Did you know that hope is a science, that it can be measured, and that it is one of the most powerful predictors of wellbeing across someone’s lifespan?
Members of our team were inspired recently after hearing Dr Chan Hellman, ‘one of the world’s leading hope researchers’ speak at Unlocked Graduates’ 10-year conference. He’s a Professor of Social Work at the University of Oklahoma, and Director of the Hope Research Centre. His core point? Hope isn’t just an emotion. It’s a way of thinking.
He defines hope as: “The belief that your future will be better than today and that you have the power to make it so.” His talk resonated with us because hope is a fundamental reason why we coach young people in prisons.
What makes hope powerful is that it combines positivity with agency. It’s not passive optimism; it’s active and purposeful. Hope is a framework for action: goal oriented, relational, and importantly, contagious. It is a direct arbiter of someone’s wellbeing outcomes.
This is why we make a point of measuring it. One of our Spark Inside key outcomes, measured via Outcomes Star, is “Hope and Dreams” which is how people view the future and their ability to make things happen.
The science of hope
Hope may not appear in many commissioned service frameworks, but we know it is a critical driver of meaningful change. And so does Hellman, which is why The Hope Research Centre has spent 12 years evidencing the positive outcomes associated with increasing hope, and providing organisations with research and tools to implement it.
The science breaks it down into three components:
1) Goals – having something to aim for
2) Pathways – identifying ways to get there
3) Willpower – the drive to keep going
Hope and desistance
This aligns closely with research on desistance, or the process of ceasing and continuing to abstain from crime by those with a previous pattern of offending. A growing amount of academic research has produced evidence of this change being rooted in a positive vision of the future combined with a belief in one’s own ability to achieve it.
Maruna’s large-scale Liverpool desistance study showed that although opportunities for work, relationships and integration were important, it was also individuals’ sense of agency, their levels of hope and a positive view of the future that made them more successful desistors.
LeBel’s study of 130 men involved in property crime found that those who identified themselves as a ‘familyman’ had lower re-offending rates than those who did not; this was particularly effective when combined with high levels of hope (LeBel et al, 2008).
The impact of trauma
Importantly, hope can be taught, nurtured, and even restored.
Hellman’s research identifies that adverse childhood experiences impact people’s ability to hope. Trauma makes us more likely to set ‘avoidant’ rather than ‘achievement’ oriented goals; someone will set goals based on what they don’t want to happen, rather than what they do want. Pathways thinking – the ability to think through barriers and problem solve – becomes stressed, and willpower becomes drained.
But, when someone is able to identify a personally desired goal and achieve it, the ability to imagine an optimistic future context improves. Lastly, Hellman makes clear that ‘hope is a social gift’. Our ability to hope is linked to our connectedness with others: it happens in relationships, not in isolation.
A tool for rehabilitation
With all this in mind, the rationale for coaching as a tool for rehabilitation becomes clear. A coach offers support around all 3 pillars of hope – identifying goals, figuring out the path to achieve them, and maintaining the drive to get there – alongside an encouraging, supportive relationship grounded in fostering safety, trust and positive regard.
Around ¾ of the young people we coach report demonstrable progress in their hopes and dreams for the future.
In the words of one: “Spark Inside have helped so many of us walk with purpose… [they] don’t just give you the spark inside, they help you reignite it yourself.”
