Second wave positive psychology coaching with difficult emotions: Introducing the mnemonic of ‘TEARS HOPE’

Abstract

Although the Positive Psychology (PP) approach has only recently established itself as a specialism within coaching, there is already a fresh perspective beginning to take shape within the field. This second wave (Held, 2004, Lomas & Ivtzan, 2016) or PP2.0 (Wong, 2011) calls for us to embrace the dark sides along with the bright sides and to integrate the challenging and difficult aspects of human experience into our understanding of wellbeing and flourishing. The author welcomes this second wave (PP2), making an appeal for PP coaches to embrace the ‘bad’ along with the ‘good’. The current article recognises that PP2’s emphasis on the coexistence, compatibility and contextual nature of emotions can be extrapolated to carefully considered techniques used within coaching conversations. The variety of possible coaching approaches is summarised and discussed by introducing the acronym TEARS HOPE as a mnemonic and model for PP2 coaching with difficult emotions.