Belle Liang
Author, Professor, Clinical Psychologist


Dr. Belle Liang is a professor of counseling, developmental, and educational psychology at Boston College, a licensed clinical psychologist, and an expert in positive youth development. She and Timothy Klein are the co-authors of How to Navigate Life.

Belle Liang is an American Psychological Association Fellow. She received a Distinguished Alumni Award and The Many Faces of Counseling Psychology Award for outstanding contributions in psychology. She has also received numerous honors for teaching and mentoring. The Purpose Lab, founded by Dr. Liang, specializes in  youth purpose intervention and research. The lab’s mission is to advance the science and practice of mentoring and cultivating purpose in schools and workplaces.

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HARDCOVER
How to Navigate LifeThe New Science of Finding Your Way in School, Career, and Beyond
St. Martin's Press

An essential guide to tackling what students, families, and educators can do now to cut through stress and performance pressure, and find a path to purpose.
Navigating An Uncertain Future: Applying The New Science of Purpose In School & Life Children are innately purposeful: They are intrinsically motivated to engage in the world. As parents, our role isn’t to find our kids’ purpose, but to cultivate it in a world obsessed with performance. Two award-winning educators share evidence-based best practices to guide parents of children, teens, or college students in a rapidly changing world. In keynotes or interactive workshops, parents and educators will be introduced to five principles of purpose and learn how they can support young people in cultivating purpose their academic and career journeys.
From Surviving to Thriving: How Purpose & Belonging Informed Education Can Combat the Great Resignation Even pre-pandemic, many people were working harder than ever to get ahead in the workplace, while feeling disengaged and questioning their purpose and calling. Covid-19 amplified these struggles, especially in education. Dr. Belle Liang and Timothy Klein, LCSW devote their careers both to training educators and to cutting through the daily pressures to show a better way, a framework, and set of questions to help educators reclaim their “true north”: the intrinsically motivating and noble aspirations that drew them to the field of education in the first place. Liang and Klein will reveal the real cause of the teacher burnout crisis. Here’s a hint: it’s not the long hours, or the demands from students and parents. It’s the emotional exhaustion that arises from a sense of powerlessness and meaninglessness. Thankfully, there is hope. When we tap into the science of purpose, research shows it makes educators more engaged in their work, more resilient in the face of daily stressors and more likely to education work as their calling.

Read about Belle Liang presenting on “How to Navigate Life” and focusing on finding the right path and making the best decisions possible.

Take a look at Boston Colleges article about How to Navigate Life.

"[Dr. Liang's] presentation was so meaningful and gave our community hope and much more to consider."
- Anne Stricherz, St. Ignatius College Prep