Exploring What Matters course AfH activities include running 8-week "Exploring What Matters" courses, which have been organized by volunteers at over 250 places around the world and have been "wholeheartedly supported" by the
Dalai Lama. The course brings like-minded people together to learn how to increase their own happiness and the happiness of people around them. Participants learn from experts through videos, exercises and a course handbook. They also join in group discussions and are given actions they can take to increase happiness. In 2020 the Exploring What Matters Course was evaluated by a full
Randomised Control Trial (RCT) carried out by academic experts from the
Centre for Economic Performance at the
London School of Economics, the Wellbeing Research Centre at the
University of Oxford and
University College London as part of the evidence programme of the What Works Centre for Wellbeing. The RCT course evaluation found that, relative to a control group, the course provides large and statistically significant benefits in three areas: personal wellbeing, mental health and pro-sociality. Participants in the course showed improvements in subjective wellbeing, reductions in symptoms of depression and anxiety and enhanced levels of compassion and social trust. In terms of personal wellbeing, Life Satisfaction increases by around one whole point on the 0-10 scale, from an average of 6.4 out of 10 before the course to 7.4 after the course. This increase (+1.0) is greater than those from other major life events such as being partnered as opposed to single (+0.59) or being employed as opposed to unemployed (+0.7), when compared with findings from other cross-sectional studies of wellbeing in the UK. In terms of mental health, the trial found the course significantly decreased depression by about 50% of a standard deviation, and decreased anxiety by 42%. Prior to the course, participants reported average scores corresponding to a clinical symptomatology of mild depression and anxiety. After the course, these scores reduced to a symptomatology of minimal depression and anxiety, the lowest category for both measures. In terms of pro-sociality, the trial found that participating in the course can make participants more likely to act in ways which help others, with large and statistically significant increases in levels of compassion and social trust. The course evaluation was covered by
The Guardian newspaper and featured on the
BBC News at Ten.
Action for Happiness app In 2019 AfH released The Action for Happiness app for iOS and Android. The app is based on the themes and daily actions from the monthly calendars. The app sends a daily action each morning and an inspiring message towards the end of the day.
Happy Cafes AfH coordinates a network of "Happy Cafes" across the UK and around the world. Happy Cafes are "a friendly and welcoming place to meet other people with a shared interest in promoting happiness and wellbeing". Happy Cafés have a range of literature, posters, pamphlets and postcards relating to happiness on display—and Action for Happiness supporters can identify themselves to each other by wearing a lapel badge available at the Café.
Public events with expert speakers AfH runs monthly events in London with expert speakers from around the world presenting on themes related to happiness. An archive of the public talks including sessions with
Thupten Jinpa, Dr
Kristin Neff, Dr Ranjan Chattergee,
Andy Puddicombe,
Jeff Sachs, Dr Maria Sidios,
Martin Seligman,
Matthieu Ricard,
Claudia Hammond,
Mo Gawdat and
Jon Kabat-Zinn are available on the charity's YouTube channel. ==Board and expert advisors==