Early adulthood is a period of rapid personal development, during which individuals experience profound changes in their social and physical environments, such as moving out of their family home, transitioning from high school to college, and beginning full-time employment. These transitions may coincide with new stressors or traumatic events, which can disorient a young person’s sense of self and undermine their overall well-being. Pennebaker and others have found that expressive writing about a stressful event for 20 minutes a day for several days has many beneficial consequences for emotional, psychological, and physiological health, particularly when individuals can construct a coherent narrative that makes meaning out of a negative life event (Smyth, True, & Souto, 2001).  

MyHero is a group-format, strengths-based expressive writing intervention designed to promote resilience and post-traumatic growth in young adults. Drawing on four areas of research (positive psychology, future-directed thinking (e.g., prospection, goal setting, hope), meaning-making, narrative therapy), MyHero utilizes the graphic novel format and the 12-stages of Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” to offer participants a structured context for making meaning of their struggles and constructing a coherent narrative.  The objective of this presentation is to provide the theoretical foundation, development, and application of the MyHero intervention in Positive Psychology classes at the University of New Mexico and to outline directions for future feasibility and effectiveness research with diverse populations.