Key points
- Prilleltensky’s legacy has changed and can still change how we promote well-being in daily life and policy.
- His legacy encourages us to focus on bottom-up community interventions, where more voices are included.
- His legacy reminds us that we need to align with human values if we want the promotion of well-being to work.
May 7, 2026.I was finding my way into the crowds at Dublin Airport, rushed by the weight of the kilted bag in my hurt hand and the pace of the passersby. As I checked my phone to trace the gate number, a text message poured freezing water into my heart: “Dear friend! I have sad news! Isaac P passed away yesterday,” said Ottar Ness
Isaac Prilleltensky held a guest professorship position at NTNU, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, my alma mater, and the institution where I had just returned to work part-time, highly motivated to continue my work and mentorship with him and Ottar. I knew he was unwell, yet the resilient tone in our last email made me fall into the fallacy that all those whom we admire are immortal. And they are, somehow; may their legacy stay alive in us
Isaac changed the lives and work of academics worldwide by challenging us to comprehend well-being in the light of power dynamics and social justice. For instance, he encouraged well-being researchers to focus on SPEC—strengths, prevention, empowerment, and community change[1]—transforming how well-being interventions are designed, evaluated, and translated into policy. In collaboration with NTNU WellFare, his ideas even inspired the World Health Organization’s work on well-being economies[2].
Whether you have heard of Isaac Prilleltensky or not, he might have already had an impact on the ways well-being is promoted in your city or your country, without you even having been aware of it. He can still change your life for the better, or even encourage you to become a changemaker, if you dare to get closer to his legacy. There are at least three ways in which his work might have made or can make your life more meaningful
He dared to challenge mainstream systems, and so could you
Isaac Prilleltensky was not only a community psychologist but also a critical theorist[3]. He advocated for more voices to be heard in the decisions that matter to the personal, relational, and collective dimensions of their everyday lives[4]. As obvious as it sounds, the idea of being heard prior to others making decisions that affect us is an approach that opposes some of the premises many “experts” still stand by, comfortably supporting top-down decisions that leave contextual richness at the doorstep of university labs. In contrast, Isaac’s legacy has made it easier for policymakers and research boards to understand why we need continuous user experience and systemic comprehension of everyday life contexts when planning, executing, or assessing community interventions.
He wanted human values at the core—which ones matter the most for you?
Isaac Prilleltensky’s approach to community psychology is an invitation to lift the conversation about ethics and morals when promoting well-being. A values-based approach to well-being is far from toxic positivity stances that idealize harmony and joy; it requires us to point at conflicting values in processes and decisions, incongruences in what is preached but not lived through, and the humility to begin anew and strive for a sense of personal and collective congruence as we build up, together, societies where the common good is promoted from the inside out. Bringing values to the core of it all calls for awareness, and awareness sparks with critical questions that invite us out of our comfort zones.
He brought common sense to the core of well-being
Isaac Prilleltensky wanted to make common sense a common practice in the ways we think and do psychology. He reminds us that we all deserve a good life. However, not all of us have the same opportunities to achieve such a sense of well-being, and we can also disagree upon what a good life is about and how to achieve it. Prilleltensky’s work revolves around three words that simplify the understanding of, and thus also the tasks involved in, promoting well-being: mattering, wellness, and fairness[5].
In a nutshell, to experience well-being, we need to feel that we matter to others, that we have a place around the table where we can actively contribute, and where our contributions are appreciated and included[6]. Then, we also need to perceive that the positives count more than the negatives in our lives, that our emotional bank account of joyful experiences is not emptied out by instances of suffering that outweigh them[7]. Then, we need to experience fairness, a sense of justice in the ways we are treated, and a belief that power structures can be challenged democratically so that there is consciousness of the privileges and disadvantages of community members, and that the common good is fostered inclusively[8].
Whenever I find myself in days of struggle, making sense of moral injuries in our politics, or in the very perils of being an academic in times like ours, I find counsel in Isaac’s work, asking myself: Where do I feel I matter as a person? What gives me wellness? Where am I treated fairly?
And vice versa: In which areas of my life have people intended to make me feel an outsider and dismissed my input? Where, in my life, do I feel exhaustion? What makes me suffer and steals my opportunities for joy? And what are the injustices that hurt me the most?
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These questions have helped me gain clarity about my moral compass and the values I want to align with in my daily life. These or similar questions might help you strive for personal, relational, and collective actions that are congruent with the human values that most matter to you. This was Isaac’s hope for us to achieve, one daily practice of social justice at a time, the common good we all know is possible
Acknowledgments:Thanks to Ottar Ness for his feedback and contribution in shaping this text, as we mourn together the loss of a dear colleague and mentor
[1]https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10852352.2011.530166
[2]https://www.ntnu.edu/ipl/wellfare/whocc
[3]https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f692d0b10e9d837b82a3fde/t/5f9f1c6124342c46dec452f9/1604263009658/31.-Critical-Psychology-Foundations-for-the-Promotion-of-Mental-Health.pdf
[4]https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2023-61304-001.pdf
[5]https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000668
