School of Thought 

Focussing on the strengths of our children

Natalie Brook & Rosemary Saxon

Professor Lea Waters, PhD, is a psychologist, researcher, speaker and author. She’s one of the world’s leading experts on Positive Education, Positive Organisations, and Strength-Based Parenting and Teaching. She helps organisations, educators and parents around the world build resilience in their employees and children, helping them to thrive. She is the author of The Strength Switch.

The book and program, suitable for parents, teachers, school counsellors, mental health practitioners working with young people and families, combines Lea's research on strength-based parenting and positive education together with three decades of research from strength-based science and positive psychology.

Parents often spend more time trying to fix children’s weaknesses than helping to grow their strengths.  Both are important but because our brains are wired to focus on negative things we often miss seeing strengths. 

Professor Waters’ research shows that when we take a moment to turn on our “strengths switch” everyone benefits.   Parents and children feel more confident, have more positive emotions and it helps children cope better with stress and reduces problems like depression and anxiety. 

If you would like more information about becoming a strengths-based parent you can check out Lea’s website: www.strengthswitch.com for descriptions of strengths, strengths-based games, quizzes, videos and more.