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Read the detailed description of Quest's Summer Camp information!

The Happiness Advantage

In recent years, there has been a much larger focus on happiness and positive psychology as opposed to negative aspects of mood and mental illness. In his book, The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor, discusses some of the latest research and strategies that can be used to boost happiness. A meta-analysis of happiness research of over 200 scientific studies on nearly 275,000 people that found that, “happiness leads to success in nearly every domain of our lives, including marriage, health, friendship, community involvement, creativity, and in particular our jobs, careers, and businesses [1].”

To me, the really exciting part about some of this happiness research is that it fits with positive ways that people can make changes, impact their lives and others, and that even for people who don’t naturally start out as more happy, they can learn skills to alter mindset and change their brains–As we talk about at Quest, this is neuroplasticity in action, where our brains are bendable and always capable of growing and changing.

Achor provides several tips and strategies based on the scientific research to improve happiness including:
1.  Find Something to Look Forward to–Anticipation is a key component so just by thinking about something you enjoy such as a favorite movie or an upcoming vacation or event can boost happiness.  One cool finding is that anticipating future rewards can actually light up the pleasure centers in the brain as much as the actual reward.
2.  Commit Conscious Acts of Kindness–A study of over 2,000 people has shown that acts of altruism (giving to friends and strangers alike) decrease stress and strongly contribute to enhanced mental health.  Achor also cites how when people complete five acts of kindness in a day they report feeling happier than controls and this feeling lasts for many days.  Of note, for these things to count as acts of kindness and have a positive effect they need to be done “deliberately and consciously,” (not just thought about after the fact).
3. Infuse Positivity Into Your Surroundings–It is important to pay attention to your surroundings and have positive things in your environment such as pictures of loved ones or of good memories.  Getting outside in nice weather and taking a real lunch break are also known to boost mood and productivity.
4.  Spend Money (but Not on Stuff)–Achor states “contrary to the popular saying, money can buy happiness, but only if used to do things as opposed to simply have things.” Engaging in spending for activities or in “prosocial spending” in which you spend money on others can also be helpful to boost mood.
5.  Exercise a Signature Strength–Achor reports that every time we utilize a skill we experience a burst of positivity.  Achor recommends revisiting a talent that hasn’t been used in a while or using a top character strength since this can often boost mood.
[1] Achor, S. The Happiness Advantage: The seven principles of positive psychology that fuel success and performance at work. 2010 ebook www.crownpublishing.com

UPCOMING PROGRAMMING

School Year Programming

School year therapy groups are ten-week afternoon therapeutic groups that are designed to provide therapy by specifically targeting individualized goals for our campers.

A minimum of one hour includes therapeutic activities that heavily target the development of social skills, emotion regulation, and positive behaviors, while the next hour focuses on further skill development by providing a variety of experiential activities as part of a group to create opportunities to observe the child in a natural setting and intervene to facilitate change. Some quarters provide a special emphasis to improve skills, while other quarters have a more general offering based on the campers’ interests and often include programming in areas such as video game making, drama, art, movie making, etc.

Winter Group Dates are:
January 4th – March 8th
Wednesday Evenings 5:30 to 7:30
at the Central Library in Huntington Beach

Summer Programming

Quest’s intensive summer program offers 7 weeks of programming (6 weeks of day camp and 1 week of residential). The summer program includes individualized behavior plans, group therapy, occupational therapy, a social thinking curriculum, mindfulness activities, yoga, soccer, games in the park, and field trips (beach, boomers, rock climbing, ropes course, bowling, etc.) to create a fun and engaging, therapeutic camp experience for children.

Weekly parent meetings are also included. The summer program has been found across multiple studies to significantly reduce hyperactivity, impulsivity, aggression, and inattention, while improving peer relations, family relations, athletic competency, behavioral control and self-esteem. Quest has also been found to improve social awareness, social cognition, social communication, and social problems.

Summer Camp Dates are:
June 25 through August 9th