Welcome to the Resilience Research Lab

We are a research lab in the Psychology department at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The lab supports student research, and is also a site for the International Resilience Project.

What are the goals of the Resilience Research Lab? 

There are a number of goals, the first is to support students in developing solid research in the area of resilience, giving them all the rich experiences of being part of the resilience research community, and contributing to the understanding of resilience. 

In the broader context, we want to share our knowledge of research and help to foster resilience in our community. We pursue this goal by partnering with members in the community who help at-risk children by developing existing programs that promote factors contributing to resilience. Furthermore, the importance of developing preventative programs is targeted by building the skills and supports within the family and community before children are faced with adversity. We don’t want to catch these vulnerable children after the fact, as they are struggling down the raging river. We want to catch them before they are pushed into that river, to give them support to get out of the river safely. To this end, we have formed a Community Advisory Board, consisting of members, from the local community, who work with children and families.