Bryony Shaw
Bryony is a Chartered Psychologist and Positive Psychology coach who works with her clients to help them realise their strengths and become the person they were meant to be. She helps them to live in accordance with their core values and have an increased sense of purpose. She also runs Positive Psychology courses for individuals and groups where she teaches science-backed techniques that boost psychological well-being and build resilience.
Another area of research and practice that Bryony specialises in is the role of nature in enhancing well-being. She is also an experienced Psychology teacher and incorporates Positive Psychology in her teaching practices. She has a Masters degree in Positive Psychology (MAPP) and is particularly interested in supporting students to reach their full potential by helping them to overcome the labels and mindsets that hold them back.
She is one of the few practitioners to specifically develop Positive Psychology interventions to improve student well-being and resilience for the 16-19 education sector. In particular, she has developed and implemented growth mindset programmes and strength-based teaching methods and offers training and support to institutions that wish to implement such interventions.
Contact Bryony at positivepsychologycoaching@outlook.com
Website positivepsychologycoaching.co.uk
Bryony’s Blog
The Qualities of Qualitative Research
Often qualitative research is seen as second best to quantitative research. It doesn’t give us numbers that we can analyse and compare. It does not translate well into headlines. It is more complex, more time-consuming to analyse and results may be more ambiguous....
The Liberation of Abandoning All Adjectives
Isn’t it nice when we get a compliment? It can give us a boost, somebody’s noticed us or noticed what we’ve done. A compliment is an expression of admiration, respect or approval and typically it leaves us feeling valued. However, my eyes were recently opened to a...
Self-Compassion Cultivates Courage in Athletes
Having self-compassion is the ability to recognise our own suffering and take action to comfort and care for ourselves. Traditionally, some may think that this is the road to complacency, but research from Kristen Neff (2011) shows us that it is the road to...
Seasons of Life – Seasons of Emotions
Today I would like to explore positive emotions by using the analogy of the seasons. For those of you who have read my previous blogs, you will know my calling to help people to increase the amount of positive emotions they experience. This is because there are so...
Mappy Birthday!
Congratulations to Bucks New University as this year was the 10th year of their Masters of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP). I was fortunate to be a member of their very first cohort and I feel gratitude for having Applied Positive Psychology come into my life. Like...
The Qualities of Qualitative Research
Often qualitative research is seen as second-best to quantitative research. It doesn’t give us numbers that we can analyse and compare. It does not translate well into headlines. It is more complex, more time consuming to analyse and results may be more ambiguous....
Love Your Negativity Bias
What is your negativity bias and why do you have one? Your negativity bias is an evolved function whose purpose is the keep you alive. This means you are hard-wired to notice and act on negative information more than positive information. By noticing the dangers in...
Why Positive Education Matters
Positive education interventions are very slowly making their way into some mainstream schools and colleges. However, there are very few that offer a whole-school approach. Notable ones are Wellington College, an independent school in England and Geelong Grammar in...
Support and Tools For Personal Growth
Wanting the best for those we care about is a very common trait. We try to support those around us, helping them on their path, providing them with support and encouragement. This can often be very successful and we see those we care about grow in confidence as they...
The Strength In Forgiveness
Forgiveness! Now that is a superpower. It is a chance to reclaim control of your emotions, your thoughts and your behaviour. There is a strength OF forgiveness as identified by the VIA Character Strengths and I would like to explore that as well as the strength IN...
Gardening – A Flow Activity or a Mindful Activity?
Is gardening a flow activity or a mindful activity? This was a debate that I had with fellow Positive Psychologist Kim Furnish recently, and we did not agree. Gardening is an activity enjoyed by many, myself included and I often find myself in flow when gardening. I...
Everyday Awe
Sometimes it’s one of those simple everyday occurrences that can bring some much to our life but we don’t fully appreciate it. This is exactly the case with ‘Awe Walks’. I only read about these this autumn and they are so simple and yet make...
A Christmas Gift For You – Self-Compassion
Christmas brings mixed emotions, it can be a time of joy, of people coming together, of sharing and thankfulness. However, it can also be a time of pressure, conflict and stress. Sometimes it can seem that there is that unspoken requirement that everything needs to be...
How To Maximise Your Strengths
How do we know when we are using our strengths? It is when we are feeling energised when a task is easy and enjoyable to complete. It is when time passes quickly when we look up and think where did those two hours go. It is when we have a feeling of satisfaction in...
Mental Strength As Society Opens
Who would have predicted the changes we have witnessed and lived through over the past few months? Certainly not me. While it has been an appalling time with much suffering and fear, the beauty of human nature has once again revealed itself during these unprecedented...
Knit 1, Purl 1, Decrease Stress
I have just returned from a weekend knitting festival feeling completely rejuvenated and raring to go. Why do I feel so refreshed? I believe it is because I have been using and witnessing many Positive Psychology principles in action. Mindfulness The benefits of...
Choose a Happy Winter
Choose a Happy Winter We are beginning to get the first hints of winter, but before we start hibernating I’d like to take time to appreciate the autumn. What a beautiful autumn it has been. The season never fails to delight and by directly and consciously...
