Resilience
I just finished reading a great article on resilience along with viewing 3 videos (2 from Dr. Dan Siegel) about the subject. First let’s start with what is resilience?
Resilience – What is it?
Resilience can be defined as the ability to recover quickly from difficulties while maintaining optimism for the future. When adults or children are traumatized, some tend to get stuck in contemplating that event. Resilience is about hope and a positive future and focuses our attention not on what could have been, but on what we can create for ourselves and our loved ones. Resilience often is about caring for ourselves and our loved ones, and asking for help when we need it.
It was once thought that resiliency was something that all children and youth had and that they could recover from trauma without much help. The latest research and evidence demonstrates that children and youth need the support of caring adults to help overcome and buffer the impact of trauma. There is nothing more powerful to a child or adolescent’s healthy development than a great relationship with an adult. Research is clear on the link between access to caring adults and a child’s success in life. It is important to ensure children have access to a mentor or other healthy adult who can provide support and skill development through modeling, teaching and relationship.
Higher and Lower Brain Parts
The first video is a short one from Dr. Dan Siegel on the concept of the higher and lower brain parts and how he explains them to a child.
Flipping your Lid
The second video is more information concerning “flipping your lid”. Dr. Siegel goes through multiple functions that the upstairs brain regulates, some of them are:
- Regulation of our body
- The ability to tune in to other people
- Empathy for other people
- Response flexibility
- Ability to calm fear
Help to respond positively
The last video was from the Center for the Developing Child. The biggest take away for me about this video was how we can aid the shifting of the “fulcrum” toward or away from responding in a positive manner or a negative one. We can help slide the responses toward the positive by:
- having responsive relationships
- being skilled caregivers
- Teaching coping skills to help manage stress
Dan Siegel’s work provides us with new insights for treating adults and children. At FCCC therapists are life long learners which enables us to give people paths to health. Click to view another blog about “upstairs and downstairs” brain.
Thanks for reading our blog, have a great day.
