Increasing emotional flexibility and resilience: an experiential approach using techniques derived from positive psychology and mindfulness

Code: PM02

Presenter: Margaret Forde

Organisation represented: Psychological Society of Ireland (PsSI)

The main learning objectives of this workshop are to:

• learn techniques of how to increase emotional flexibility and resilience for oneself and others
• increase overall levels of well-being through practice of mindfulness and positive psychology techniques
• understand how experiencing positive emotion reduces stress and promotes resilience
• know how selective memory reinforcement increases our positivity levels
• learn how to draw “good stories” out in others through Active Constructive Responding
• connect deeper with ourselves and others
• understand the theoretical underpinnings in neuroscience, mindfulness and positive psychology

Who is this workshop for?

Emotional flexibility is defined as the ability to flexibly regulate emotions in a context appropriate manner.

This workshop is a wellbeing intervention, especially suited for those who work in changing, stressful environments, and in areas such as leadership development, and teamwork.

This is an interactive and experiential workshop, which is fun to do, but also transformative. It combines working in pairs with whole group activities. 

Discover more

Increased emotional flexibility has been shown to positively impact wellbeing and resilience as well as facilitating innovation and increasing job performance. More informally, it can be seen as the ability to “switch gears” emotionally, rather than becoming fixed on more negative emotional patterns, which increase anxiety and stress.

Bombarding ourselves with messages to “think positively” has been shown not to work and even to be counter-productive. Much work has been done in this area using a specific model of mindfulness training, ACT. This workshop approaches emotional flexibility from an emotional rather than a cognitive perspective.

The session will start with a brief presentation of theory and application. It will also include a guided relaxation/meditation. Links will be made to research and practice in the areas of neuroscience, positive psychology and mindfulness.

After the workshop, there is generally a great buzz in the room, people connect more deeply with each other, and are energised and empowered at how easy and rewarding it can be to change emotional states.

The workshop presenter is a chartered counselling psychologist as well as a chartered work and organisational psychologist and registered yoga teacher. She has extensive experience as a facilitator of mindfulness and positive psychology courses and coaching, and as a trainer of holistic therapists and mindfulness practitioners.

Price: €35