Research tell us that people from all over the world tend to want pretty similar things in life in order to feel happy and satisfied. We also know that when people are happy with their lives, they’re less likely to get into trouble.
The Good Lives Model tells us that everyone needs to feel satisfied in a few different areas of their life to feel good. Take a look at our video to learn more about the Good Lives Model. You can also work through the information in more detail below.
Download our Good Live Plan to help you work out how you meet your needs and set goals for living a healthy life.
This model was developed by Professor Tony Ward, and the version of the model we’re sharing was adapted by G-map for young people to use.
Sometimes, if we don’t find good, healthy ways to feel satisfied, we might use unhelpful or harmful ways instead.
These may help us feel better in the moment, but over time they can hurt other people and ourselves.
Think about the things you need for a good life – how do they fit with the sections above? If you’ve come up with something that doesn’t seem to fit into any of the sections, it doesn’t matter – everyone’s different!
But many people do want similar things – we have similar needs in life, we just have different ways of meeting those needs.
For example, one person might meet their need for “having fun and achieving” by playing their guitar, while someone else learns TikTok dances. The activities are different, but we do them for the same reason and they meet the same need.
