Frequently Asked Questions

A FlourishIQ course is a toolkit, not a lecture series. Each one is a curated set of evidence-based psychological tools — short, practical exercises, assessments and reflections — assembled into a structured journey. You don't just learn about wellbeing; you practise it, tool by tool, and track your own growth as you go.

Potential-Optimising Factors (POFs) are the inner capacities that quietly determine how well you live, learn and perform — things like hope, resilience, optimism, focus, gratitude, connection, and meaning. They aren't fixed traits you're simply born with; they're skills you can deliberately strengthen. Every FlourishIQ course is built to develop a particular set of them.

Because flourishing isn't information you download once — it's a set of capacities you build and keep in shape.

Your Potential-Optimising Factors work like physical fitness: they're strengthened through repeated practice, and they fade through neglect.

You can't get fit by reading about exercise once, and you can't stay fit without returning to it. The same is true here. A full year gives you the one thing that actually creates change — time to work through the tools, return to them, and run them again. It's the difference between skimming a book and living with it.

Benjamin Franklin understood this. He didn't read his thirteen virtues once and consider himself improved — he cycled through them, week after week, for years, treating character as a practice rather than a fact. A year of access is what makes that kind of deliberate, repeated work possible. You're not buying a document; you're buying a season of practice.

Absolutely — every course is self-paced, so you can move as fast or as slowly as suits you. But the real value isn't in finishing; it's in returning. Most people get the most from a course by working through it once to get the lay of the land, then revisiting the tools that matter most to them across the year, as life gives them reasons to.

Whatever you've internalised is yours to keep — that doesn't expire. Your access to the course runs to the end of its last day and closes the next morning; we email you 14 days before and again on the last day. Nothing you wrote is deleted: renew any time and the course reopens with your saved work and progress intact, for another 12 months counted from the later of the day you renew and the day your access ends — so renewing early loses you nothing.

No. Each course stands on its own, and within a course you're free to follow the structured path or dip into the tools you need most. Start wherever your life is asking you to.

97 courses across nine categories — student success, wellbeing (PERMAH), whole-life flourishing, brain health, personal growth, the Achor happiness arc, resilience & mental wellness, work & leadership, and sport & movement. Browse them all on the course catalogue, or let the course finder suggest where to start.

Yes. Any course that is for sale can be tried free for 24 hours: the whole course, with a free account and no card. Each course can be tried once, one at a time, and up to three in any 30 days. Everything you write is kept, so if you buy the course it carries on where you left off. Start from the Try it free for 24 hours button on a course page. The full conditions are in our Terms, section 2a.

Yes. These courses began as a university curriculum, embedded at Stellenbosch University since 2018 and refined with successive cohorts of students. See the research & impact page for where they're used and where the work has been presented.

Buying a course gives you that course for a year. Membership is a relaxed monthly way to build a library over time: each month you add one new course of your choice and keep full access to it while you remain a member. Buy a course when you know exactly what you want; choose membership when you'd like to explore.

Yes — cancel from your member area whenever you like. Billing stops immediately and you keep full access until the end of the period you've already paid for. No lock-in.

Card payments are processed securely by PayFast for FlourishTalk, the name on your statement. Prices are in South African rand. We never see or store your card details.

No. A course is a one-time annual purchase — it does not auto-renew. You decide whether to renew at the end of the year. (Only the optional monthly membership is a recurring subscription, and you can cancel that anytime.)

For genuine cases — a duplicate or erroneous charge, or a technical fault that stops you accessing what you paid for — yes. Because the content is digital and delivered immediately, courses that have been substantially worked through aren't refundable. Full details are in our refund policy.

Yes — group orders let you buy course seats for several people at once with volume discounts, enrolling them by email or handing out redeemable codes. There's also group membership for prepaid membership across a group.

Yes — what has worked at Stellenbosch since 2018 can be brought to your institution. Start with the evidence page, then email info@flourishiq.co.za and we'll talk about the right fit for your students.

No. FlourishIQ provides educational, evidence-informed wellbeing tools. It is not therapy, counselling or medical advice, and is not a substitute for professional care. If you're struggling or have a health concern, please reach out to a qualified professional or your local emergency services.

FlourishIQ was created by Dr Alten du Plessis, drawing on years of positive-psychology research and practice at Stellenbosch University. It's part of a family of wellbeing brands alongside FlourishTalk and InspireWell4Life. Read more in the Founder's Reflections.

Yes — our affiliate programme pays commission when people you refer enrol, across the whole family of brands on one balance.