Mental wellbeing is often discussed in terms of the difficulties people experience. Anxiety, depression, stress, loneliness and emotional uncertainty can understandably become the immediate focus when someone is struggling. Yet James Theard believes there is value in looking beyond symptoms and considering a broader question: what gives a person's life meaning?
Drawing on more than 25 years of experience spanning counselling, education, mental health support and adult learning, James Theard has developed a longstanding interest in the relationship between psychological wellbeing, meaning and purpose. Among the thinkers who have influenced this perspective is psychiatrist and psychotherapist Viktor Frankl, whose work explored the importance of finding meaning in human life.
For James Theard, Frankl's ideas offer a useful starting point for considering mental wellbeing in broader terms. Psychological health is not necessarily only about reducing distress. It can also involve understanding what matters to us, how we relate to other people and what gives us a sense of direction.
Looking Beyond Psychological Symptoms
When someone is experiencing anxiety, depression or another period of emotional difficulty, reducing immediate distress can understandably be a priority. Counselling and psychotherapy can provide opportunities to explore difficult emotions, recognise patterns of thought or behaviour and develop different ways of responding to life's challenges.
However, James Theard's experience has also reinforced the importance of seeing the individual beyond the difficulties they may be experiencing. A person is more than a collection of symptoms, and addressing distress does not always answer the wider questions that can emerge during periods of change or uncertainty.
Questions about identity, relationships, purpose and direction can become particularly significant at transitional points in life. Someone may reach a stage where life appears relatively stable from the outside while still experiencing a sense that something is missing. In these circumstances, the question may not simply be how to feel better, but what feeling better would enable that person to move towards.
Viktor Frankl and the Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl is closely associated with logotherapy, an approach based on the idea that the search for meaning is a fundamental human motivation. His thinking was shaped both by his professional work and by his experiences during the Holocaust, which he later explored in his influential book Man's Search for Meaning.
One of the enduring qualities of Frankl's work is its recognition that people cannot always control what happens to them. Circumstances, loss, disappointment and unexpected change are unavoidable parts of human life. What may remain possible, however, is finding meaning in how those experiences are understood and approached.
This does not mean suggesting that suffering is inherently meaningful or that people should simply think positively when confronted with genuine hardship. Instead, Frankl's work raises a more complex question about how people maintain a sense of purpose and direction when circumstances cannot easily be changed.
It is this aspect of his thinking that has particularly interested James Theard. Meaning does not necessarily remove difficulty, but it may influence how an individual understands that difficulty and how they choose to move forward.
Meaning Does Not Have to Be Extraordinary
The idea of finding a purpose in life can sometimes sound daunting. It can suggest that everyone needs a single defining ambition, vocation or achievement. In reality, meaning is often found in much more ordinary aspects of everyday life.
Relationships can provide meaning. So can family, friendship, learning, creativity, work, caring for another person, contributing to a community or developing a deeper understanding of oneself. What feels meaningful can also change considerably throughout a person's life.
James Theard's work across counselling and education has provided different perspectives on this process. Both fields involve development, reflection and change. Whether someone is acquiring a new skill, reconsidering a long-held belief or trying to understand an emotional difficulty, progress often involves discovering what matters enough to make change worthwhile.
Meaning therefore does not need to be fixed. The things that provide direction at 25 may be very different from those that matter at 45 or 65. Changes in career, relationships, health, family circumstances or personal priorities can all prompt people to reconsider what they value.
The Relationship Between Purpose and Wellbeing
Purpose and meaning are closely related, although they are not necessarily the same thing. Purpose can provide direction, while meaning can help people understand why that direction matters.
A sense of purpose may come from pursuing a goal, accepting responsibility, helping another person or working towards something that extends beyond immediate concerns. Meaning can also emerge retrospectively as people reflect on experiences and understand how they have shaped their values or priorities.
This broader perspective can be particularly relevant during periods of transition. Retirement, bereavement, children leaving home, career changes or the end of a relationship can alter structures that previously provided identity and direction. Even positive changes can lead people to reconsider who they are and what they want from the next stage of life.
For James Theard, questions of meaning therefore sit naturally alongside discussions about mental wellbeing. They encourage people to consider not only what they would like to move away from, but also what they would like to move towards.
Different Approaches to Understanding the Individual
James Theard's interest in mental wellbeing has been shaped by several psychological perspectives, including person-centred, existential and cognitive behavioural approaches. Each offers a different way of understanding human experience.
A person-centred perspective places importance on the individual's own experience and capacity for growth. Cognitive behavioural approaches can help people examine connections between thoughts, emotions and behaviour. Existential thinking introduces questions concerning freedom, responsibility, mortality, isolation and meaning.
These approaches do not have to be viewed as competing explanations. Human experience is complex, and different perspectives can illuminate different aspects of it. Practical strategies may be valuable for managing immediate difficulties, while deeper reflection can help an individual consider the values and priorities around which they want to build their life.
Meaning Is Personal
There is no universal answer to the question of what makes life meaningful. For some people, spirituality or faith may be central. For others, meaning may be rooted in family, relationships, creativity, knowledge, service, work or connection with the wider world.
This individuality is important. Meaning cannot simply be prescribed by somebody else. What appears significant from the outside may feel empty to the individual, while something seemingly modest may carry enormous personal importance.
The search for meaning is therefore not necessarily about finding one definitive answer. It may instead involve continuing to ask questions, remaining open to change and recognising that priorities evolve with experience.
A Broader View of Mental Wellbeing
Modern conversations about mental health have helped make it easier to discuss anxiety, depression and emotional distress. That progress is important, but James Theard believes there is also value in maintaining a broader conversation about what it means to live well.
Reducing distress can be an important objective, but wellbeing can encompass more than the absence of psychological symptoms. Relationships, belonging, curiosity, responsibility, personal values and a sense of purpose can all contribute to how people experience their lives.
Viktor Frankl's work continues to resonate because it asks a question that remains deeply relevant: what makes life worth living for the individual?
There may never be one answer that applies to everyone. For James Theard, however, continuing to explore that question can itself be valuable. It shifts the conversation beyond simply feeling better and towards considering what people want their lives to contain, what matters to them and where they might find meaning in the experiences still ahead.
