Gabrielle Kelly
Wellbeing and Resilience Centre, Australia
Title: South Australia - Building the State of Wellbeing: How grit and determination are transforming the vision into reality
Biography
Biography: Gabrielle Kelly
Abstract
South Australia has launched an ambitious project to systematically measure and build the wellbeing of its population. Following Professor Martin Seligman’s residency in South Australia and his challenge to the Premier, the Wellbeing and Resilience Centre is creating affordable, scalable positive psychology tools and interventions for individuals, community groups, and organisations, across a range of sectors and industries. In this Symposium, the Director of the Wellbeing and Resilience Centre, Gabrielle Kelly, will outline the systematic (and Herculean) approach to achieving a ‘State of Wellbeing’. She tells how the Wellbeing and Resilience Centre is setting in motion universal measurement, scale training and education, and accessible positive psychology interventions for broad use in the public and private sector and in cohorts including school students, disadvantaged youth, unemployed people, volunteers, cancer survivors, parents of premature babies, and older citizens. Taking a "velvet lasso" approach to align statewide collaborative efforts, a determined approach to rolling out measurement and intervention projects across many sectors in parallel, the State of Wellbeing agenda has solid traction and the strategic and political force to drive it forward. Supported by state government and the political opposition, philanthropy, and organisations, the Centre is researching and creating new knowledge about building wellbeing at scale in a democracy. It will build South Australia’s mental health assets, and create the intellectual and research capital for a vibrant wellbeing and resilience products and services industry in Australia.