Resilient Engagement

There are many ways to define “resilience;” however, it’s quite simply “the ability to adapt successfully to even very difficult circumstances” (Butcher, Mineka, Hooley, Taylor, & Antony, 2007)*. In Abnormal Psychology, the authors described people who have developed resilience as having the ability to attain:

1. Good outcomes despite high-risk status
2. Sustained competence under threat
3. Recovery from trauma

It’s important to develop our own resilience to face the challenges and stress in both our professional and personal life. The good news is that even if we did not have the opportunity to develop resilience early on, we can still develop it at any age and time. Organizations are increasingly understanding the importance of fostering resilience in their employee. Life Strategies recently supported one organization in implementing workplace resilience training to enhance the mental and psychological well-being of all staff, as well as improve performance.

The 8-week, online program covers topics such as crafting your personal definition of resiliency, exploring the realities of your workplace, analysing your strengths, developing personal strategies to build resilience, organizational strategies to build resilience, and tying it all together. Each week, students:

1. Reflect on an opening prompt/quote setting the context for that week’s topic
2. Watch an introductory video providing a brief overview of relevant concepts
3. Read various resources exploring more deeply concepts introduced in the video
4. Respond to an offline activity applying concepts within student’s own context
5. Discuss through online, interactive forums exploring ideas and experiences with other students

Students’ learning bridges into a capstone project providing the opportunity to craft a customized action plan, building from their personal resiliency definition and analysis of resiliency strengths/challenges.

* Butcher, J. N., Mineka, S., Hooley, J. M., Taylor, S., & Antony, M. M. (2007). Abnormal Psychology (Canadian Edition). Toronto, Canada: Pearson.

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