What is Resilience?

The ability to bounce back in the face of adversity; positive adaptation in the context of significant adversity or risk; successful adaptation despite challenging or threatening circumstances; good developmental outcomes despite high-risk status, sustained competence under stress and recovery from trauma (Werner et al, 1995).

What are types of adversity or risk?

If we look around the world, children are faced with trying to survive through wars, acts of genocide, like those seen in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Ivory Coast, and Iraq. These children have had to deal with the death of their parents from HIV/AIDS, losing their families, friends and homes through natural disasters like the Tsunami of 2004 or Hurricane Katrina. Furthermore, children are affected by a lack of education that is evident in places like India, Africa and Cambodia. Closer to home, we have children who grow up in an environment where they experience neglect, even abuse. Some witness domestic violence and have parents who suffer from psychopathology or drug abuse. Others experience a family breaking up, or they suffer their own illnesses, whether it is physical or psychological, and where they face high levels of poverty. Not surprisingly, some children do not recover well from these adversities, yet others do. We have children who are not only surviving, but also thriving, growing into adulthood with a sense of excitement and hope, looking toward the future despite facing potentially overwhelming challenges. 

In order to help these children, to advocate for them and help them become their own advocates; we need to continue to look at how we can help foster resilience. 

Over the last twenty years, this issue has been investigated by social workers, psychologists, sociologists, and educators. Many longitudinal studies have been conducted including the classic study by Emmy Werner and colleagues (1968) on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. Furthermore, the International Resilience Project (IRP), based in Halifax, Nova Scotia at Dalhousie University, is studying the topic of resilience around the world. In particular, the IRP is investigating resilience within the context of values and expectations of the community and culture. Along the same lines, we want to study and contribute to resilience in our community.

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.