1. Building Resiliency in Children
The Magic Ingredient for a Successful Prevention Program

2. Mary Migliaro, M.Ed. Woodstock, Georgia missionpossibleconsulting.com
Presented by:
Mary Migliaro, M.Ed. Woodstock, Georgia missionpossibleconsulting.com

3. Anne Frank’s Diary
I have lots of courage, I always feel so strong and as if I can bear a great deal, I feel so free and so young! I was glad when I first realized it, because I don’t think I shall easily bow down before the blows that inevitably come to everyone.
(1944)

4. Questions
Why are some children able to overcome extreme circumstances while others are not?
Why do some children have the ability to bounce back from adversity while others are defeated by the mildest setbacks?

5. Resilience!

6. What is resilience?
Psychologists use the word resilience to describe the ability to overcome adversity.
Resilience refers to patterns of positive adaptation in the context of past or present adversity.

7. Rubber Band Kids

8. What does resilience look like?
Resilience is really a group of personal strengths that include:
Social competence
Problem solving
Autonomy
Sense of purpose

9. Social Competence Responsiveness Communication Empathy, caring
Compassion, altruism, forgiveness

10. Problem Solving Planning Flexibility Resourcefulness
Critical thinking, insight

11. Autonomy Positive identity Internal locus of control, initiative
Self-efficacy, mastery
Adaptive distancing, resistance
Self-awareness, mindfulness
Humor

12. Sense of Purpose
Goal direction, achievement motivation, educational aspirations
Special interests, creativity, imagination
Optimism, hope
Faith, spirituality, sense of meaning

13. Are we born with resilience?
We are all born with an innate capacity for resilience.
The strength of our resiliency depends on identified risk factors as well as our protective factors.

14. How is resilience built?

15. What does the research tell us about resilience?
Initial research dealt with traditional “risk factors” that included:
Poverty
Abandonment
Neighborhood violence
Low social status, etc.

16. Risk Factor Areas
Family – poverty, minority race, illness or death of a parent, etc.
School – overcrowding, high student-teacher ratios, etc.
Community – high mobility rates, high levels of neighborhood crime/violence, etc.

17. Prevention 101
Many prevention programs developed decades ago focused solely on education, ignoring risk or protective factors in an attempt to be successful.
Examples: DARE, Just Say NO, Scared Straight, etc.

18. Longitudinal Studies
Over the last several decades, a number of studies have followed children and their families for years. They discovered that the vast majority of children survive and thrive in the face of adversity, often without intervention.

19. The studies showed…
Protective factors buffer the effect of adversity and appear to predict positive outcomes in anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of a “high-risk” population.

20. In fact, about 70 to 75% of “at risk” children will overcome those risk factors and have a good outcome.

21. Lives Changed

22. Protective Factors
Over the last several decades or so, researchers have begun to take into consideration protective factors in the areas of family, school, and community.
Let’s explore…

23. Family
School
Community

24. Family Protective Factors
Bond with child
Nurture & protect
Parenting style
Values
Encourage education
Manage stress
Spending time with child a priority
Supportive relationships with extended family
Seek professional support when needed

25. School Protective Factors
Express positive expectations
Encourage goal-setting & mastery
Provide leadership opportunities
Involves parents
Fosters active involvement
Trains teachers in cooperative learning
Involves parents
Staff models pro-social behavior

26. Community Protective Factors
Opportunities for families to participate
Youth involved in community services
Provides social and health networks
Health, safety, & quality of life a priority for families
Access provided to resources including health care, job training, recreation, etc.

27. Who needs our help the most?
In working with “at risk” populations, we need to carefully assess both the risk factors and all available protective factors. Those children and families with fewer protective factors will benefit most by positive interventions.

28. How does it work?
Building resilience alters our belief about an adverse event or circumstance which will, in turn, improve the consequence from the adversity. Thus, how we react will change even if the adverse event cannot be changed.

29. How can we alter our thinking?
By developing new thinking skills and finding a different way of looking at adversity.

30. We develop new thinking skills by…
Recognizing that our beliefs about adversity affect how we feel and consequently what we do
Challenging our beliefs about why things happen (uncovering our thinking style)
Developing an awareness of common thinking traps or errors

31. Thinking Skills (cont’d.)
Understanding that our core beliefs about the world may be preventing us from taking opportunities
Gathering evidence to dispute/support beliefs; generating other alternatives

32. Thinking Skills (cont’d.)
Putting stresses/adversities into perspective
Calming and focusing
Voices for Children - Canada

33. How can we build resiliency in children?
By “building” better parents!
When working with parents, help them learn the skills to building resiliency in their children.

34. Parenting Skills Teaching children problem-solving skills
Encouraging children to express their feelings
Implement “family time” to promote relaxing, constructive interactions

35. Give children meaningful responsibility to foster self-esteem
Practice optimistic thinking
Set realistically high expectations
Learn to set realistic limits and be consistent in enforcing them

36. What else can we as service providers do?
Treat the family as a system of interdependent members
Provide safe, nurturing, and consistent intervention and/or treatment environments

37. Model appropriate interpersonal behaviors
Build skills in self-care, coping, safety, and interpersonal communication.

38. How can we help children increase their resilience?
Increase parental support and abilities
Provide mentors
Work with schools and community to decrease risk factors and increase protective factors

39. The Secret Ingredient Formula
Excellent prevention program +
Families with children +
Increasing protective factors =
Stronger & more resilient kids!