What is resilience?
Resilience is a personality trait that is commonly referred to as the ability to “bounce back” in the face of adversity and has become an important component in the theory of wellbeing.
Why is resilience so important for healthy functioning and early intervention?
Resilience skills can be developed by enhancing 3 core mechanisms; Sense of Mastery - a young person’s self-perception of competence or self-efficacy, Sense of Relatedness – a young person’s self-perception of their ability to engage in positive relationships, Emotional Reactivity – a young person’s negative emotional response.
Having these skills can prevent young people from avoiding adverse situations due to the fear of not being able to cope, which could have a damaging effect of removing the opportunity to develop the emotional and social skills that contribute towards establishing the resilience required for healthy functioning.
What can teachers do to improve and support resilience of the young people they support?
A core component of resilience is. Talk to the class about how it is normal for our emotions to change over the day as we experience different stresses.
3 top tips!
- Build feelings of competence and a sense of mastery in the children you work with. Solidify the feeling that reminds them they can do hard things
- Nurture optimism: Optimism has been found to be one of the key characteristics of resilient people
- Sticking to a routine can be comforting to children, especially younger children who crave structure in their lives.
