Yale's Free Happiness Course Just Got Better & It's All About Getting Through 'Tough Times'
If someone told you that you could take a course and come out a happier person, would you be interested?
That's the premise behind a Yale course that's not only available online for anybody to take, but it's also free.
Yale psychology professor Laurie Santos says she became interested in teaching about happiness after seeing the mental health crisis that a lot of college students were facing. That led her to launch The Science of Well-Being, a course that absolutely blew up during the pandemic after it went online through Coursera.
It's since has become the most popular class in Yale's history with over 4 million people enrolling so far, per Dr. Santos.
It's so popular in fact that Santos launched a similar course geared for teens in 2023.
In the ten-week course, Santos teaches students the "kinds of ways that we go awry when it comes to our happiness, the misconceptions that we have about our happiness and ways that we can do it right, the kinds of things that really do matter for our happiness."
"I want students to have really practical strategies and tips they can use to feel better during a tough time," Santos told Narcity.
While many of us may want to be happier, the Yale prof says there's a reason some of us struggle to find it.
"I think a lot of us have misconceptions about the kinds of things we need to go for to feel happier," she explained.
"So it's not so much that we're not working towards our happiness. We are working towards our happiness, but we're kind of going about it the wrong way."
What is the Yale happiness course and how much does it cost?
The Science of Well-Being is available online through Coursera.
It is free and available for anyone to take.
For $49 you can also complete assignments, have them graded and earn a certificate once you complete the course.
The course has a 4.9-star rating with over 12,000 reviews.
What does the Science of Well-Being syllabus look like?
The course will take about 20 hours to complete and is available in various languages.
A different topic is covered every week, including common misconceptions about happiness, how to overcome your biases and active strategies to become happier.
There are readings and a weekly quiz before the course culminates with a final assignment.
According to The New York Times which spoke to students who took the course, some of their assignments involved tracking their sleep patterns, keeping a gratitude journal, and performing random acts of kindness.
How does the happiness course for teens differ from the original?
The Science of Well-Being for Teens is all about strategies that teens can use to feel better.
Santos says it provides teens with practical advice that they can use to navigate the stresses that come up in high school.
"The course really tries to tackle the kinds of mental health issues that students face from things like low grade depression to even things like stress and feeling lonely," she said.
"The class really gives students practical strategies that they can use to feel better. I think of the course as a preventative approach to help students put the right skills in place now so that they don't wind up becoming depressed and anxious over time."
The class launched in mid-January of 2023 and had over 10,000 students enrol in less than a week.
You can sign up for the next round right now!
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or mental health concerns, please reach out to a trusted peer, parent or health care professional. You can also contact the Crisis Services Canada helpline, which is available 24 hours a day, or consult these additional resources. If you need immediate assistance, please call 911 or go to your nearest hospital. Support is available.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
