Conversation Hour Presentation 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

Ethical Guidelines for Positive Psychology Practice (#38)

Aaron Jarden 1 , Tim Lomas 2 , Tayyab Rashid 3 , Annalise Roache 4
  1. University of Melbourne, Carlton, Melbourne, VICTORIA, Australia
  2. Psychology, University of East London, London, United Kingdom
  3. Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Canada
  4. Psychology, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

Positive psychology is beginning to function as a distinct discipline, with people/professionals self-identifying as “positive psychologists.” Thus, this conversation hour explores a set of professional (e.g., ethical) guidelines to inform the practice of positive psychology. These guidelines cover aspects such as who has the ‘right’ to practice positive psychology, and how best practice can be supported and upheld. Throughout we focus specifically on the development of ethical protocols, drawing on guidelines in counselling, coaching, health related fields, and psychotherapy. This conversation hour will be used as a starting point for a discussion, in which the various panel members – which together have a range of perspectives on the issues in question – can debate/discuss these timely and important issues. After presentation of the guidelines, the discussion shall also be opened up, allowing for questions, and interaction with the audience. As such, we hope that the discussion hour as a whole integrates numerous perspectives and advance discourse within the field around issue of ethical practice of positive psychology, thus helping positive psychology to develop further over the years ahead.