SOARING Into Strengths
Identify your signature strengths, learn to strength spot in others, and discover how to distinguish between a Growth Mindset and Fixed Mindset.
The SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Initiative
Soaringwords’ evidence-based SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing workshop series is designed specifically for Skilled Nursing communities and Assisted Living communities. Findings from the latest scientific studies show that when people can learn to take active roles in their self-healing, they can experience greater wellbeing. Each workshop is filled with practical tools and skills so participants enjoy immersive experiences as they discover their Strengths, experience micro-moments of Optimism, feel the benefit of giving and receiving kind acts of Altruism, and the power of Gratitude.
Soaringwords workshops bring the science of Positive Aging to the long-term community as the workshops are built on the solid foundation of Positive Psychology and Posttraumatic Growth.
This workshop series is designed for everyone in the constellation of care: residents, employees, and residents’ families in long-term care communities.
To date, Soaringwords has received CMPR funding from the Department of Health to implement the workshops in more than 100 skilled nursing organizations across New Jersey. At present, we are launching the initiative into 200 skilled nursing communities throughout Florida.
Here are the empirical results from 1,089 recent participants:
· 95% discovered, appreciated, and activated their strengths
· 93% learned and applied new skills to boost agency and resilience
· 91% experienced a heightened sense of community, connection, and belonging
This is a non-pharmacological intervention (NPI) to activate residents' wellbeing.
When residents feel seen, heard, and appreciated, it enhances wellbeing, amplifies a positive culture, and leads to better interactions with staff.
The Soaringwords workshops can be shared with all of the Skilled Nursing home and Assisted Living employees to bolster retention, motivation, and strengthen core skills. The workshops combat burnout, and amplify resilience, empathy, and hope leading to superior physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing. Compelling and accessible professional pre-recorded workshop videos are led by Life Enrichment Directors, Activities Directors, or Therapeutic Recreational Directors at Skilled Nursing communities or Assisted Living communities.
In addition, the workshops mitigate guilt and stress for family members as they learn core skills to build resilience, acceptance, and hope. Family participation reduces tension between family members and staff.
Each workshop in the SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing workshop series is highly interactive with immersive discussions based on Appreciative Inquiry prompts. The immersive workshop amplifies participants’ positive life experiences as they share about times in their lives where they already used these skills to persevere. When people are seen, heard, and appreciated it creates transformative growth and healing.
No other organization has synthesized such a wide array of relevant findings from wellbeing science into an award-winning, accessible workshop series. Soaringwords initiatives have been presented at 20 international scientific conferences. Recently, Soaringwords workshops have been presented at the Healthcare Association of New Jersey Spring Conference; at the annual LeadingAge New Jersey & Delaware Conference; as an inspirational keynote and one-hour workshop at the annual LeadingAge New York conference; and as a one-hour session at the LeadingAge National Conference. Lisa Buksbaum is honored to be the keynote speaker at the Florida Health Care Association's Nurse Leadership conference in May, 2026.
Here's a video of residents and staff who have benefited from the SOARING Into Strength workshop series.
In each workshop, residents watch a 20-25 minute video which has companion interactive Appreciative Inquiry prompts to help participants internalize core learnings through meaningful discussions with peers. This proven approach amplifies participants’ positive life experiences as they share about times in their lives where they already used these skills to persevere. At the end of each workshop, participants spend a little time creating a pay-it-forward expressive arts/writing project as a peak emotional experience, synthesizing what they learned in each module. Projects are donated to pediatric patients in local hospitals.
Participant wellbeing is measured using pre- and post-workshop surveys aligned with the SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Model. Soaringwords aggregates qualitative and quantitative results, which are shared in an Executive Summary.
Lisa Buksbaum is the host of each workshop video, leveraging her experience as Soaringwords’
CEO & Founder and bringing expertise as the immediate past president of the International Positive Psychology Association’s (IPPA) Positive Health & Wellbeing Division. Lisa is a graduate of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at The University of Pennsylvania under the direction of Dr. Martin Seligman, the founder of the field of Positive Psychology. Here is a link to her professional biography.
Overall, the SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Workshop series positively impacts the entire constellation of care and bolsters the wellbeing of the entire long-term care community.
