Character strengths are a set of 24 traits that are present in everyone, no matter their age, race, culture, or beliefs.  Sharing the science of these strengths is what Standing Up Strong is all about. Jake is the Senior Manager of Professional Development Trainings & Upstander Education at the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center. He works with groups from school age through adulthood, to help them understand the framework of character strengths in partnership with the VIA Institute on Character. A free, short survey is available to everyone to find out what their top character strengths are. They represent the best in us, and some strengths come to us more easily than others. This episode, hosted by Jackie Congedo, will inspire you to get to know your character strengths and explain why you might feel better about the world once you do. 

Episode Resources: 

Learn more about The Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/ 

Take the character strengths survey for free https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/upstander/assess-your-character-strengths/ 

Find out about upstander trainings and professional development with character strengths https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/upstander/trainings-and-offerings/ 

Visit the VIA Institute on Character: https://viacharacter.org/ 

Thanks to the Mayerson Family Foundation for supporting this series https://www.mayersonfoundation.org/   

This episode made possible with generous support from the Cynthia & Harold Guttman Family Center for Storytelling  https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/storytelling/   

Some resources Jake relies on for strengths work and historical context: 

Jewish Immigration to Australia - https://sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au/news/international-migrants-day-waves-of-jewish-migration-to-australia/ 

A scholarly article of the above - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14443058309386871  

Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland after Liberation - https://www.yadvashem.org/articles/general/anti-jewish-violence-in-poland-after-liberation.html  

Strength Spotting & Elevation - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ryan-Niemiec-2/publication/342716477_Character_strengths_cinematherapy_Using_movies_to_inspire_change_meaning_and_cinematic_elevation/links/5f033e0345851550508dce79/Character-strengths-cinematherapy-Using-movies-to-inspire-change-meaning-and-cinematic-elevation.pdf  

Golden Mean - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ryan-Niemiec-2/publication/333222366_Finding_the_golden_mean_the_overuse_underuse_and_optimal_use_of_character_strengths/links/5d091fda92851cfcc6229856/Finding-the-golden-mean-the-overuse-underuse-and-optimal-use-of-character-strengths.pdf

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