Why resilience is a skill all children should be taught
The most recent Public Health England survey of the mental health of children and young people in Great Britain found that up to 25% of children show signs of mental health problems with more than half of those issues continuing through into adulthood.
Emotional resilience, the ability to adapt to challenging and stressful situations without lasting difficulties, can be impacted on by a number of what we call 'risk factors’.
These could be to do with the family environment, the influences and messages around the child, the child themselves, or their school. Its important to look at the bigger picture.
It is not always possible to reduce the risk factors, but it is possible to increase the 'protective factors' which make it more likely that a child or young person will bounce back from adversity or challenges. It is not about removing risk, it is more about shoring up the resources to deal with it.
Want to learn strategies for building resilience? These are explored in detail on our Developing Emotional Resilience in Children and Young People course.