The Happiness Ripple
This five-week masterclass is for anyone interested in living well and creating positive change in their lives and relationships. Drawing on psychology, neuroscience and wellbeing research, the programme provides practical strategies to build resilience, optimism, confidence and meaningful connections.
No prior background is required, only a curiosity about personal growth and a desire to learn alongside a community of like-minded individuals. Rediscover the joy of learning while exploring how to flourish and live a life of greater purpose, wellbeing, and impact.
In partnership with
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The course comprises of one three-hour class a week, conducted over five weeks. By the end of the course, you should be able to:
- Understand yourself better: your virtues, personal narratives, biases and connections with others
- Get familiarised with self-assessment frameworks, techniques to combat negativity and reinforce good habits, as well as toolkits to better manage your thoughts and relationships
- Take action to improve your personal wellbeing with positive self-talk, learned optimism, intentional behaviour and deeper social connections
Find out more about the topics to be covered in each class below.
Thu, 8 Oct 2026, 9.00am–12.00pm
Values, strengths and a starting point
Few of us have been asked to describe what a good life would look like for us specifically. This session sets out what the science of wellbeing can and cannot offer, then covers the groundwork the rest of the programme rests on: identifying what you are good at and taking an honest reading of where you stand today.
Learning outcomes
- Describe what positive psychology sets out to do, and what it does not claim.
- Identify your signature strengths and the three values you are least willing to trade away.
- Record a HERO baseline to revisit in Week 5.
Thu, 15 Oct 2026, 9.00am–12.00pm
Efficacy and Hope
Confidence is not a fixed personality trait. It is built out of evidence, and it can be cultivated deliberately. The same applies to hope, which is less a feeling than a planning skill with an energy supply attached. The session ends with participants holding a plan specific enough to “fail” visibly, which is the only kind worth writing.
Learning outcomes
- Trace where your confidence in a particular area came from, using the four sources of self-efficacy.
- Retell a recent frustration in language that identifies what was, and was not, within your control.
- Write an if-then plan for one goal, including a response to the obstacle most likely to stop you.
Thu, 22 Oct 2026, 9.00am–12.00pm
Optimism and Resilience
Feeling positive on a good day is straightforward. The question is what happens on a difficult one. This session covers why the brain gives more weight to threat, the commentary people run about their own setbacks, and the difference between optimism that holds under pressure and cheerfulness that does not. Difficult emotions are treated as information rather than as a failure of attitude.
Learning outcomes
- Explain the negativity bias and identify where it is shaping your reading of a situation.
- Identify your explanatory style across permanence, pervasiveness and personalisation, and shift one dimension deliberately.
- Apply one reappraisal technique and one defusion technique to a current concern of your own.
Thu, 5 Nov 2026, 9.00am–12.00pm
Social capital and mindful connection
From this point the programme turns toward other people, since wellbeing that stops at the self is a limited return on five weeks. Trust and goodwill accumulate the way capital does, through many small deposits, and most people make those deposits without noticing. This session makes the process deliberate, and most of the time is spent practising.
Learning outcomes
- Explain how trust, shared norms and reciprocity accumulate into social capital, and identify where yours currently sits.
- Use open questions, affirmations, reflections and summaries (OARS) in a real conversation and receive specific feedback on it.
- Notice your attention leaving a conversation and mindfully return it.
Fri, 13 Nov 2026, 9.00am–12.00pm
Relationship science, giving and what you carry forward
Long-running research on couples produced a finding that applies to every relationship, not only romantic ones: small moments predict long-term outcomes more accurately than dramatic ones. The final session covers how connection is built, how it erodes, and how generosity functions over the long term. It closes by returning to the cards from Week 1.
Learning outcomes
- Recognise a bid for connection and choose your response rather than default into one.
- Name the four corrosive communication patterns and practise the antidote to each.
- Compare your HERO profile with your Week 1 baseline and commit to one specific next step.
Take a moment to find out more about the instructors who will be leading the classes.
Joanne is a Clinical Psychologist by trade and her experience stems from healthcare and higher education. Her teaching portfolio at NUS has spanned across the design and delivery of modules in clinical psychology, personal and interpersonal effectiveness skills, mental resilience, workplace wellbeing, and occupational psychosocial health. Joanne's current appointment at the unit of Health & Wellbeing, Office of the President, involves leading a team that designs and delivers customised corporate programmes and continuing education and training (CET) programmes. Her mission is to normalise conversations and mindsets about psychological wellbeing and resilience, to create more inclusive and compassionate workplaces.
As a Learning Consultant in the NUS Health & Wellbeing team, Katherine's goal is to help build more inclusive and safe workplaces where employees feel supported and can thrive to reach their fullest potential. With a background in organisational psychology and over 14 years of experience, she has managed, designed and implemented numerous workplace mental health programmes, frameworks and resources across the community and corporate sectors, in a multitude of industries.
To celebrate SCALE's 10th anniversary, we would like to offer learners access to programmes to broaden their perspectives and rekindle the joy of learning. Learners enjoy a special anniversary rate of $200 (before GST) for inaugural runs of courses in the Joy of Learning series, limited to availability of seats.
The Happiness Ripple Inaugural Run
Dates: Thu, 8 Oct 2026–Fri, 13 Nov 2026
Venue: Education Resource Centre, University Town, National University of Singapore
Click on the button below to find out more!
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