dire or when there is considerable uncertainty about how things will turn out.

Hope is not just an emotion. It’s about having a plan and the self-belief that you can see this plan through. In your role as a teacher or parent you are tasked with helping the young people in your care to envision their futures and encouraging them to strive toward their goals. The psychology of hope is critical in helping to motivate students in terms of their short-term academic goals but also in helping them to achieve their wider dreams and ambitions. By cultivating hope in these young minds we can help them to reach their full potential and build their resilience and wellbeing.

Hope involves much more than is commonly thought. It is not simply an unfounded wish that things will turn out fine. Psychologist Charles Synder, who developed Hope Theory, describes hope as consisting not only of goals, but also agency and pathways. To have hope involves the will and resolve to fulfil your goals and coming up with various different ways to reach them. Research tells us that even if an individual has a wealth of natural skill and talent, if they lack a strong sense of hope they are less likely to reach their goals.

In this hectic world of ours we come up against innumerable obstacles to our plans. Without hope and all that it encompasses, when our dreams reach an impasse we may simply give up. Hope allows us to tackle our problems with a positive mind-set and enables us to make realistic plans to overcome them and generate alternative strategies to reach our goals. Hope is a dynamic cognitive motivational system. From cognitive psychology we now understand that the way we think shapes our emotions ( not the other way around) and hopeful thinking is what keeps us going, it enables us to problem solve and fuels persistence and determination. Hope matters even more to academic achievement than IQ or conscientiousness according to studies of college students. It predicts graduate school results and also long- term life satisfaction.

Having hope helps students to set and achieve mastery goals – these goals are challenging and involve effort and the risk of failure. People with such goals tend to be more engaged in their learning and aware of their own progress. They interpret failure as a sign to work harder and see competence as the outcome of practice and effort. Students who adopt mastery goals tend to experience greater success in life more generally.

In contrast, students with little sense of hope are more likely to adopt performance goals, they focus on the result, rather than the learning involved and typically choose easy tasks that provide little challenge or opportunity for self-growth. When such people come up against failure, they pack it in instead of trying again with a different approach. They feel helpless and see themselves as having little ability to build the futures that they want.

The great news is that we can actually teach the skills of hope to our students. Some useful techniques include helping students to articulate their dreams and set achievable goals, encouraging them to plan the steps that they must take to reach these goals, and inspiring in them the self-belief and agency needed to take the first of these steps. Of course, a person’s existing or natural ability in a given field has an impact on their level of success in that field. However, it is hope and the self-belief and critical thinking strategies that come with it that really make the difference between success and failure. Having hope means having the will and determination to pursue your ambitions while also recognising that there are numerous pathways leading to these goals. By nurturing hope in our students we open their eyes to a world of opportunity and equip them with the tools needed to overcome, and even thrive in, the face of adversity.

About The Author:

Dr Deirdre Mac Intyre is a Clinical Psychologist and Director of the Institute of Child Education and Psychology ( ICEP) Europe. Teaching Hope and Optimism, one of ICEP Europe’s positive psychology courses, is open for enrolment now and will be available online until April 15th. For more information click on the ‘CPD COURSES’ link at the top of the page or email d.macintyre@icepe.eu

It is easy for students to get caught into a very negative stressful cycle coming up to exams. They frequently feel overwhelmed and under pressure to study relentlessly. Whilst some stress can be a positive thing increasing motivation levels, too much can be detrimental and can cause some students to underperform in exams due to the build up of anxiety and exhaustion.

The good news is there are measures that can be taken to stay calm and retain perspective throughout the exam period. Regular breaks and routine can help for example. As can asking for support and getting good sleep.

One relatively unknown factor in managing exam stress is the restorative effect nature can have on temperament, mood and concentration levels. Recent research indicates that reconnecting with nature helps relieve stress and can have a calming effect on both body and mind.

There are three main theories on how this connection with nature might work as a buffer to stress (Capaldi et al 2015). Studies show that the nature connection increases feelings of vitality and directly contributes to stress reduction and restoration. Attention Restoration Theory provides an additional explanation for nature’s link to wellbeing. This theory abounds that the elements in nature require little direct attention and so help us relax i.e looking at trees, grass, leaves, branches or clouds requires little focus and so restores our attention. Compare this to directed attention that kids studying engage in for long periods which can then lead to fatigue and distraction.

What these theories have in common is they all recognise a link between nature, enhanced wellbeing and personal fulfilment.   Simply noticing nature and attending to nature in everyday routines can improve our mood and give us a sense of positive feelings of connection (Passmore & Holder, 2016).When people experience natural surroundings it expands their senses both psychologically and physiologically (Louv, 2005). This helps to reset their emotional state and has a calming impact. This has been evaluated using individuals self report and also using physiological measures such as cortisol levels and heart rate. Simply put being connected to nature routinely can help reduce anxiety, re-energise and give perspective to students.

Asking students to go outside for 15 minutes each day and notice different aspects of nature can really help to reduce stress levels. This simple intervention is free and requires little or no preparation just a willingness to try.

References

Capaldi,  C. A., Passmore, H.-A., Nisbet, E. K., Zelenski, J. M., & Dopko, R. L. (2015). Flourishing  in nature: A review of the benefits of connecting  with nature and its application as a well being  intervention. International Journal of Well being, 5(4), 1-16.

Passmore, H.-A.,  & Howell,  A. J. (2014). Nature involvement increases hedonic and eudaimonic w ell-being: A two
-week experimental study. Ecopsychology, 6, 148-154.

Louv, R., (2005). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from Nature Deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, NC:Algonquin.

About the Author

Moya is a clinical psychologist who trained both in Ireland and in the USA. With almost 20 years experience as a clinical psychologist, Dr. O’Brien has worked for many years in the area of special needs and continues to provide consultation to schools. She has taught on the MSc in Education and on the Career Guidance and Counselling course in the National University of Ireland in Maynooth. She is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst. Her experience includes working in the May Institute Cape Cod and working in the Institute for Applied Behaviour Analysis in Los Angeles.

She was employed in the Irish Eastern Regional Health Authority as manager of the Parenting Unit before co-founding ICEP Europe. Moya’s current research interests include the application of ABA in both mainstream and special school settings and the implementation of school-wide policies for the support of students with special educational needs and/or challenging behaviour.

ICEP Europe is delighted to work with internationally recognised specialists in the fields of special and inclusive educational provision. Such additions to the ICEP team, provide a extensive range of expertise and talent to assist with course creation and support.