The Healing Power of Positive Narrative and Appreciative Inquiry: Soaringwords’ Case Studies, Enhancing Health Equity and Wellbeing

The Healing Power of Positive Narrative and Appreciative Inquiry: Soaringwords’ Case Studies, Enhancing Health Equity and Wellbeing

The Healing Power of Positive Narrative and Appreciative Inquiry: Soaringwords’ Case Studies, Enhancing Health Equity and Wellbeing (#222)

Lisa H. Buksbaum ¹ , Julie Haizlip ² ³ ⁴

CEO & Founder, Soaringwords, Soaringwords, New York, United States
Center for Appreciative Practice, UVA, Director, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
UVA School of Medicine, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
UVA School of Nursing, Clinical Professor of Nursing, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States

Background

With the proliferation of social justice movements globally, Positive Psychology practitioners are poised to help marginalized communities experiencing health inequity to find and use their voices to experience greater physical, emotional, and mental health. This presentation shares how positive narrative and appreciative inquiry impact overall well-being. Participants will have an immersive how-to training experience using empirically valid, award-winning expressive projects. Additionally, 23 virtual/in-person positive health workshops have been shared in hospital, clinical, educational, and corporate settings with 500,000+ people.

Aims

This presentation provides a strong conceptual overview of the benefits of positive narrative and appreciative inquiry, bolstered by immersive activities for participants to experience well-being shifts. This workshop is relevant for professionals in health care, clinical, corporate/organizational, educational, and coaching seeking to enhance well-being personally and for the constituencies they serve.

Method

Since 2000, Soaringwords has shared hands-on expressive activities and appreciative inquiry interventions with diverse populations worldwide. Thousands of people created thematic messages/artwork to donate to hospitalized children. Pre- and post-activity surveys created by Dr. Margaret Kern, renowned researcher in health outcome scales, measure shifts in well-being.

Results

100% of participants reported looking forward to creating their pay-it-forward activity and 86% reported they felt more in touch with their values afterward. (Source: Tampa, Florida, 2021 initiative). 86% of participants reported decreased worry, 75% increased joy, 57% increased pride, and 41% increased gratitude after a Soaringwords intervention. (Source: Silicon Valley year-long initiative, 2020-2021).

Conclusion

When Positive Psychology practitioners access the benefits of positive narrative and appreciative inquiry, it can enhance the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of themselves and the constituencies they serve in health care, clinical, educational, corporate/organizational, and coaching domains. Empirical findings show enhanced resilience, agency, and overall health across cultures and countries. These findings are especially relevant as COVID amplified health inequity among marginalized communities. This model is scalable and replicable for IPPA members to bring to communities worldwide.

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Authors contributing to this presentation.

Buksbaum, L.H

Lisa Honig Buksbaum, MAPP, MBA CEO & Founder, Soaringwords Professional Speaker Biography Lisa Honig Buksbaum is a passionary: a visionary driven by great passion and action. An intuitive healer, well-loved inspirational speaker, workshop leader and facilitator, Lisa has shared her wisdom with thousands of people throughout the world. Three experiences with death and illness in her family during a ten-month period motivated her to launch Soaringwords, a not-for-profit organization she founded to inspire ill children, families, adults, and healthcare professionals to take active roles in self-healing. Since 2001, Lisa has shared Soaringwords’ SOARING into Strength Positive Health Initiatives with more than 500,000 people. She’s been featured as an expert on ABC News, Fortune Small Business, USA Today, Delta Sky Magazine, and CEO to Watch in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Lisa graduated with honors from The University of Pennsylvania; holds an MBA in Marketing from Columbia University Graduate School of Business; and a Masters of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) from The University of Pennsylvania. She has a certificate in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and a certificate from the American Institute for Mental Imagery. Lisa has been a keynote speaker, moderator, and panelist at dozens of professional and scientific conferences including the International Positive Psychology Association (2019, 2015, 2013), European Positive Psychology Conference (2018, 2016, 2014), Canadian Positive Psychology Conference (2018, 2016, 2014), and International Positive Education Network (2018, 2016). Lisa has led workshops as a scholar in residence and at grand rounds at leading universities, medical schools and nursing schools, including University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, UVA School of Medicine & UVA School of Nursing, NYU, Columbia University, Tecmilienio University in Mexico, and Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. She has spoken at Advertising Women of New York, 100 Women in Hedge Funds, MGM Grand Women of Color Conference, and Working Mother Media Diversity & Inclusion Conference. She has led professional development workshops at dozens of Fortune 50 companies such as Accenture, Cigna, Cisco, Eli Lilly, Facebook, Google, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, New York Life, SONY, Verizon, and Viacom. Lisa lives in New York City with her husband, Jacob. Her pride and joy are her two grown sons, Jonathan and Joshua, daughter-in-law Evelyn, and delicious grandbaby Charlotte. She gets her energy from swimming each day and connecting with people in meaningful ways. Soaringwords’ SOARING into Strength Positive Health Initiative is delivered through 24 virtual workshops embedded with customized video content from leading Positive Psychology practitioners anchored with several empirically-valid behavioral exercises. The SOARING into Strength Initiative has been chosen as the mental health component for the global pilot launch of the World Economic Forum’s Healthy Cities and Communities Initiative. The SOARING into Strength initiative has been launched in Jersey City, Silicon Valley, Tampa, and the State of New Jersey. SOARING into Strength Scientific Model: After inspiring thousands of children to take active roles in their own healing in 196 hospitals around the world, Soaringwords codified its unique approach into a scientific prototype called the SOARING into Strength positive health model to enhance the well-being of ill children, families and adults grappling with challenges and trauma. The model stands for Shifting, Optimism, Altruism, Resilience, Imagery, Narrative, & Gratitude based on seven empirically- valid Positive Psychology components. To date, the SOARING into Strength model provides globally-replicable interventions that result in a positive elevation in mental, physical, and emotional health to accelerate transformative healing for thousands of children, families and healthcare professionals.

The Healing Power of Positive Narrative and Appreciative Inquiry: Soaringwords’ Case Studies, Enhancing Health Equity and Wellbeing (#222)

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Buksbaum, L.H

Haizlip, J

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