The Soaringwords team is eager to inspire all of the residents and employees in your Skilled Nursing communities and Assisted Living communities to go from strength to strength as they experience greater resilience, agency, belonging, and hope by learning how to incorporate the latest Positive Psychology discoveries and insights to enhance their physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing.
Reach out to us to set up a phone call or zoom meeting to see how we can bring this award-winning initiative to your community.
5,000 Johnson & Johnson employees around the world participated in Soaringwords workshops.
Soaringwords workshops build core skills and create a sense of belonging among employees.
Residents, patients and clients love being part of Soaringwords workshops.
Each workshop features the latest scientific discoveries from internationally recognized Positive Psychology experts, including Dr. Richard Tedeschi, expert on post-traumatic growth; Dr. Angela Duckworth on resilience; Dr. Ryan Niemiec on character strengths; and Dr. Kristin Neff on self-compassion. Soaringwords CEO & Founder Lisa Honig Buksbaum hosts the workshops, guiding you through interactive exercise and opportunities to practice the learnings and new skills.
No other organization has synthesized such a wide array of relevant findings from wellbeing science into an award-winning, accessible workshop series.
Virtual or in-person workshops for thousands of participants
Opening session, European Conference on Positive Psychology 2022
Our offerings
Award-winning scientifically-based virtual workshops to enhance physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing
SOARING Into Optimism
Optimism is a choice. Learn how to cultivate an Optimistic Explanatory Style to experience more micro-moments of joy, self- compassion, and happiness.
SOARING Into Altruism
Enhance wellbeing by exploring how doing something kind without the expectation of receiving anything in return gives a powerful sense of meaning and confidence.
SOARING Into Resilience
Strengthen your mental agility, coping skills, and resilience by harnessing your inner resources during difficult times in order to bolster your ability to persevere. Learn how to activate the five factors of Posttraumatic Growth.
SOARING Into Healing Imagery
Tap into your inner knowledge and knowingness. Learn how to access internal clarity and guidance with powerful easy-to-use visualizations.
SOARING Into Positive Narrative
Learn how to become the hero of your life. Telling your story helps you better reflect your values and aspirations, providing structure, meaning, and hope, which leads to significant health benefits.
SOARING Into Gratitude
Gratitude is one of the most powerful positive emotions. Explore its benefits for your well-being, relationships, and community. Integrate four impactful gratitude exercises into your life and discover how to apply them effectively.
SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Scientific Model
All Soaringwords’ workshops and trainings are based on the SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing scientific model, which has been presented at 20 international scientific conferences. The award-winning model consists of seven foundational Positive Psychology principles:
SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Model
Strengths
Creating shifts in one’s mind, body, relationships, and overall wellbeing.
Optimism
Choosing to look towards the good, even when times are difficult or painful, with hopeful expectation that things will be good in the future.
Altruism
Building community by giving to others without expectation of return.
Resiliency
Bouncing forward through challenges.
Imagery
Connecting to your inner self through reflection.
Narrative
Sharing the power of positive storytelling.
Gratitude
Noticing and appreciating the good things in and around you.
Soaringwords’ unique approach was codified in 2013 as a new scientific model which has been tested among hundreds of patients in the U.S.
Pre- and post-workshop survey data for the SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing workshop series captures qualitative and quantitative shifts in wellbeing.
Shifts in participant wellbeing are measured through surveys based on the SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Model, designed by Dr. Margaret Kern, expert on wellbeing measurement creation.
A pre-program survey is given at the beginning of the workshop series. Participants complete surveys at the beginning and completion of each workshop, with a final survey given at the conclusion of the workshop series.
Soaringwords provides turn-key wellbeing solutions and programs for companies, educational institutions, and health care systems around the world.
This accessible, user-friendly platform has been embraced by companies and community organizations to benefit people at the most vulnerable times in their lives when they are grappling with a wide range of challenges.
Soaringwords is highly rated and benchmarked by several Fortune 50 companies and has completed successful initiatives for health care professionals and educators around the world.
The virtual workshops have created substantive change in communities including Silicon Valley, Tampa Bay, and Jersey City when Soaringwords was selected as the mental health component as part of the World Economic Forum's Healthy Cities Initiative launch.
