About Lara

Lara's interest in the good life, virtue and character began when studying philosophy in the UK. Her goal is to create resources that draw on the science of well-being, particularly for parents and adolescents. Recent projects have included creating wellbeing-based videos, podcasts, online lectures and lessons. She collaborates with academic staff, psychologists as well as creating resources for her own students. 

Lara is currently studying a PhD in Positive Psychology and Sport at La Trobe University. Her interests are in autonomy support, achievement goal theory and positive psychology in football (soccer). 

Lara lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and three children who are all familiar with their top character strengths and use them in their own lives.  She is the co-founder of The Strengths Exchange with Professor Lea Waters, a strength-based positive parenting website.  The site provides a free resources for parents wishing to build a language around strengths. It encourages parents and children to spot strengths in others, too. 

Aside from her family, one of Lara's main passions is football (soccer). She a player and supporter who regularly attends A-League games. She writes about positive youth football development and her articles and blogs can be found on the Player Development Project website.

Teaching

Teaching Assistant at the University of Melbourne on the Master of Applied Positive Psychology. Tutor on Wellbeing, Motivation and Performance, Positive Leadership and Careers, and Positive Communities and Organisations. 

Associate Lecturer at La Trobe University. Currently developing positive psychology undergraduate subjects.

Previous

Teaching Associate at Monash University on the Master of Management. Teacher 
Average student evaluation score 4.8+ out of 5
Average class size approx. 50 students

Trainer at The Sofitel Melbourne on Collins in leadership, diversity, customer service, strategic planning, marketing and public relations topics. 

Visiting lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire lecturing in Plato's views on women and the family. 

Developing training material for the not-for-profit sector.

Projects

Education

Co-founder of The Strengths Exchange with Professor Lea Waters, a strengths based positive parenting website.

Writing for the Player Development Magazine.

Writing for Football Federation Australia on Positive Sports Environments.
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Managing the Twitter, Facebook Page and Instagram accounts for the Centre for Positive Psychology at the University of Melbourne.

​Writing blog posts for The Mind Room , a well-being and performance psychology community.

Design and maintenance of the Positive Psychology Interest Group website.

PhD Candidate, La Trobe University, studying positive psychology and wellbeing science in football (soccer).

Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP), University of Melbourne.
Completed with first-class honours. 
Capstone project on Parent-Adolescent Convergence on Flourishing - supervised by researcher Dr Peggy Kern. 

Master of Arts in Philosophy with Historical Studies.

Bachelor of Science in Philosophy with Computing.

Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

Social Media

Twitter @laramossman
Instagram @ELMOSSY_22