TAMPA, Fla. 鈥� This spring, about 100 students in the College of Education are providing school-aged youth with evidence-based tools to improve their overall happiness.
Shannon Suldo, PhD, a professor in the School Psychology program at USF, says the
class, 鈥淧ositive Psychology in Schools,鈥� was created with a two-fold purpose: to share
the field of positive psychology with USF students and to serve children in the Tampa
Bay community.
鈥淧ositive psychology is a newer discipline within psychology that鈥檚 preventative,
promotive and wellness-enhancing,鈥� Dr. Suldo said. 鈥淏y having a service-learning component
in the course, students are able to apply the strategies they learn and develop professionalism.鈥�
Since its launch in 2014, students in the course have served as counselor trainees
to students in seven partner schools in Hillsborough County. Last year, due to the
coronavirus pandemic, the project shifted to a virtual model and is now open to any
child in grades 3-12 who wants to increase their personal happiness.
USF graduate student Alexis Elvy, a course instructor working alongside Dr. Suldo,
says child participants will engage in a 30-minute session with a counselor trainee
once a week for 10 weeks.
Sessions will take place on Zoom and activities follow a timeline that focuses on
fostering happiness in the past, present and future.
鈥淪o, when we talk about promoting happiness in the past, we do activities that are
related to gratitude,鈥� Elvy said. 鈥淜eeping a gratitude journal and doing a gratitude
visit, which involves (having participants) write a letter of gratitude to someone
in their life and then delivering it, is how we can start promoting happiness in our
present lives.鈥�
In the 鈥減resent鈥� period of the project, children participate in activities like choosing
one day to practice five acts of kindness, taking a survey to identify their strengths
and brainstorming ways to use those strengths more often and creatively.
In the final weeks of the project, participants are guided by their USF student counselor
to think about what happiness could look like in the times ahead.
鈥淭here鈥檚 an optimism session that we often reserve for middle school and high school
children, and it鈥檚 focused on reframing the way we think about certain events,鈥� Elvy
said. 鈥淲e then do a hope activity where they imagine their best possible self in the
future, and we create goals so that they can work to achieve that best possible self.鈥�
The tools past participants received gave them opportunities to appreciate the individuals
around them. They also gained a clear understanding of what happiness is and how it鈥檚
attained.
For USF students who take the course, their experience in the service-learning project
is just as rewarding.
Teaching participant Yamilex Bardales, a senior who鈥檚 majoring in Psychology, says
the time she spent with her six-year-old student has motivated her to think about
the impact she wants to make in her life.
鈥淭hough I still have plenty to learn, I feel as though I have a greater sense of what
school psychologists do and how they work towards supporting students in an academic
setting,鈥� Bardales said. 鈥�(The project) has pushed me to consider a career in the
field.鈥�
Alexa Petrie, a school psychology graduate student who was a former participant in
the project as an undergraduate, said the intervention allowed her to witness her
student become more positive and happier each week.
鈥淚 think the hands-on experience with students is very important,鈥� Petrie said. 鈥淚
probably benefitted from it just as much as my child did.鈥�
To sign-up your child for the Happiness Tools Project, please contact Dr. Shannon Suldo at promotingyouthhappiness@gmail.com by Friday, Feb. 5, 2021.