Editorial: From positive autoethnography to success and meaning
| Date | 22 January 2025 |
| Pages | 1-2 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-01-2025-228 |
| Published date | 22 January 2025 |
| Author | Jerome Carson,Julie Prescott |
Editorial: From positive autoethnography
to success and meaning
Jerome Carson and Julie Prescott
Welcome to the first issue of Mental Health and Social Inclusion for 2025. Our last
two issues of 2024 were “bumper issues”. This year we are moving from eight
papers per issue to 10. When Julie and I took over the editorship of MHSI, we had
four issues, each with eight papers. The journal is continuing to grow, and this year we will
publish 60 papers in regular issues. The numbers of papers in Early Cite is also growing
once more. This reflects the greater number of quality submissions we continue to receive
from across the globe. This issue featurestwo papers from the USA and Canada, one each
from Australia, India and Bangladeshand three from the UK.
Of the 10 papers in the current issue, three are examples of positive autoethnography. This
new methodology was developed by Dr Freda Gonot-Schoupinsky, Professor Mark Weeks
and Jerome. It combines autoethnography with positive psychology. In the first paper,
Freda interviews Professor Everett Worthington, arguably the world’s leading authority on
the topic of forgiveness. After a short introduction from Freda, Professor Worthington
provides a short biography of his life and career. One of his major contributions has been
the development of the REACH Forgiveness model. Not long after developing this new
research area, his mother was brutally murdered in a burglary, yet he was able to forgive
the young man who committed themurder. He also shared his experience of self-
forgiveness, which helpedhim cope with the suicide of his brother.
The second positive autoethnography featured Professor MarkWeeks, who was a co-
developer of this approach. Mark too has had his share of personal tragedy. Perhaps the
most moving story of his account surrounded the death of his 17-year-old sister Milly in
Australia. He comments that “[...] it wasthree years before that loss dissolved far enough
that I could feel I was functioningnormally”. Mark’s story highlights how at times his natural
introversion has been a positive, giving him space for self-exploration, meditation, reflection
and mindfulness.
The third paper from Freda features Professor Paul Wong, who is creditedwith the
development of Positive Psychology 2.0. This paper acquires additional significance in that
Professor Paul Wong died in Canada a fewmonths after writing it. Like the other papers in
this series, we learn about Professor Wong’s background. He notes that the hallmark of his
work “[...] is that life may be full of injustice, suffering and evil, but there arealways ways of
overcoming and positively transforming suffering through the hero’s journey and faith in
divine grace”. This paper is full of profound insights and wisdom. If one phrase summed
this up for me it would be “[...] a living faith involves action, perseverance and our ability to
inspire others”. These are threepapers to be read and savoured.
In the second paper from Canada, Sandy Rao, Rae Jardine, Laetitia Satam and Kaiden
Dalley, share findings from their HEARTS Study and theimportant area of patient-oriented
research. They point out problems with such work in the past, whichhas often been seen as
Jerome Carson is based at
the Department of
Psychology, University of
Bolton, Bolton, UK.
Julie Prescott is Head of
Psychology at the
University of Law,
Manchester, UK.
DOI 10.1108/MHSI-01-2025-228 VOL. 29 NO. 12025,pp. 1-2, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 jMENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION jPAGE 1
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