Explorers Sans Frontières (ESF)

1. Masters of Applied Positive Psychology Explorers Sans Frontières (ESF) MAPP702 Cohort 4 Service Learning Stephanie Marie Ramones, Jeremy MacLaren Kelly, Anna JaneenPesiridis, and Jorge Agarez Medeiros

2. Explorers Sans Frontières (ESF) • Philadelphia-based non-profit organization that serves populations domestically (in Philadelphia) and internationally (in Haiti, Jamaica, and Senegal) • Mission statement: • “to build cultural connections, one person and one community at a time, impacting our local and global communities”* 30-50 repeat volunteers, 75% of which have full-time jobs and families • Student-driven organization • Primarily Privately Funded Founder and president- ShontaD. Collins, RN, BSN, MBA Director of Student Outreach and Services- Lara Lechtenberg • *(Explorers Sans Frontières, 2010)

3. Explorers Sans Frontières (ESF) • One of over 50 non-profit organizations currently working on humanitarian relief projects in Haiti* • Reoriented toward rehabilitation, recovery, and sustainability. • Future aims to open a full-service, Haitian sustaining health clinic with full-time staff to continue services. • Haitians helping Haitians • ESF’s Haiti Project includes sending medical care staff to set up triage units in tent cities • Deploy teams made up of doctors, nurses, medical techs, pharmacist, and other non-medical personnel live in the tent cities with the local Haitians. • *(Charity Navigator, 2011)

4. Where Positive Psychology Could have Contributed? • Organizational Dynamics and Team Building in Volunteer Orientations Program • Life is good Playmakers- Haiti • Mental Health Relief • Resiliency training • Volunteers • Children • Appreciative Inquiry

5. ESF’s Volunteer Orientation Program • As it exists now, the orientation program consists of a • One-day, five-hour training session • Getting-to-know-you exercises • Administrative ESF forms • Presentations on Haiti • Packing lists • We have designed recommendations that fit within a 60-minute timeframe.

6. Building Team Cohesion Through Positive Emotion • Team building interventions were most effective when addressing affective and process components* • Waugh & Fredrickson (2006) suggest that positive emotions can lead to more positive social interactions. • Our strategy for developing group cohesion among the volunteers will involve cultivation of positive emotions during the time the group is together. *(Salas, DiazGranados, Weaver, & King, 2008)

7. Our Proposal to ESF Our mission is to provide the volunteers going to Haiti with an experience that leaves them feeling bonded and supported by their team and filled with positive emotion. • Adapted Best Possible Future Self • Positive Introductions • Brief Strengths Test* • Members Expertise • Journaling • Count your blessings • Gratitude *(Peterson, 2007)

8. Best Possible Future Mission and Best Possible Volunteer • Volunteers collaborate on collective vision of successful mission • Adapted from Best Possible Future Self* exercise for group level “To know the good is to do good” *(Lyubomirsky, 2007)

9. Best Possible Future Mission and Best Possible Volunteer • What personal goals did you achieve? • What group goals did we achieve? • What made us work well together as a group, in terms of behavior, attitude, etc.? • What made us work well with the Haitian support staff? • What made us work well with the Haitian community that we served? • What made our mission run smoothly? • How did we feel when we were in Haiti? • How did we feel when we left Haiti?

10. Positive Introductions-using Brief Strengths Test and Member Expertise • Create positive character references • Establish a tone of sincere and honest communication • Quickly forge strong social bonds (Peterson, 2006)

11. Positive Introductions Instructions • “During ESF’s Volunteer Orientation, you will have an opportunity to introduce yourself in a positive way to your ESF mission team. Your one-page writing assignment is to write a "positive introduction" to be read to the group. Please bring your write-up with you to orientation. You will receive more instruction at that time.To prepare your introduction, think of a time in your life when you were at your best.  It may have been in response to a particular challenge, or it may have been simply an initiative you took to make a good situation even better. Write the introduction as concretely as you can, allowing the facts of the story to demonstrate your strengths of character, and think of a powerful way to end it. Prior to preparing your positive introduction, please complete the Brief Strengths Test. This will enable you to highlight your signature strengths in your one-page write-up. I know this is an unusual exercise and that it may feel awkward at first.  (It may feel like bragging —something we’ve all been taught not to do!)  The more meaningful and authentic the experience you entrust to your team members, the deeper and richer will be the beginning of your work together.” (Adapted from Immersion Week Assignments at University of Pennsylvania’s MAPP Program, Fall 2010).

