Most of Paul and Raj’s inspirations stem from conversations in their mother’s kitchen whilst she makes authentic food. Many ideas have come to fruition from their original safe haven. Paul started coaching in karate whilst in his youth is one such example. After becoming Regional and British Karate Champion at age 14, Paul was keen to support others to experience ‘flow’ like experiences, just like he had.
In 2002, Raj and Paul were sitting back in their favourite kitchen, brainstorming how they could make a greater impact whilst working within their diverse communities. At that time, Paul was in a leadership role responsible for the function of learning and development within a large organisation in England, and Raj was working as a child and educational psychologist. Reflecting on their roles, they shared their toolkit and frustrations. Paul wanted to live a more authentic life where he can support people to experience higher life satisfaction. Raj was dissatisfied with the deficit and correctional approaches being used with children. They both felt that more can be done to help children and adults to realise their full potential, including themselves.
Paul continued with his studies learning more about the science of well-being. He moved to Hungary and lives in Budapest where well-being is extremely low. In 2004, Raj, on her birthday, joined Paul to set up Hungry 4 Learning. Rather than just fixing problems, the mission of this research-based consultancy is to help people maximise their capabilities so they can experience high well-being and engagement. During the last 16 years, Paul has delivered positive psychology applications in over 25 countries. In 2014, Paul created Budapest Happiness Week for everyone to participate free of charge, which ran for 4 consecutive years.
Hungry for superior solutions for all children and schools. Raj embarked on a PhD degree programme in positive psychology whilst working. She was interested in the concept of flourishing in children. Raj noticed there was limited real-world research on this matter. She worked with children, parents and educators and gathered their accounts of children at their best. These accounts were analysed using a scientific method. Along the way, Raj also discovered the key features of a positive school using a strength-based methodology. She found new knowledge by collaborating with children, parents, teachers and school leaders, resulting in the first real-world study into flourishing.
In 2018, Raj shares her ‘flourishing recipes’ for children and schools with Paul back in their favourite kitchen. The enterprise of supporting children and schools is complex and rewarding. Between them, Raj and Paul now have many tried and tested ‘recipes’ to support all children, parents, educators and leaders around the globe to flourish. They decide to combine their new knowledge and practices to form the Flourishing Child Enterprise with like-minded practitioners and parents. Since then, coaching sessions and workshops informed by the ‘recipes’ have been delivered successfully in England, Hungary, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Czech-Republic and USA.
RAJ PAHIL
Raj is an experienced educational psychologist, teacher/trainer and researcher. She has worked in diverse communities in England for over 25 years. She is passionate about supporting children with diverse and complex needs through working in consultation with their parents and educators. By 2009, Raj had grown dissatisfied by working in an education system that focuses on children’s deficits and weaknesses. She observed that children needed more than correctional approaches, rigorous academic standards and outcome-based schooling and parenting. She thought these are incomplete ways of supporting children to be their best possible selves. Raj also noticed that children who did not have special needs as well as schools were not thriving. In search of superior solutions, Raj embarked on a PhD degree programme in Positive Psychology, a branch of psychology that is devoted to the scientific study of cultivating more well-being in both individuals and organisations. In 2019, Raj completed her doctoral research from one of the top UK universities (University of Birmingham) after 8 years of dedicated research alongside working full time. As well as building a model of flourishing with key stakeholders of a school, Raj constructed the ‘Enabling School Model’ that outlines the key features of a positive school; this forms the basis of the coaching educational leaders service. Raj’s current vision is for all educational settings to adopt a systemic preventative approach to promoting positive mental health in all children/young people.
PAUL PAHIL
Paul learnt from an early age about using his strengths to enhance both his performance and well-being. He is able to recall his first experience of ‘flow’ in karate, which is an optimal experience that enabled him to act with total involvement. He was 12 years old. Further ‘flow’ experiences led him to become British and Regional Karate Champion by the age of 14. He coached teenagers, adults and teams to achieve regional and national successes in karate over a period of two decades. The daily practices of martial arts provided Paul with a platform to develop mind-body practices and expanded his repertoire to experience positive emotions. Paul’s daily mind-body practices allowed him to excel in his career. Paul has spent over 25 years empowering people from diverse cultures to flourish and is a Chartered Member of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. His career in training and development began at British Airways, where he worked alongside colleagues from 30 different nationalities and led dynamic and diverse teams for 12 years before deciding to move to Budapest. Paul’s love of learning and desire to help diverse communities to experience the benefits of optimal living precipitated a move to Hungary, which has one of the lowest levels of well-being in Europe. In 2014, Paul pioneered Budapest Happiness Week, which ran for four consecutive years; people, families and communities were able to engage in activities to boost their social, emotional and/or physical well-being for free of charge. Paul has a proven track record in coaching parents, especially those who need support with complex presenting concerns. In August 2018, Professor Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, co-founder of positive psychology, made a personal tribute to the sterling work Paul has undertaken in Hungary. In 2019, Paul delivered the first ever Flourishing Child Programme to educators and parents in Budapest and in Vancouver, Canada.
DORA FAZEKAS
Dóra’s first passion was learning the Italian language at the age of 12. She took her passion further when her son was born, as Dóra innovated ‘Ciao Mamma’ and taught Italian to groups of young children and their parents using multi-sensory activities. Dóra graduated from the University of Szeged as a teacher of Italian and cultural manager and became an Italian translator at the Italian Chamber of Commerce. In 2002, she moved to Italy and became an interpreter and translator for an Italian business translating business meetings and delivering sales presentations during antique fairs in numerous European cities. Due to her desire to grow and emotional agility, Dóra began to work for Mind Consulting based in Bologna, Italy. Dóra’s main activities in Hungary included translating coaching sessions, business meetings and presentations from Italian into Hungarian and vice versa. Dóra worked very closely with Italian Consultants and was trained by Mind Consulting Business School, the internal academy of the company. She then worked in Hungary as a trainer and coach to employees of various businesses. In 2009, Dóra met Paul Pahil, who trained and coached her in the application of positive psychology principles. She co-produced and co-presented training with Paul for Hungarian leaders, teams, companies and conferences. She gained positive feedback from her clients who were seeking to enhance well-being, creativity and productivity. Dóra planned and organised the Budapest Happiness Week with Paul for 4 consecutive years, from 2014 to 2018, to promote well-being to diverse groups and communities. In 2018, Dora delivered the first ever Applied Positive Psychology International Coaching Programme in Hungarian, which is still available. Dóra is an Optimal Coach, part of the Lifeforce group and is actively coaching individuals, teams and leaders. In 2019 Dora delivered the first ever Flourishing Child Programme to Hungarian parents seeking to promote greater well-being in their children, where she shared her own parenting practices informed by this enterprise’s flourishing framework.
ADAM DOBOS
Ádám is a communication and branding expert interested in making strong and memorable interactions between people and concepts. He worked in general management and marketing executive positions at multinational companies gathering experience in developing strategies as well as managing brands and portfolios in different markets. Later on, he set up his own creative agency and worked in many different markets innovating ideas for different consumer insights. Ádám has two boys, Fülöp and Félix. He is trying to support them becoming self-confident, resilient and balanced persons, which is one of the most challenging job he has ever had. Ádám met Paul, which was probably not a coincidence, getting to know about his project, the Child Flourishing Enterprise was love at first sight for him. He attended some workshops and decided to join the team to use his expertise to support with the mission of helping as many children around the globe to flourish.
