Professionals Working with Youth: Inspire Children to Celebrate Their Unique Gifts
Character strengths are pathways to greater self-awareness and confidence
When you notice and appreciate character strengths in children you are helping them explore and cultivate the positive qualities that come most naturally to them. They are encouraged and motivated to use their top strengths because those are the strengths that make them feel energized and authentic. We have a variety of videos, articles and resources to help you bring out the best in children and teens.
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Resources for All Strengths-based Pros
Books
Social Workers & Therapists
At a very young age, children show their top strengths in their behaviors, actions and speech; and every child has a unique arrangement of strengths. What may be a simple, everyday act to one child might be a significant display of bravery for another. As you work with children and youth, it's important that you have the tools you need to help them appreciate the best parts of their personality.
The VIA character strengths provide you with a language that can help your youth clients understand what strengths make them feel authentic. As you get to know them, focus on the strengths they bring forth in their daily actions and explore ways they can use their strengths more often.
Mentors
For many kids, the adolescent years are tough. School, social and family pressures and challenges can arise during early, formative years and greatly impact development. Strong mentors can be positive role models that help children discover their strengths and explore ways they can use those strengths to re-frame negative situations.
As a mentor, you can help youth find greater self-confidence in their uniqueness. The VIA Youth Survey identifies the child's top strengths so you can guide them in a way that feels natural to them.
Educators
For as long as there have been schools, there has been discussion about the role of schools in creating an environment to promote positive character development. However, educators have a lot to manage and often report feeling disengaged from their work. How can educators create a culture that promotes character development and student engagement when they are actively disengaged themselves?
Focusing on character strengths has been shown to lower levels of stress and improve workplace engagement. Creating a more positive classroom culture begins by knowing your character strengths and exploring ways you can bring them forth more in your daily interactions with your students.
The Science Says
Emerging research shows character strengths-based interventions increase student achievement, engagement and well-being.
