The science of giving: Dr Sara Spowart on how acts of kindness and compassion improve mental health, happiness, self-esteem, and fulfillment
Dr Sara Spowart is the founder of Compassion-Based Happiness, LLC, the creator of Happiness-Based Mindfulness, the author of You Are Love, and the show host for the Happiness Learned podcast. She has also published multiple academic articles and book chapters, including A Path to Happiness, where she proposes the ‘Integrative Theory of Happiness.’ Dr Spowart’s therapy practice is focused on creating individualized peace, happiness, fulfillment, and compassion programs for her clients. She has done between 13,000-15,000 hours of therapy sessions with clients. In these sessions, she applies compassion, empathy, strength-building, mindfulness, hypnotherapy, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, EMDR, Narrative Therapy, and Safe and Sound Protocol techniques. She creates personalized happiness and compassion-based plans to help clients heal from the cycles they feel stuck in.
Dr Sara Spowart is a mindfulness expert and completed her PhD with a concentration on mindfulness meditation. She is finishing her second doctorate with a focus on happiness and creating a six-week happiness improvement course titled ‘Happiness- Based Mindfulness.’ She is also completing a third master’s degree in the new field of Happiness Studies. She is a clinical hypnotherapist, a Reiki master, and a 200-hour yoga instructor. She finds the greatest positive impact by providing traditional one-hour therapy sessions and two-to-three-hour therapy intensives.
How Dr Spowart supports her clients and the wider academic community
Dr Spowart’s approach is one of service, and she tries to work with as many clients as possible in an effort to increase compassion and happiness and decrease others’ suffering; she is working to create a ripple effect of happiness and kindness in the world, one person at a time. She works with a range of issues, including more severe situations that involve suicidal ideation, personality disorders, trauma, and PTSD. She has 13 years of university-level teaching experience as both an undergraduate and graduate- level instructor and a research instructor. She has taught for the University of South Florida, the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, the California State University of Monterey Bay, and New York University. She created coursework for the University of South Florida, the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and Carnegie Mellon University. Dr Spowart has written hundreds of pages of coursework for Carnegie Mellon University for a graduate-level global health book and course. She has published multiple book chapters on global sexual violence, human trafficking, happiness, community work, microfinance, psychoeducation, and mental health through multiple publication outlets. She also serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Mind Blossom mental health non-profit organization and as an advisor and advocate for community service organizations in Mali, Tanzania, and Afghanistan.
Dr Sara Spowart is the sole editor for the upcoming book titled Advances in the Psychology of Well-Being, to be published by IntechOpen Access, as well as the sole editor for the new book Global Happiness and Humanitarian Assistance: Systemic Solutions by Springer Nature Publishing. She is also the author of Handbook of Global Mental Health. She has been featured in multiple magazines for her work with compassion, happiness, and advocacy, encouraging the importance of being in service to others.
image: © Compassion-Based Happiness, LLC
Happiness-Based Mindfulness program
In her specialty of happiness work, she applies ‘Happiness-Based Mindfulness’ and the ‘Integrative Theory of Happiness.’ ‘Happiness-Based Mindfulness’ is offered as short workshops across six or 12 weeks. It is adapted for trauma and humanitarian situations and has a more general and standardized format. It can be provided on a 1-1 individual basis as well as in group form, both in-person or online. This program is based on the ‘Integrative Theory of Happiness,’ created by Dr Sara Spowart. In the ‘Integrative Theory of Happiness,’ happiness is viewed as largely a subjective experience, and aspects of individual life satisfaction and wellbeing may change throughout the lifespan. This is an adaptable framework that can be adjusted throughout the life course.
Key elements of the Integrative Theory of Happiness include gratitude, compassion, acceptance, and empathy in conjunction with authentic connection and regular improvement of small things in one’s life. By noticing small ways to improve gratitude, compassion, acceptance, empathy, and authentic connection throughout our day and every day, Dr Sara Spowart believes we can alter step by step our levels of happiness. It is not the big things that create happiness in our lives; rather, it is the small things, every day, that are applied with compassion, mindfulness, and self-awareness that lead to happiness that is experienced physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually, and mentally.
Dr Sara Spowart created the Happiness-Based Mindfulness program as an application of the Integrative Theory of Happiness. Some key components of this program provided include ‘The Emotion Chart’ and ‘The Identity Layers.’ These are applied self-awareness and mindfulness tools that lead to increased positive shifts in happiness over time. However, the 12-week Happiness-Based Mindfulness format includes many other tools and a section titled the ‘ABCs of Happiness.’
Happiness can be learned and improved throughout one’s lifespan. It does not require attaining great status, wealth, exterior factors, or certain achievements. Rather, it comes through 1) authentic connection, 2) small intentional efforts made every day, 3) mindful self-awareness, and 4) acts of compassion, kindness, and service made for yourself and others.
