Thriving in Action

The Practice: Developed by Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), Thriving in Action (TiA) is an upstream, early alert program for equity-deserving students who struggle academically and personally. This 10-week program equips students with thriving and learning strategies and incorporates mindful movement, meditation, and writing prompts to build personal and academic self-efficacy and connection. It is designed to prevent distress, support academic retention, and increase a sense of belonging. Thriving in Action has been taught to 850 post-secondary professionals across Canada and the US, with many post-secondary institutions implementing the program.

The Evidence: A pre-post evaluation done between 2017-2019 at TMU found statistically significant improvement in students’ mental health, using the following self-reported measures: the OQ45 (patient-reported outcome measure), Thriving Quotient, and General Self-Efficacy Scale. Results on the OQ45 showed a statistically significant improvement in students’ mental health. At pre-TiA, 70% of students reported being in distress. Of the students that were in distress pre-TiA, 70% scored below the cutoff (i.e., no longer in distress) at post-TiA. Results from the Thriving Quotient demonstrated increased optimism, belonging, perseverance, hopefulness, and vitality/health, and results from the GSES showed an increase in general self-efficacy. TiA has been implemented and adapted by various post-secondary institutions in Canada including the University of Windsor, McGill University, Concordia University, Wilfred Laurier University, Centennial College, Sheridan College, Kwantlen Polytechnic and Mt St. Vincent University. Some of these institutions have completed their own program evaluation for their adaptations of TiA, demonstrating positive results.

Practice Category: Best

Health Equity Icon: Yes

Resources: 

Thriving in Action Website
Cultivate Your Happiness Workbook 2nd Edition(PDF)
Cultivate Your Happiness: Facilitators Resource Manual (PDF)
Thriving in Action Training Manual 2nd Edition (PDF)

Please reach out to Diana Brecher at dbrecher@torontomu.ca for permission to use these resources.

If you are interested in delivering and evaluating this practice at your campus, please contact: thrivinginaction@torontomu.ca