Resilience
What is it?
Resilience is the ability to bounce back when something goes wrong or doesn’t go our way. It is not something we are born with it is something that is learnt over time through our relationships with others. Children who develop a healthy mind-set have better life outcomes.
Why are some of us more resilient than others?
Think of resilience as a seesaw or balance scale, where negative experiences tip the scale toward bad outcomes, and positive experiences tip it toward good outcomes. The fulcrum, the central point of our seesaw is our capacity for resilience. For some of us, the fulcrum is moved towards the negative outcomes due to our life experiences; poverty, lack of housing, ACES therefore making us less resilient. This means we need lots of positive experiences to create more leverage to balance it out. The fulcrum is not stuck in this imbalance towards negative outcomes, over time and with supportive and positive relationships it can move back towards the centre.
Image source – Alberta Family Wellness Brains: Journey to resilience
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
Watch this video to understand further the science of resilience, see how genes and experience interact to produce positive outcomes for children.
How do we develop resilience?
When we reflect back on the seesaw, we can see that when an individual experiences protective factors they can build resilience. There are many protective factors including; exercise, healthy food, access to services, good education, connected relationships, a safe home etc. As childcare professionals we may not have opportunities to support children and our families with all these areas but we do work within a wider support network and have access to Family Support services who can. With lots of continued support over time a period of time we can impact change for our children and families.
Connection
Being in tune
Emotion coaching
Emotionally available adult
Family Support
Early Learning Contacts
Nicola Theobald, Lead for Early Years Partnerships
Kate Hubble, Early Years Improvement Officer
Kate Irvine, Early Years Improvement Officer, Early Years Consultant
Beth Osborne, Early Years Consultant
Ali Carrington, Early Years Consultant