For example, Karen Hayes, a life coach in Toronto, conducts knitting therapy programs, including Knit to Quit to help smokers give up the habit, and Knit to Heal for people coping with health crises, like a cancer diagnosis or serious illness of a family

Psychologists are finding that hope plays a surprisingly vital role in giving people a measurable advantage in rounds as diverse as academic achievement, bearing up in tough jobs, and coping with tragic illness.