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Resilience in Looked After Children

Psychological resilience is the ability to bounce back and recover from difficult experiences. Therefore, building resilience in looked after children is a vital skill for carers and workers as we support these young people to recover from multiple episodes of trauma, adversity and stress. Fortunately for all of us, resilience is a skill so it is something we can all learn.

In this article, we seek to cover the following areas, as well as providing accessible face-to-face and online training on the subject.

How can we develop Resilience?
Resilience in Looked After Children
Who can help to build the resilience of a child or young person in care?
Next steps – relevant training and resources

Many young people and adults need help developing their resilience at various times in life. Everybody has a breaking point, and even naturally resilient people can be worn down by regular negative experiences. Therefore, developing resilience skills offers healthier ways to move through adversity, helping people to cope better and recover faster.

How can we develop Resilience?

‘SkillsYouNeed.com’ describes the four ingredients of resilience as:[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1554820048868{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]

1 – Awareness: noticing what is going on around you and inside your head.
2 – Thinking: being able to interpret the events that are going on rationally.
3 – Reaching out: how we call upon others to help us meet the challenges that we face because resilience is also about knowing when to ask for help.
4 – Fitness: our mental and physical ability to cope with the challenges without becoming ill.

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•  Face-to-face training
•  E-learning module
•  More tips for resilience building
•  The Resilience formula
•  The Art of Resilience
•  A Resilience talk by Tanya Byron

[/mk_custom_list][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1554817060169{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]We suggest that an extension of “Thinking” above is the ability to re-frame how we think about particular events or experiences.

“Do you conceptualise an event as traumatic, or as an opportunity to learn and grow?” (New Yorker, The Secret formula for Resilience) In other words, sometimes it is possible to re-frame how we think about things in a way that makes it easier for us to recover.

“Living through adversity, be it endemic to your environment or an acute negative event, doesn’t guarantee that you’ll suffer going forward. What matters is whether that adversity becomes traumatising.”
(New Yorker, The Secret formula for Resilience)

Resilience in Looked After Children

Developing resilience is considered to be so crucial for Looked after Children that training on how to do this is now mandatory for all foster carers. At Social Care Training Solutions we offer this course alongside fifty other mandatory courses and additional courses as part of our Foster Care & Social Worker Prospectus.

Who can help to build the resilience of a child or young person in care?

You can!

Foster carers, adopters, parents, keyworkers and childcare practitioners are well positioned to help young people in care to develop resilience skills. They can provide positive, caring relationships, promote self-esteem, encourage access to support, and help guide the young person through their thoughts and emotions in beneficial ways. You can get started now with our e-learning module or drop us a line to discuss face-to-face training: admin@socialcaretrainingsolutions.com.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]