Congratulations on beginning your journey through forgiveness! Forgiveness is the process of replacing ill will with good will towards an offender. This process involves reducing negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviors toward a transgressor and increasing or replacing them with more positive ones.

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When I (Everett Worthington, Virginia Commonwealth University) first began researching the psychology of forgiveness many years ago, there was almost no literature on the topic. I knew from my personal life experience that forgiveness is hard, but necessary. And I knew from my professional experience as a psychologist that forgiveness is beneficial, but many people simply don’t know how to do it. So I created the REACH Forgiveness model. It is now one of the most widely tested models of forgiveness. Interventions and resources using the REACH Forgiveness model have been tested in more than 30 randomized controlled trials in countries all around the world. This workbook is the culmination of years of research and practice combining the most effective exercises to help individuals forgive.
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As a public health expert, I (Tyler VanderWeele, Human Flourishing Program, Harvard University) began to realize that unforgiveness is a public health issue. I saw that if we can encourage people to forgive, our communities will be stronger and healthier. When I heard Ev present his REACH model, I knew he was onto something. And so I proposed we carry out a major study of a workbook version of his REACH forgiveness model. The Human Flourishing Program was involved in comprehensively testing the brief REACH Forgiveness workbook in a randomized controlled trial with over 4500 participants across 5 relatively high conflict countries: Colombia, South Africa, Ukraine, Indonesia and Hong Kong. The results (Ho et al., 2024) indicated that the workbook is effective in increasing forgiveness, reducing anxiety, reducing depression, increasing hope, and increasing flourishing. What incredible and inspiring results!
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With generous funding from Bancel Philanthropies and the Kern Family Foundation, the Human Flourishing Program has launched the Global Forgiveness Movement. As part of the Movement, we have adapted the workbook for churches and enhanced the design to make it more accessible. We are thrilled to get this workbook in your hands!

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Warmly,

Ev and Tyler