The playing with gratitude project begun in late 2016 after hearing from some of Australia’s leading psychologists that the biggest threat to our children’s lives, by the time they reach high school, will be their mental wellness. In response to these messages, I felt an incredible responsibility to work as hard as I could to try and look for ways to counteract this growing concern.  I knew deep within my heart that teachers, like myself, needed to shift our determined professional focus towards building strong mental health foundations early in life above all things. https://playingwithgratitude.com

 

PROJECT AIM & CONTEXT

The purpose of The Playing with Gratitude Project is to examine the new science of gratitude and combine it with the powerful influence of co-play in order to make a positive change in general well-being for everyone everywhere.

The Playing with Gratitude Project began taking form as a heightened awareness of stress, anxiety and depression began to emerge within corporate and educational settings. As a consequence, an urgency to counteract these presenting issues was created by leaders in both work environments. Current research into wellbeing across the lifespan suggests when we start the investing in building wellbeing in young children, supporting strong socio-emotional foundations, their lives are remarkably changed. The change can be observed in the development of automatic positive neural pathways influencing positive cognitive and social capabilities, increasing a sense of well-being and relationships right through life from birth to death (Marbina, 2015).

​

The aim of the project then is to purposefully create as many opportunities in educational and corporate communities for wellbeing to flourish through playing with gratitude. https://playingwithgratitude.com/project-participation/