12. Brief Strengths Test • Character strength assessment prior to writing their positive introductions • Brief Strengths Test This would serve two purposes: • Identify and consider their signature strengths while writing their positive introductions • Common language for discussing character strengths, especially when they are providing positive feedback for positive introductions (Peterson, 2007)

13. Member Expertise • Promotes better* • Interpersonal understanding • Group decision-making • Team performance • Reflect on and share information regarding their: • Specialized knowledge • Skills • Abilities *(Bonner, Baumann, and Dalal, 2002; Stasser, Stewart, Wittenbaum, 1995).

14. Member Expertise- Skill List • I remain calm under pressure. • I regularly engage in complex negotiations. • I enjoy cooking and feel one of my greatest skills is organizing large meals. • I consider myself highly organized and enjoy creating order in an otherwise unordered environment. • I consider myself quite creative when it comes to solving highly complex problems. • I am great at math and finances. • I consider myself a highly effective and clear communicator. • I am great at turning thoughts into actions and am always excited to execute a plan. • I consider myself an effective teacher. • I am great at networking with diverse groups of people. • I know a lot about car maintenance. • I consider project planning one of my greatest abilities. • I am highly analytical and can sort through data easily. • I have a photographic memory. • I am quick to pick up new skills. • When I am charged with a task, I am diligent and focused about completing it.

15. Journaling • To help volunteers savor and reflect during their deployment • 20-minutes at the end of day writing about their positive experiences and completing the count your blessings exercise. • Blessings involving efforts of another team member will be encouraged.

16. Assessment • To assess state positive emotions, we propose using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule* • To detect changes in group cohesion, we suggest using an adapted version of the Group Environment Questionnaire**, a 10-item scale used commonly in workplace settings *(PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) **(GEQ; Carless and De Paola, 2000)

17. Group Environment Questionnaire

18. Conclusion • Ultimately, what our cohort wants to accomplish with ESF is to give their volunteers a little bit of “MAPP magic.” • We hope that the added value of positive psychology to ESF’s Volunteer Orientation Program will come in the form of great accomplishment and success on their mission trip to Haiti.

19. References Bonner, B. L., Baumann, M. R., & Dalal, R. S. (2002). The effects of member expertise on group decision-making and performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 88(2), 719-736. doi:10.1016/S0749-5978(02)00010-9 Carless, S. A., & De Paola, C. (2000). The measurement of cohesion in work teams. Small Group Research, 31, 71-88. doi: 10.1177/104649640003100104 Charity Navigator. (2011). In Help survivors of the earthquake in Haiti. Retrieved from http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=1004 Explorers Sans Frontières (ESF). (2010). Retrieved from http://explorerssf.org/ Lyubomirsky, S. (2007). The how of happiness: a new approach to getting the life you want. New York: Penguin Books. King, L.A. (2001). The health benefits of writing about life goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(7), 798-807. Peterson, C. (2006). A primer in positive psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. Peterson, C. (2007). Brief Strengths Test. Cincinnati: VIA Institute. Salas, E., DiazGranados, D., Weaver, S. J., & King, H. (2008). Does team training work? Principles for health care. Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, 15, 1002-1009. doi: 10.1111/j.1553-2712.2008.00254.x Seligman, M. E. P (2002). Authentic Happiness. New York: Simon and Schuster. Stasser, G., Stewart, D. D., and Wittenbaum, G. M. (1995). Expert roles and information exchange during discussion: the importance of knowing who knows what. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 31, 244–265. Waugh, C. E., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2006). Nice to know you: Positive emotions, self-other overlap, and complex understanding in the formation of a new relationship. Journal of Positive Psychology, 1(2), 93-106. Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1070

20. THANK YOU!