HAPPINESS is, according to contented comedian Ken Dodd, ‘the greatest gift that you possess’ – but just how do you go about getting it?

And is it possible to increase a population’s gross national happiness (GNH) alongside its GDP?

These are some of the questions Hexham resident Lorna Brocksopp has spent many years grappling with, and now she is on a mission to bring more wellbeing our way – specifically, to the picturesque village of Corbridge.

On Saturday, March 18, she is launching an ‘Action for Happiness’ course, the first to be held in the North-East, at the village’s parish hall.

People are being invited along to talk about how to increase their own, as well as their community’s wellbeing.

But why Corbridge, one might wonder?

It’s not, Lorna reassured, that it’s such a miserable place that it needs cheering up.

“On the contrary, I lived in Corbridge for eight years and even though I now live in Hexham, I still feel like it’s my village and I would like to give something back to the people there,” she explained. And of course, it’s open to non-Corbridge residents too.

“It’s all about the sharing of ideas and giving people a platform to talk about the things that really matter: what makes people feel emotionally, socially, physically and spiritually well, as well as what we can do as a collective to feel connected to those around us and live happy, fulfilling lives.”

Lorna, 38, has spent much of her life researching wellbeing in one capacity or another.

Born and brought up in Stocksfield, she went to Prudhoe Community High School and then on to Northumbria University where she studied criminology and sociology, graduating with a first.

She subsequently worked with Northumbria Police and Newcastle University on mental health projects, but at 24, Lorna decided she needed to experience a different culture and went to teach English in Barcelona, where she also volunteered for animal charities, and returned to Tynedale some five years later with her rescue dog, Nessie.

“I came back to work for Guide Dogs on their research team looking at the impact of visual impairment on people’s emotional health. That’s how I got into the question of ‘What is wellbeing? What is it to feel well?

“We were using this term, but really there was no consensus about what wellbeing actually meant.”

Whilst working for Guide Dogs, Lorna studied for a professional doctorate at Sunderland University in Spiritual Wellbeing and Mindfulness.

“Spiritual wellbeing is not necessarily to do with religion, but deeper questions about meaning and purpose in life,” said Lorna.

Through her doctoral research, Lorna learnt about the work being done at the Gross National Happiness Centre in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and was lucky enough to volunteer on one of their training programmes for facilitators.

“When our Government was talking about measuring the nation’s wellbeing they always referred to Bhutan because it’s the only country in the world that, instead of looking at economic indicators, looks at gross national happiness.

“But the Bhutan version of happiness is very different to ours,” Lorna added.

“Here, if we talk about happiness, it’s usually along the lines of, ‘I am really happy because I have bought a new car’ or ‘I have the latest clothes’ – tangible things we can show on Facebook.

“It’s quite surface value and it can make us feel happy, but it’s more to do with instant gratification. The Bhutan version is very much more subtle. It is more about living your life with a purpose in line with your beliefs.”

Lorna was so impressed by what she learned in Bhutan that she decided to go back for longer than her original three weeks.

“It was Christmas 2014 when I was supposed to be going back to Bhutan, but unfortunately my dad fell very ill. I was left in limbo with no job and I had split up from my husband (whom she had met in Barcelona).

“I just had my dog and myself in this cottage. That’s when everything I had learned about wellbeing helped me. I suppose things happen for a reason because I met my now partner during that time.”

She got a new job with the Vegan Society, where she still works as a researcher, and is now using what she learned at the GNH Centre in her forthcoming course.

“What I learned in Bhutan is so similar to the Action for Happiness course. It’s a UK charity which is about communities – bringing people together to talk about how to live your life with more meaning and, given my background and experience, they were really supportive of me being a facilitator,” she said.

Action for Happiness was founded in 2010 by a professor of economics at the LSE, Lord Richard Layard; founder of cross-party think tank Demos, Geoff Mulgan and Master at Wellington College, Sir Anthony Seldon. The charity’s patron is the Dalai Lama.

And according to evidence collected from the initial ‘Exploring What Matters’ course held in London’s Bethnal Green and Hackney, it really does work. Participants reported feeling happier and more likely to help others.

“The evaluation showed significant improvements in both the personal wellbeing and also in the pro-social behaviour of the course participants,” said Lorna.

The course is open to anyone, and although there’s a recommended weekly donation of £10 to cover materials and hall costs, this is optional and people are encouraged to just give what they can afford.

l For more details contact lornabrocksopp@hotmail.com