During 2008-9 Miriam ran the UK’s first ever study of an application of positive psychology to vulnerable adolescents with issues of alcohol and drug misuse. It was an example of how positive psychology can be used to promote positive youth development with even the most disaffected of young people.

The study was hosted by In-Volve an alcohol & drug treatment service for young people and was funded by the Alcohol Education Research Council (AERC). The programme set a precedent in using a health model approach to ‘at risk’ adolescents with coaching as a tool rather than the usual treatment based on the disease model. Miriam developed a programme of 8 sessions based on the main themes from positive psychology. The young participants, most of whom were binge-drinking teenagers and NEETs (not in education, employment or training), attended a weekly session and were followed up 6 and 12 weeks after completion of the programme.

The results themselves were very positive with increases across four dimensions of well-being – hedonic, eudaimonic, physical and social-wellbeing and a significant decrease in alcohol dependence. Many of the participants described the programme as ‘life-changing’ and there was evidence of transformation both internally in mindsets and externally in circumstances. The study shows that positive psychology can be used with vulnerable and disaffected young people, who’ve moved beyond the risk into the reality of social, educational and health problems.