“You can end up in a happy place” (Voyce): a role for positive autoethnography

Freda Gonot-Schoupinsky is based at the Department of Psychology, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK. She is undertaking a PhD in psychology under the supervision of Professor Jerome Carson at Bolton University. She gained an MSc in health psychology in 2018 and a BA and MBA in the 1980s. She is a Management Consultant for the past 20 years in Monaco. Her research interests include laughter and humour for health and well-being and research methodology. Her contributions include the Laughie “Laugh Intentionally Everyday” laughter prescription, the Personal Development Theory of Laughter and Humour, the Humour Laughter Affect model, Differential Qualitative Analysis, FRAME-IT, the BPSE-B Health framework and PAE.

Mark Weeks is based at the Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan. He is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Nagoya University, Japan. He received PhD in English literature at the University of Western Australia and has served at two national universities in Japan, as well as a major public university in Thailand over the past 25 years. His primary responsibilities have been in research writing education and guidance, while his own research focus has been in the areas of humour and laughter. His most significant contributions in this field have been philosophical and cross-disciplinary articles in the theory of humour.

Dr Jerome Carson is based at the Department of Psychology, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK. He is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Bolton. He is a qualified Clinical Psychologist and worked in the British National Health Service for 32 years. His main research interests are positive psychology, recovery from mental health problems, bereavement, alcohol addiction and autoethnography. He only discovered autoethnography in the past couple of years but has found it to be a great way to engage researchers and students in important issues. Jerome has co-edited nine books and has published over 300 scientific publications. His greatest thrill is co-authoring work with others, especially his students. Jerome is the Co-Editor of Mental Health and Social Inclusion. This paper has been reviewed by Dr Julie Prescott, the other Co-Editor.