Prof. Everett L. Worthington Jr.

The benefits of forgiveness on physical, mental, relational, and spiritual health are well established. This project aims to expand the horizons of forgiveness research globally by evaluating the viability of the two-hour REACH Forgiveness workbook at promoting forgiveness, inspiring hope, and reducing depression and anxiety in six diverse cultural and geographic contexts: Colombia, Indonesia, Mainland China, Ghana, South Africa and Ukraine.

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REACH Forgiveness is a widely used forgiveness intervention developed by Professor Everett Worthington (2001). REACH is an acronym that identifies five steps through which victims may progress to achieve forgiveness: (R) Recall the hurt, (E) Empathize with offender, (A) Altruistic gift of forgiveness, (C) Commit, and (H) Hold onto forgiveness. The efficacy of the REACH Forgiveness intervention is empirically supported by over 30 randomized controlled trials (Wade, Hoyt, Kidwell, & Worthington, 2014). Led by Dr. Man Yee Ho of City University Hong Kong, this project is a collaboration between Professor Everett L. Worthington Jr., one of the world’s leading forgiveness researchers, and Professor Tyler Van Der Weele of Harvard University.