FLOW Coaching Methodology and Curriculum has its foundation focused majorly on the science of Positive Psychology and the FLOW model. This includes solution-focused psychology and brain science alongside creative therapies such as Expressive Arts Therapy. With most of our focuses rooted in science, we take our curriculums very seriously as we believe that when coaching - you need to coach the whole person, and the best way to do that is to fully understand how the person works.
Positive Psychology is a framework for understanding happiness in everyday life. The history of Positive Psychology has its roots tracing back to the early 1900s, in an address to the American Psychological Association where William James challenged his peers to question why some people live fully engaged lives and others don’t.
However, it wasn’t until 1998 that Positive Psychology became an actual scientific area of study. Now considered the founding father of positive psychology, Martin Seligman clearly drew a line between the disease model of early psychologists and the positive model we understand today. For years, traditional psychology had further studied the human psyche and classified groups of behaviors and attitudes into illnesses, diseases, or disorders.
Unlike traditional psychology, Positive Psychology shifted the focus to “what works” “what can work better” instead of “what goes wrong” or “what’s broken.” Christopher Peterson, a co-author with Seligman and professor at the University of Michigan, defined three pillars of Positive Psychology as
- Contentment with the past,
- Happiness in the present,
- Optimism for the future.
I also created a video that is related to these 3 main pillars and why we chose it to be part of our curriculum. As coaches, I believe that our purpose is to become change-makers for the people around us. We have the responsibility to bring about change and also to aid people in their journey through change.
Watch the video here:
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E07DguRmU8U[/embed]
There is a lot of fear and resistance surrounding change but as coaches, we know that true growth only happens when change is welcomed. The 3 pillars of positive psychology help not just our clients but also us to be content with our past, be happy with the present, and to also be optimistic for the future.
Through FLOW Coaching Certification programs, our students gain a thorough understanding to build a practice to coach through these three pillars. A Flow Coach helps their clients to perceive their past as a resource to learn from while co-creating their desired future with grounded optimism where the flow is abundant in many aspects of their lives mentally, emotionally, relationally, spiritually, culturally, and lastly spiritually.