ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how to combine insights from the science of wellbeing and positive psychology with coaching, to help coaches become as effective as possible in helping their clients take steps to protect and improve their wellbeing. It uses the term coaching to describe a very specific process that is different from teaching, mentoring, and instruction. Wellbeing coaching is a Socratic intervention focused on enhancing self-awareness and personal responsibility, with the medium to long-term goal of facilitating behavioral change for improved health and wellbeing outcomes. Unlike for some comparable interventions, research on coaching has been relatively slow to develop. The chapter explores how practitioners might best draw on the wealth of research from humanistic and positive psychology traditions to help them both think about and apply coaching practice to the issue of wellbeing at work. Strengths work might also help increase a person's engagement with life.