Nature’s Strengths
I have often written about the many benefits of being in nature which include increased feelings of well-being and happiness, reduced stress levels, improved concentration and lowered blood pressure. This summer has offered many opportunities to explore varied...
Take Listening to a Higher Level
Imagine a couple is moving house, it’s an exciting time, they are able to upgrade and move to somewhere ‘better’. It has the potential to be an uplifting experience that brings them together. They are growing and progressing, they are now able to get...
Positive Personalities – A New Measurement Scale
What a lovely surprise to come across a piece of research conducted by Scott Barry Kaufmann and his colleagues in which they construct a new scale to measure positive personality traits. They have called this the Light Triad Scale. As we know for many years,...
The Joy Of Knitting
Isn’t it funny, you do something for years, you really enjoy it, you know that it is good for you and eventually scientific research backs up your personal experience. I’m pleased to say that that is happening with crafting and in particular knitting at...
Reflections On A Beautiful Day
One Positive Psychology exercise involves creating and living A Beautiful Day. I have found this to be a wonderful exercise which leaves me with a calm, fulfilled feeling that can last for some days afterwards. The Beautiful Day exercise involves four stages: The...
The Financial Benefits of Positive Psychology
As a psychologist, Positive Psychology is a natural discipline for me to study. When I first heard of it I felt like I was at home, everything made sense and fitted together. The main reason for this is its overlap with Humanistic Psychology, which has always spoken...
Healthy Body, Healthy Mind
I am continually excited about new research findings that add to our understanding of the benefits of doing things that are natural and free. Natural and free are important considerations as it means that they are accessible to most people. The Big Five Recently I...
Nature’s Spring Gift
Without any effort I am feeling more energised and I’m experiencing more positive emotions. Then I realise why. It’s spring, the days are getting longer and nature shows us that we are on a different trajectory, no longer hunkering down and keeping warm,...
A New State of Flow
At the start of the year I can look back over the first term of teaching in the academic year, and this year I am very appreciative of an unexpected experience I had. In the autumn term I write references for my students who are applying to university. This is a time...
The Joy Of Walking
Walking is one of my favourite ways to spend my time and it is something that is free and easily available to most of us. Whether it is walking out from my front door or walking in a national park, the effect it has on me is always positive. I find my mood becomes...
Preventative Psychology
What’s in a name? While studying on the MAPP (Masters in Positive Psychology) a question that was discussed from time to time was the future of Positive Psychology and whether the name Positive Psychology was the most appropriate name for the discipline. This came...
Approach The New Year With Hope
Well we’re a week into 2017 and what sort of a year will it be? Who knows what’s in store for us. Whatever is in stall will be affected by the way that we approach it. If we can approach things in our lives with openness and curiosity we may get more out...
Tackling The Negative – Part 3
One of the great strengths of Positive Psychology is the strong scientific basis it has in helping us to find ways to live life to the full and flourish. But it doesn’t solely deal with the positive, the research can also be used to help us deal with the...
Tackling the Negative (part 2)
Building on my last article, I want to again address the charges often placed on Positive Psychology that it is often criticised for focusing on happiness and well-being while ignoring the multitude of negative experiences and emotions that we frequently face. This is...
Tackling the Negative (part 1)
Positive Psychology is often criticised for focusing on happiness and ignoring the myriad of negative experiences and accompanying emotions that we all have. However this is an over simplification. While Positive Psychology does focus on moving people towards a...
Universal Happiness?
The recently published Word Happiness Report 2016 reported that the top five happiest counties in the world were Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Finland. It also reported that when taking continents as a whole, there was a difference between the happiness...
I ‘Get’ To Smile
While reading Adrianna Huffington’s book Thrive, she described a very simple, yet effective task that resonated with me. She wrote about the way we interpret the things that we have to do and suggested that instead of thinking about them as tasks that we have to...
The Nurturing Power of Nature
Like nature itself, the health benefits gain when experiencing nature are infinite and wondrous. In his renowned study, View through a window may influence recovery from surgery, Roger Ulrich compared the medical records of two groups of patients who undergone gall...
What Winter Has To Offer
The challenges of winter Many people find the short, cold, dark days of January and February a challenge. This is hardly surprising as our body clocks are disrupted because our daily routines are not aligned with the natural daylight hours. Unlike our ancestors who...
A Year of Giving
Choosing presents In 2016, I would like to continue with one of the aspects of Christmas that I most enjoy. It is the choosing of presents, this makes me feel closer to friends and family when I’m not geographically close to them. It makes me smile when I find a...
The Positive Psychology People
As we start a New Year, it is an opportune time to take stock of where The Positive Psychology People has come from, where it currently is, and most excitingly, what the future has in store for this website.
Strengths in teaching
Strengths in teaching It is the end of another academic year, a time for reflection. What went well? What engaged and energised the students? What do I need to adapt, abandon, create? Why do I reflect on how energised students are? This is because it is a sign that...