Resiliency (Core Competencies: 1.3; 1.9; 1.10; 2.1; 2.5; 2.6; 3.7; 4.4; 4.10)
Resiliency can be defined as the ability to overcome challenges of all kinds and to bounce back stronger, wiser, and more powerful. People bounce back in two ways: they draw upon their own internal resources and/or they encounter people, organizations, and activities that provide them with the conditions that support resilience. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says that protective factors are characteristics associated with a lower likelihood of negative outcomes or that reduce a risk factor’s impact. Protective factors may be seen as positive countering events. Many protective factors exist within these internal and external conditions. • In relationships : risk factors include parents who use drugs and alcohol or who suffer from mental illness, child abuse and maltreatment, and inadequate supervision. In this context, parental involvement is an example of a protective factor. • In communities : risk factors include neighborhood poverty and violence. Here, protective factors could include the availability of faith-based resources and after-school activities. • In society : risk factors can include norms and laws favorable to substance use, as well as racism and a lack of economic opportunity. Protective factors in this context would include hate crime laws or policies limiting the availability of alcohol. Peer support matters. A recent study of adult resilience showed that supportive relationships, opportunities to engage with community, and people to look up to during childhood (among other protective factors) reduced by half—from 29% to 14%—the adult prevalence rate of mental illness. Certified peer specialists are in an ideal position to create and foster some of the protective factors that increase a person’s resilience.
VIDEO: “How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime” - Nadine Burke Harris
https://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affect s_health_across_a_lifetime?language=en
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