Applied Creative Psychology: a pathway to creative flourishing

New superpower unlocked — creative flourishing and why it matters

What if creativity wasn’t just something you do, but something you are: a state of being where your drive, confidence, and engagement align with clarity and purpose?

This idea is at the heart of “A Systems Approach to Creative Flourishing: Conceptual Foundations and Implications for Development”, a recent peer-reviewed paper by Cordele Glass, programme lead of the Applied Creative Psychology MA programme . Published in Frontiers in Psychology, the paper proposes a new model for understanding how people thrive creatively, specifically what it looks like, how it feels, and what supports that growth.

For us, this framework is more than theory, it's a pragmatic way of learning, teaching and living. All the courses in the School of Creative Human Development are designed for those who want to experience creative flourishing in their own lives and support it in others, across a wide range of settings, from education to mental health, arts to social impact.

Three pillars of creative flourishing

In Cordele's model, creative flourishing is not a vague sense of being in flow or a temporary spark of inspiration. It’s a holistic, lived experience made up of three interconnected pillars:

Creative agency
Your ability to direct your own creative path. This includes setting meaningful goals, making intentional choices, and reflecting on your values. It’s about recognising yourself as the author of your own creative life.

Creative self-efficacy
Your belief in your capacity to be creative. This is the confidence to experiment, take risks, and express yourself... even when the outcome is uncertain. Without this belief, the creative process stalls before it begins.

Flow proneness
Your tendency to become deeply immersed and engaged in creative activity. Flow is that powerful feeling of being ‘in the zone’, when your skill meets the challenge, and time, doubt, and distraction fade away.

When these three experiences align within a responsive and supportive environment, they create the conditions for creative flourishing. And from there, everything shifts. Your sense of purpose sharpens, your resilience strengthens and your potential deepens. This creative flourishing isn't limited to yourself, but rather provides you the tools to help others do the same.

Science backed creativity boost

Cordele's model, introduced in a peer-reviewed paper, moves beyond traditional models that focus solely on outcomes, skill, or recognition. Instead, it centres the subjective experience of creativity. It provides a framework for how it feels to live creatively, grow through the process and make meaning along the way. The paper also emphasises the importance of context, recognising that cultural, social, and material conditions shape creative development. It outlines practical steps educators, facilitators, and change-makers can take to bring about creative flourishing among diverse communities, like ours.

This is the foundation of our new Master's programme. As a student, you’ll explore how to nurture creative flourishing in yourself, and gain the tools to support it in others through coaching, facilitation, education, wellbeing, and beyond. It’s a practice for anyone seeking to make creativity meaningful, sustainable, and transformational.

A new kind of eureka moment

More than ever, we need practitioners who can use creativity not just for expression, but for emotional insight, healing, connection and change. Whether you're working with young people, leading workshops, or designing wellbeing interventions, fostering creative flourishing means helping people believe in themselves, get into flow and take ownership of their ideas and potential.

Our Applied Creative Psychology MA empowers you to do just that. It provides a grounded, interdisciplinary training in how creativity and psychology intersect—and how to make that intersection meaningful, inclusive, and impactful.

Through a combination of research, hands-on workshops, reflective practice, and real-world projects, you’ll:

• Deepen your understanding of how creativity functions psychologically and socially.
• Develop tools to guide others through creative blocks, burnout, or disconnection.
• Learn to facilitate flow, confidence, and agency through design, coaching, and experiential learning.
• Build a portfolio rooted in your values, vision, and creative leadership.
• Join a growing community of facilitators, educators, therapists and change-makers using creativity to make a difference.

You’ll also explore what it means to design environments where others can flourish. Whether that’s in a classroom, community space, cultural institution, or wellbeing context.

A course built on insight and impact

Our new programme brings Cordele's academic and professional insights into a living, breathing programme. By applying the ideas behind creative flourishing and developing them further through your own research and projects, you’re not only joining a conversation, but actively shaping its future.

This course is for you if:

• You believe creativity can be healing, transformative, and socially impactful.
• You’re passionate about psychology, but want to apply it through hands-on, people-centered practice.
• You want to lead workshops, design interventions, or develop experiences that unlock creative growth for others.
• You’re searching for an academic and personal journey that centers wellbeing, agency, and purpose.

Whether your background is in education, coaching, arts therapy, social entrepreneurship, or the arts, this programme helps you turn your values into practice, and your practice into lasting impact.

Our Applied Creative Psychology programme's next intake will be September 2026.

Whether you’re looking to expand your practice, transition careers, or deepen your understanding of creative growth, this programme gives you the tools, community, and environment to flourish—and to help others do the same.