Strengths to Flourish, our foundational course in Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice (MBSP), offers a powerful transformative journey to shine light on our character strengths, fosters wholesome habits, and cultivates sustainable wellbeing, resilience, and performance—empowering individuals, teams, communities, and organizations. Strengths to Flourish is also delivered in Catalan, French and Spanish.
What are the proven benefits?
Research demonstrates that participants of this program experience key positive outcomes, including:
- Enhanced ability to recognize and intentionally cultivate character strengths
- Development of sustainable wellbeing, resilience, and performance
- Greater capacity to leverage work-related strengths
- Increased job satisfaction (self-reported) and improved task performance (as assessed by line managers)
- Improved environmental mastery with solution-focused thinking and the constructive reframing of conflicts, challenging experiences, and painful emotions
- Reduced stress, anxiety, burnout, and feeling of loneliness
- Higher engagement with life, sense of accomplishment, hope, and meaning
- Positive emotions and more fulfilling relationships
- Improved self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-leadership
Who is it for?
This program is designed for people who wish to flourish sustainably with clarity and freedom by developing an integrative awareness of themselves and the many resources of their mind.
Strengths to Flourish is also for those seeking practical ways to live with greater peace, while reducing burnout, depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness.
The core competencies developed in this course benefit everyone. No prior experience with mindfulness or character strengths work is required.
Bespoke courses, workshops and retreats for groups are also available—please contact us to discuss your specific needs.
What are the key learnings?
Strengths to Flourish provides a progressive, experiential learning environment that encourages the integration and application of mindfulness and character strengths practices. Participants learn to:
- Engage with foundational teachings on mindfulness, character strengths, positive neuroplasticity, and self-leadership
- Explore, recognize, and manifest their own and others’ character strengths
- Practice guided somatic and breath-based mindfulness exercises to cultivate tranquility, happiness, and inner peace
- Strengthen focus and develop the ability to be a mindful guardian of the mind
- Apply strategies for overcoming obstacles and reframing challenges with a growth mindset, positive outlook, and personal agency
- Utilize practical coaching and feedback processes that leverage individual and team resources to achieve goals, build resilience, and foster anti-fragility
- Access tools and resources to sustain personal mindfulness and character strengths practice with energy and generativity
- Participate in experiential sharing and conversational exercises that foster collective learning, empathy, and a sense of common humanity
- Dedicate time to journaling and reflection, integrating new learnings with honesty, self-esteem and generating a flourishing upward spiral
Program overview
Strengths to Flourish is an experiential learning journey spanning eight sessions.
This course cultivates human flourishing by integrating character strengths and self-leadership development strategies, mindfulness practices, cognitive science and positive psychology exercises, coaching tools, as well as dyad conversations and group sharing.
Grounded in cutting-edge science and creative, generative Zen practices, this course provides an ideal space for exploration, clarity, and wellbeing.
Key program features include:
- 20 hours of active learning
- Half a day integration retreat
- Additional time to integrate the practices and reflect
- Additional resources and a personal workbook to deepen learning and support ongoing application
- Post-course community gatherings to sustain and enrich the practice
The roots of Strengths to Flourish
Strengths to Flourish is built on the Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice (MBSP) program developed by Ryan M. Niemiec, PsyD, Chief Science and Education Officer of the VIA Institute on Character.
This groundbreaking program has been delivered in numerous countries since 2014, demonstrating evidence-based positive outcomes.
MBSP strengthens all key components of flourishing—positive emotions and relationships, engagement, accomplishment, and a sense of purpose—supporting a more fulfilling and happy life.
In addition to reducing stress, anxiety, burnout, and feelings of loneliness, this program has also been shown to enhance job satisfaction and task performance, helping participants leverage their work-related strengths for both personal and professional growth.
Our vision on sustainable mindfulness and character strengths practice
For us, creating an ethical, sustainable, and socially connected world requires a profound inner transformation—a diligent process involving the cultivation of wholesome dispositions, mindset, and aspirations, alongside the competencies and qualities needed by individuals, organizations, and communities to contribute meaningfully to the betterment of the planet and society.
Inner flourishing naturally supports thriving, collaborative, and equitable communities and organizations—achieved through a positive outlook, and a creative, inclusive, compassionate, and harmonious teamwork and leadership, of all individuals at every level.
What are the foundations of Strengths to Flourish?
