At the CPPA we love not only to see our members flourishing, but also to celebrate them and everything they achieve. In our new member spotlight series we want to share what is possible in the field of positive psychology and inspire you. In this interview, Louisa Jewell, CPPA President, interviews CPPA member Diana Brecher on all of her amazing work at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson). You can read more about Diana in her biography below, and make sure to check out the links for the programs and resources she has helped to create. Many of these resources are available to all of you!
Dr. Diana Brecher is currently the Scholar-in-Residence for Positive Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). She is a clinical psychologist who has been working at TMU since 1991. Diana spent 25 years in the Centre for Student Development and Counselling (CSDC) as a counsellor, supervisor and director. She was awarded the Ontario Psychological Association award for excellence in clinical teaching in 2013, primarily in her role as a clinical supervisor of psychology graduate students.
As adjunct faculty in the TMU Psychology Department, she has taught several graduate CBT and clinical supervision courses to graduate students and mental health professionals. And more recently, co-created a Positive Psychology course for undergraduate students. Which we are now adapting as a fully online asynchronous course.
Diana’s long-standing interest and certification in Positive Psychology led to the creation of the ThriveRU program on campus. For the past 6 years, she has been training students, faculty, and staff in resilience. Diana’s long-term goal is to infuse Ryerson University’s programming, services and curriculum with principles of resilience and flourishing and to help facilitate a cultural change within the university.
Resources
Websites:
ThriveRU
Thriving in Action Online
Thriving in the Classroom ( eCampus Virtual Learning Strategy grant)
Workbooks:
The Cultivate your Happiness ThriveRU Workbook
The Cultivate your Happiness Four Seasons ThriveRU Workbook
Cultivate your Happiness ThriveRU Workbook Facilitator’s Resource Manual
Thriving in the Classroom Toolkit is a resource designed to support faculty and staff in promoting student wellbeing and resilience in the virtual, or in-person classroom
Thriving in the Classroom identifies four kinds of resilience grounded in research and evidence-based practices: community resilience, personal resilience, academic resilience, and career resilience. The toolkit offers practical resources that can easily be inserted directly into your curriculum, resources to support you in designing curriculum and utilizing pedagogical approaches that promote resilience, and in-depth research for those interested in learning more about student resilience.
