Interest in how to measure well-being and positive mental health outcomes has grown over the years. While a variety of measures have developed, such as grit, hardiness, and resilience, a central theory that crosses over well-being concepts still needs to emerge.

Alongside the need for a psychological theory that can explain the breadth of outcomes found in mental health research, positive psychology has articulated a philosophical stance that something is already in existence, that everyone has—some internal, integral, or natural essence—that can help each of us.

In addition, a practitioner community of like-minded thinkers has developed out of the work of a spiritual philosopher, Sydney Banks. These therapists, mentors, facilitators and consultants believes in the human capacity for optimal learning and development and call it innate health.

What's needed now is a way to measure and investigate this theory and test its relationships. Read more about innate health testing in our preprint!

Our measure, originally designed for adults, is now being used across our projects and adapted for adolescents, enhancing its versatility and application. Creating a norm-referenced score will also increase the measure’s credibility and applicability. We are developing this measure into easy-to-use tools that serve a range of different partners and purposes.

Read more about how the innate health measurement project works.