Both ancient wisdom and modern flourishing science recognize that a sustainable inner transformation and the development of personal competencies rest on a few foundational components:
- Insight into the wholesome potential of human nature, universal values and character strengths
- Integrative awareness and regulation of attention
- Understanding the central role of unconscious dispositions, mindset, motivation, and intentions in shaping experiences
- Diligent, solution-focused engagement with life
For us, cultivating sustainable flourishing in individuals, teams, communities, and organizations encompasses several integrative dimensions:
- Engaged Universal Ethics: Mindful living guided by the UNESCO’s « Manifesto 2000 for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence »
- Self-Leadership: Positive influence and impact in oneself, understanding own values and strengths; fostering self-actualization with mindful self-congruent and meaningful self-endorsed actions
- Emotional, Social and Systemic Intelligence: Responding to events from a selfless heart with self, social and systems awareness; gathering information with curiosity and developing insight with perspective; adapting with fluent self-regulation, strategic solution focus, and positive outlook to enhance wellbeing and performance
- Positive Relationships: Cultivating relationships grounded in the appreciation of others’ strengths, supported by presence, self-confidence, self-esteem, calmness, openness, trust, inclusiveness, equanimity, and gratitude
- Procedural Lifelong Learning: Developing resilience and anti-fragility through change, conflict, challenges, and failure—supported by feedback, continuous experiential learning, and innovation
- Communities of Practice: Practical, informal learning and competence development through active engagement in communities of practice—the fundamental process by which we learn to flourish together and be who we truly are
Upcoming courses
Strengths to Flourish courses and workshops are organized regularly and on demand in English, French, Spanish, and Catalan. If you would like to discuss your specific needs, please contact us to arrange a call. We propose also thematic taster sessions to introduce our programs.
Course Bibliography
- Niemiec, Ryan M. (2014). Mindfulness and Character Strengths: A Practitioner’s Guide to Flourishing.
- Niemiec, Ryan M. (2019). Atención plena y fortalezas de carácter. Una guía práctica para el florecer. Translation of Niemiec, Ryan M. (2014).
- Niemiec, Ryan M. (2024). Mindfulness and Character Strengths: A Practitioner’s Guide to MBSP.
- Niemiec, Ryan M. (2024). The Mindfulness and Character Strengths Workbook.
- Niemiec, Ryan M. (2018). Character Strengths Interventions: A Field Guide for Practitioners.
- Niemiec, Ryan M. & McGrath (2019). The Power of Character Strengths: Appreciate and Ignite Your Positive Personality.
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Evidence–Based Benefits
- Güldal, Ş., & Satan, A. (2020). The effect of mindfulness based psychoeducation program on adolescents’ character strengths, mindfulness and academic achievement. Current Psychology.
- Ivtzan, I., Niemiec, R. M., & Briscoe, C. (2016). A study investigating the effects of Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice (MBSP) on wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 6(2):1-13.
- Kennes, A., Lataster, J., Janssens, M. et al. (2023). Efficacy of a School‑Based Mental Health Intervention Based on Mindfulness and Character Strengths Use Among Adolescents. Journal of Happiness Studies, 24:677–697.
- Khodayarifard, M. et al. (2021). The effect of antenatal mindfulness-based character strength training on women’s thriving. The Journal of Psychological Science, 20(105):1455-1470.
- Kulandaiammal, R., Hebert, H. S., Alafia, J., & Neelakantan, M. (2024). Mindfulness-based strengths practice: a conceptual framework and empirical review of the literature. International Journal of Mental Health, 1–36.
- Monzani, L., Escartín, J., Ceja, L., & Bakker, A. B. (2021). Blending mindfulness practices and character strengths increases employee well-being: A second-order meta-analysis and a follow-up field experiment. Human Resource Management Journal, 31(4):1025–1062.
- Morris, C.M., Prasath, P. R.. (2024). Silent No More: Exploring the Effects of Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice on Relationship Satisfaction, Mindfulness, and Well-Being in Female Survivors of Military Sexual Trauma. The Professional Counselor, 14(3):271–287.
- Pang, D. & Ruch, W. (2019). Fusing character strengths and mindfulness interventions: Benefits for job satisfaction and performance. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 24(1):150-162.
- Park, R. J. (2020). Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice: A ‘Toolbox’ for Self-Efficacy in Higher Education. University of Lincoln. Doctoral thesis.
- Prasath, P. R., Morris, C., Maccombs, S. (2021). Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice (MBSP). Group Intervention: A Systematic Review. Journal of Counselor Practice, 12(1):1–22.
- Whelan-Berry, J., & Niemiec, R. (2021). Integrating mindfulness and character strengths for improved wellbeing, stress, and relationships: A mixed-methods analysis of Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice. International Journal of Wellbeing, 11(1).
- Wingert, J. R., Jones, J. C., Swoap, R. A., & Wingert, H. M. (2020). Mindfulness-based strengths practice improves well-being and retention in undergraduates: a preliminary randomized controlled trial. Journal of American College Health, 70(3):783–790.