From the Chairman

VIA Intensives: Power Your Practice

By Neal H. Mayerson, Ph.D.
Chairman, VIA Institute on Character

Many people do not know that the name VIA was chosen by Marty Seligman and me partly because we envisioned that the organization would serve a bridging function between science and practice – a function that unfortunately is too frequently incomplete.  Phase 1 of VIA focused on creating the foundational tools for the science of character studies – namely the VIA Classification and its accompanying VIA Survey measurement instruments.  In addition to continuing the facilitation of the science, Phase 2 of VIA’s work involves providing guidance to practitioners regarding best practices in leveraging knowledge about character to promote desired outcomes.

We know that educators, organizational consultants, counselors/therapists, clergy, nurses, business managers, the military, and more, are all using the VIA Survey to help people better their lives.  The body of knowledge to guide practitioners is not readily accessible, as it is scattered to and fro in various journals, newsletters, forums, listservs, and personal communiqués in which practitioners report promising practices that they have tried and for which they have garnered anecdotal support. 

VIA has been expending diligent effort to search high and low to discover the most promising practices in character-based work.  Dr. Ryan Niemiec, VIA’s Director of Education, has been reading up on everything and talking with many, many field practitioners about their most promising practices.  He is taking this information and organizing it into a two-day workshop that any serious practitioner of positive psychology would find interesting.  The workshop also has never-seen video footage of major thought leaders in positive psychology talking about their research and the importance of character-based work.  The footage is riveting and provides insights that only personal conversation can reveal.  The workshop also presents interesting data on signature strengths that have not yet been published in journals.

The VIA Intensives are designed with input from professionals in adult learning, thereby ensuring the kind of chunking of information, pacing and interactive experience that optimizes learning. 

Knowledge of character strengths is a key that can unlock human potential.  As David Cooperrider says, it is a language and science that gives “life force,” enlivening people in the work they do, the relationships they have, and the meaning they derive from their lives.  As Marty Seligman and Chris Peterson have pointed out, knowledge and application of character strengths is an important pathway toward life satisfaction, health, and optimal performance.

VIA is privileged to have the opportunity to do the extensive work necessary to put together a workshop like this.  And we are thrilled to begin presenting it to the many of you who are out there using the VIA in your work with yourself and others.

Editor’s note: This fall’s VIA Intensives will be held in Chicago on Sept. 24-26; Washington, DC on Oct. 22-24; Melbourne, Australia on Nov. 26-28; and Sydney, Australia on Dec. 3-5. Register now for Chicago.