Laurie Santos, a psychology professor at Yale, created the online course – called “The Science of Wellness” – in 2018. It was launched in the same year as her face-to-face version of the course, “Psychology and the Good Life”, which attracted more 1,200 undergraduate students, or about one in four students on campus, in their first semester, according to a statement released by Yale.
Santos, who lived among the students as the head of Yale’s Silliman College, said the idea for the course came after she saw firsthand the increasing levels of depression and anxiety her students were experiencing.
“This is a really challenging time and it means that students need to learn new strategies to protect their mental health,” said Santos in the statement. “Our goal is to equip students with scientifically validated strategies to live a more satisfying life, while creating opportunities for low-income students and black students who demonstrate that they are ready for college.”
The course – which was developed in partnership with the University of Connecticut and the National Education Equity Lab with support from the Arthur M. Blank Foundation – will “present students with scientifically validated strategies for living a more satisfying life and examining what psychological science is. shows how to be happier, how to feel less stressed and how to flourish more, ”according to the university.
The first half of the course provides students with insights from psychology and neuroscience about what drives happiness. The second half of the course involves behavior change exercises designed to help reconnect the brain.
In March last year, Yale started offering the online version, “The Science of Well Being”, to the public for free on Coursera. To date, more than 3 million people have signed up for the course.
Santos is now taking the program to classrooms in more than 40 schools in 17 cities as of February 2.
The online course offered to high school students – for which Yale has not released a name – will be slightly modified from the original.
In addition to accessing the full course, students will also be supported by a local teacher at their high school and a Yale fellowship.
The news comes as many in the United States continue to struggle with their mental health. During the Covid-19 pandemic, one in six Americans started therapy for the first time and nearly 90% of people in the United States are experiencing one or more depressive symptoms, according to Vida Health and CNN.
If you are interested in taking “Psicologia e Vida Boa” to your school, visit the Santos website for more information.
CNN’s Ryan Prior contributed to this report.