150,000
professionals at Fortune 500 companies
Soaringwords’ award-winning employee-engagement initiatives have been shared with more than 150,000 professionals at Fortune 500 companies including Accenture, Meta, Google, JetBlue, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, Viacom, and Verizon.
Testimonials
SOARING into Strength: Silicon Valley Year-Long Initiative was launched in Silicon Valley in October 2020. Over the course of one year, 23 virtual workshops were shared with hundreds of participants. This is what participants had to say about the workshops.
Jersey City was the launch city for the World Economic Forum Healthy Cities Initiative. Soaringwords workshops were the mental health component. This is what Jersey City Health & Human Services Staff had to say about the workshops
Linda Ivory-Green, Director, Jersey City Division of Community Health and Wellness
My staff as health educators were able to build their capacity to engage the community on a more intimate level, more efficiently and effectively, while learning communication skills. They were better able to have self-confidence in going out and educating the community on all the various health issues Soaringwords workshops took the staff to a whole different level with self-confidence, building trust amongst themselves and within the groups.
Paul Bellan-Boyer, Director, Jersey City Division of Injury Prevention
We needed to work better as a team, to understand each other, communicate, and trust each other’s experience. We didn’t know that the Soaringwords trainings also would be a lot of fun. And we didn’t know that it was preparing us to respond to a mass shooting and that we were developing skills for a pandemic that would demand new levels of commitment, at the same time we needed new ways of working together to serve the residents of our beloved city.
Stacey Flanagan, Director, Jersey City Health and Human Services
In 2019, the city of Jersey City was selected as a pilot city for the World Economic Forum’s health cities and communities 2030 campaign. … We invited Soaringwords to be one of our partners in the effort so that we could continue to work on mental health together. Making sure that our staff really understands diversity and has a heightened level of cultural sensitivity, understanding, and competency is really at the forefront of our work around health... Read more
SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Workshop Series: Feedback from Residents and Staff in Skilled Nursing Communities, ,
Jersey City Health & Human Services Leadership Testimonials, ,
SOARING into Strength: Silicon Valley Year-Long Initiative, ,
SOARING into Strength: Silicon Valley Year-Long Initiative was launched in Silicon Valley in October 2020. Over the course of one year, 23 virtual workshops were shared with hundreds of participants. This is what participants had to say about the workshops.
SOARING into Strength: Jersey City Health & Human Services employee testimonials, ,
Jersey City was the launch city for the World Economic Forum Healthy Cities Initiative. Soaringwords workshops were the mental health component. This is what Jersey City Health & Human Services Staff had to say about the workshops
Linda Ivory-Green, Director, Jersey City Division of Community Health and Wellness
My staff as health educators were able to build their capacity to engage the community on a more intimate level, more efficiently and effectively, while learning communication skills. They were better able to have self-confidence in going out and educating the community on all the various health issues Soaringwords workshops took the staff to a whole different level with self-confidence, building trust amongst themselves and within the groups.
Paul Bellan-Boyer, Director, Jersey City Division of Injury Prevention
We needed to work better as a team, to understand each other, communicate, and trust each other’s experience. We didn’t know that the Soaringwords trainings also would be a lot of fun. And we didn’t know that it was preparing us to respond to a mass shooting and that we were developing skills for a pandemic that would demand new levels of commitment, at the same time we needed new ways of working together to serve the residents of our beloved city.
Stacey Flanagan, Director, Jersey City Health and Human Services
In 2019, the city of Jersey City was selected as a pilot city for the World Economic Forum’s health cities and communities 2030 campaign. … We invited Soaringwords to be one of our partners in the effort so that we could continue to work on mental health together. Making sure that our staff really understands diversity and has a heightened level of cultural sensitivity, understanding, and competency is really at the forefront of our work around health equity and social determinants. … We really embarked on a wonderful journey with Soaringwords, and our staff has really learned a lot about themselves and how they are part of the bigger concerning issue in the community. And, unless they are helping themselves, they are not able to help others, and so really doing some internal work with our leadership team so that they can be stronger.
Collaborate
Click here to view a PDF of the collaboration letter for:
Soaringwords has collaborated with Viacom since 2005
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