How People Matter: Why it Affects Health, Happiness, Love, Work, and Society

Product Description Mattering, which is about feeling valued and adding value, is essential for health, happiness, love, work, and social well-being. We all need to feel valued by, and add value to, ourselves, others, co-workers, and community members. This book shows not only the signs, significance, and sources of mattering, but also presents the strategies to achieve mattering in our personal and professional lives. It uses research-based methods of change to help people achieve a higher sense of purpose and a deeper sense of meaning. Each chapter gives therapists, managers, teachers, parents, and healthcare professionals the tools needed to optimize personal and collective well-being and productivity. The volume explains how promoting mattering within communities fosters wellness and fairness in equal measure. By using the new science of feeling valued and adding value, the authors provide a guide to promoting happier lives and healthier societies. Review ‘This deeply illuminating volume is essential reading for those interested in mattering, meaning in life, and mental health. The authors provide a wonderfully comprehensive, integrative overview of mattering in a wide variety of domains. I recommend this ground-breaking book as the go-to resource.' Mario Mikulincer, Founding Dean, Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center‘In this brilliant book, the authors elevate the notion of mattering. It is written in a personal, evocative, and passionate way, using the authors' own meaningful encounters alongside critically needed ideas. The book reads like a fascinating novel that creates a framework for a more authentic life and just world.' David Blustein, Duganne Faculty Fellow and Professor of Education and Human Development, Boston College‘What a great book on mattering! The authors have a real gift for turning complex academic ideas into something that many people can understand and apply to their own lives. The mattering wheel is a great resource around which we can plan actions to ensure that everyone matters.' Angie Hart, Professor of Child, Family and Community Health, University of Brighton‘It is difficult to describe all that the Prilleltenskys have accomplished with How People Matter. With gentleness and humor, the book embraces big, important elements under the heading of mattering: love, political action, Black Lives Matter, meaning in life, meaning to each other. They show the inseparability of social currents from our own well-being as they incisively describe contemporary ‘me culture’; they introduce illuminating new concepts like ‘wellfair’ and the building of a ‘caring sector’ in society; they offer clear, helpful strategies for putting their concepts to work in our lives. Loving, funny, brilliant, honest, and open, the Prilleltenskys emerge as the kind of friends that we all wish we had. Their work is liberation psychology for everyone.’ Laura Smith, Columbia University, and author of Psychology, Poverty, and the End of Social Exclusion‘How People Matter is a wonderfully detailed user’s guide to help people feel valued for what they do and actually add value with what they do. It combines discussion of relevant research with lots of very practical tips that will help us lead more useful, productive, and fulfilling lives. There is a valuable lesson on almost every page.’ Barry Schwartz, University of California, Berkeley, and author of Why We Work and Practical Wisdom‘A book on mattering or feeling valued and adding value is timely and immensely critical. This book deepens our understanding of the power of dignity and self-worth and calls us to action as individuals and as a ‘collective we’ to enhance mattering for all. It spans the arenas of mattering for the self, for relationships, for work, and for communities, giving us frameworks and tools to spur understanding and action. It marries concerns for wellness and fairness at all levels and offers inspiration and actions to mak