Laurie Santos, professor of psychology at Yale, created the online course – titled “The Science of Wellness” – in 2018. It was introduced the same year as her in-person version of the course, “Psychology and the Good Life. “, which attracted more than 1,200 undergraduates, or about one in four students to campus, during its first semester, according to a statement released by Yale.
Santos, who lived among the students heading Silliman College at Yale, said the idea for the course came to him after seeing firsthand the increasing levels of depression and anxiety his students were experiencing.
“It’s a really tough time, and it means students have to learn new strategies to protect their mental health,” Santos said in the statement. “Our goal is to equip students with scientifically validated strategies to lead more fulfilling lives, while creating opportunities for low-income students and highly energetic students of color to demonstrate their readiness 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 introduce students to scientifically validated strategies for living more fulfilling lives and examine what ‘is psychological science shows how to be happier, how to feel less stressed and how to thrive more, ”according to the university.
The first half of the course provides students with insight from psychology and neuroscience into what drives happiness. The second half of the course includes behavior change exercises designed to help rewire the brain.
In March of last year, Yale began making the “Science of Wellbeing” online version available to the public for free on Coursera. To date, over 3 million people have registered for the course.
Santos is now bringing the program to classrooms in more than 40 schools in 17 cities starting February 2.
The online course offered to high school students – for which Yale has not published a name – will be slightly modified from the original.
In addition to having access to the full course, students will also be supported by a local teacher from their high school and a teacher from Yale.
The news comes as many people in the United States continue to struggle with their mental health. During the Covid-19 pandemic, one in six Americans has started treatment for the first time and nearly 90% of people in the United States have one or more symptoms of depression, according to Vida Health and CNN.
If you are interested in bringing “Psychology and the Good Life” to your school, visit the Santos website for more information.
Ryan Prior of CNN contributed to this report.
