Troy W. Norris’ WellBalance Institute is advancing the science of positive psychology and wellbeing to create personalized plans and practical tools to build happy, flourishing, and resilient lives, workplaces, and communities
The wellbeing field has long relied on one-size-fits-all solutions that ignore individual circumstances and needs. Millions pursue happiness through popular wellness trends by trial and error, cycling through generic advice that fails to consider their unique qualities and where they are in life. The WellBalance Institute for Positive Wellbeing is changing this paradigm by applying scientific rigor to create personalized, evidence-based wellbeing interventions.
Founded by Troy W. Norris, a Harvard-trained scientist and former innovation strategy consultant to major pharmaceutical companies and life sciences new ventures, WellBalance’s science-backed method enables the design of effective wellbeing programs tailored to the individual. Norris spent decades pioneering personalized medicine, advising each of the top 15 global pharmaceutical companies and hundreds of smaller innovators. His expertise in digital health, particularly digital psychiatry therapies, suggested that wellbeing interventions could benefit from the same personalized, data-driven methods transforming disease treatment paradigms.
Norris developed the WellBalance Model of positive wellbeing while navigating his own journey from burnout to flourishing. Suffering severe burnout from a high-intensity career and frustrated by the steady flood of general wellbeing advice and admonishments, he systematically studied positive psychology and catalogued scientifically proven experiences that improve and sustain wellbeing. He then created a framework that measures not just how we feel about our lives, but how we are living our lives day-to-day.
The WellBalance Model evaluates the full span of positive lived experiences and the categories of positive feelings they create. While traditional assessments focus mainly on emotional states
across groups of people, WellBalance’s experiential model identifies areas of neglect and gaps between what individuals experience and feel, generating personalized wellbeing and mindfulness plans. Benchmarking each person’s profile against others in similar life situations reveals both shared challenges and uniquely personal opportunities for growth.
Science-based, personalized, and actionable
WellBalance’s mission is to translate the latest science of wellbeing and positive psychology into personalized, practical tools that improve lives, relationships, and workplaces, creating a healthier and happier world, one life at a time. Guided by its values and social impact mission, WellBalance delivers scientifically validated insights that are accurate, reliable, and meaningful, with actionable steps tailored to unique life situations, goals, and challenges, always via a secure, private platform adhering to the highest ethical standards.
“The personal growth sector is fraught with platitudes and trial-and-error approaches,” says Norris. “Most of us know what we should be doing to be healthy and happy, but it’s hard to know where to start. We created a science- backed method to identify precisely what will most improve your wellbeing and give you simple, actionable steps to shape a more flourishing life.”
Peer-reviewed research has validated the WellBalance Assessment against gold-standard measures of wellbeing and flourishing from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, considered the ‘birthplace’ of positive psychology. The WellBalance Institute also published a comprehensive analysis of contributors to wellbeing in the US, and indicators of wellbeing such as life situations and demographic factors.
Together, these findings enable the design of personalized interventions for individuals and tailored programs for groups facing challenging circumstances. Norris recently led a workshop on this methodology at the International Positive Psychology Association’s World Congress in Brisbane, Australia.
Assuring broad access to wellbeing resources
WellBalance research shows that life situations most detrimental to wellbeing include being under- or unemployed, uncoupled (single, divorced or widowed), or parenting alone, all situations associated with financial insecurity. To assure access for these high-need groups, WellBalance is establishing a Global Impact Alliance to partner with nonprofit organizations serving these populations, with its first pilot already underway.
WellBalance’s membership reflects these needs: 30% are single parents (predominantly mothers), 40% are not employed with incomes below $25,000, and two-thirds have faced major stressful life events in the past six months. To ensure broad access aligned with its mission, WellBalance has thus adopted a ‘pay what you can’ model for its digital offerings.
These include a growing archive of wellbeing resources and the Rapid WellBalance Assessment (WBAL-24), which takes under five minutes to complete and provides members with a personalized wellbeing profile and positivity plan with targeted experiences and mindfulness practices to pursue.
The WellBalance’s Professional Assessment (WBAL-72) offers life and executive coaches deeper insight into contributors to wellbeing and opportunities for client growth over time. This methodology also supports organizational leadership development, with group reporting, tailored recommendations, and employee membership benefits designed to increase employee wellbeing and transform workplace culture and performance.
Leading a movement to personalize resilient wellbeing
The WellBalance Institute has recently published The WellBalance Way, a foundational book covering contributors to a flourishing life, positive wellbeing principles, and mindful positivity practices. Building on its social media content, WellBalance is releasing a series of ‘BloomBook’ journals that blend wellbeing science with inspirational stories and poems, motivational affirmations and intentions, and reflective prompts to guide personal growth. WellBalance is also developing workshops and courses to train individuals, coaches, and corporate leaders to apply this evidence-based approach.
By blending scientific rigor with practical application, WellBalance is setting a new standard for personalized wellbeing interventions, harnessing the complexity of human experience with the power of personalization to create lasting, meaningful change.
