Resilience approaches in school Professor Angie Hart Boingboing social enterprise/University of Brighton

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Resilience approaches in schoolProfessor Angie
HartBoingboing social enterprise/University of
Brighton
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What do we want to do today?

• Using resilience ideas in schools
• Focusing on complex needs
• What is resilience?
• The approach we use to resilience building
• Practical resilience-based approaches for schools

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Resilience is about...

• Bouncing back/up
• Doing better than you think you would be doing in
  the circumstances
• Nurturing potential not something you are just
  born with

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• resilience is evident where people with
  persistently few assets and resources, and major
  vulnerabilities have better outcomes than we
  might expect given their circumstances, and in
  comparison to what we know happens with other
  children or adults in their contexts (p. 10).
  Hart, Blincow, with Thomas. (2007)

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Believe in the almost impossible
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• 'I bumped into George's old primary school
  teacher the other day. I told her that George had
  left school now and was doing a plumbing
  apprenticeship. She couldn't believe it. "Would
  have thought he'd have ended up in prison" she
  said.
• Teacher.
• Good to see that Carl is on the school
  maintenance committee and has helped us paint
  those walls. Hed be getting up to all sorts of
  mischief at the weekend if he wasnt doing this,
  and its great for his CV
• School caretaker.

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CAPABILITY AND RESILIENCE BEATING THE ODDS

• FIGURE 1 IDENTIFICATION OF RESILIENCE

Outcome Adversity Adversity
Outcome Low High
Positive Favourable experience of life B. Resilience Unexpected positive outcome
Negative Unexpected negative outcome D. Risk and vulnerability
(reference and downloadable copy
www.ucl.ac.uk/capabilityandresilience.
Capability and Resilience Beating the Odds
Edited by Professor Mel Bartley, published by
UCL Dept Epidemiology and Public Health on behalf
of the ESRC Priority Network on Capability and
Resilience (2003-2007). )
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In the context of adversity,

• Resilience is
• First, the capacity of individuals to navigate to
  resources that sustain well-being
• Second, the capacity of individuals physical and
  social ecologies to provide those resources
• and
• Third, the capacity of individuals, their
  families and communities to negotiate culturally
  meaningful ways for resources to be shared.

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Resilient moves

• The kinds of things we need to make happen (e.g.
  events, parenting strategies, relationships,
  resources) to help children manage life when its
  tough. Plus ways of thinking and acting that we
  need ourselves if we want to make things better
  for children.Source Aumann and Hart 2009

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Findings resilient commonsense?

• Intelligence
• good looks
• good education
• ability to problem solve
• decent standard of living
• love and sense of belonging
• having had great parenting

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Still commonsense?

• opportunities to contribute
• sense of purpose
• realising or setting up a talent/healthy interest
• a sense of self-efficacy
• reflective self-functioning
• one good adult role model, preferably over time
• having a coherent autobiographical narrative
• Self-soothing/flow

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Findings Key resilience capacities

• Individual self-esteem (7), autonomy (6),
  problem-solving (4), goals (6), sense of purpose
  (5), skills (8)
• Interpersonal empathy (8), caring (5), social
  competence (8)
• Family connectedness (8), bond with adult (7),
  positive peer relationships (7)
• Community social support (7), community
  connectedness (7), school connectedness (4)

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Findings Types of things people have done

• Flavour of schools based interventions in a
  review weve done
• Range psychosocial group2, dance/drama
  competition4, skills training3, curriculum
  modification5,6 (2), recreation9,11 (2), teacher
  training1,12 (2), work experience10, tailored to
  individual7,8 (2)
• Intensity from 12 x 1hr sessions over 5.5 mths8
  to 1 week residential9
• Country USA2,3,7 (3), Australia4,5 (2), South
  Africa6,8,11,12 (4), Russia9, Israel1,
  Scotland10, Zambia11
• Sample size 2-1449
• Example strategies ccomplementary skills groups
  for kids, parents teachers 2 role-playing new
  skills3 reward points systems7

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Complex needs specific esp LDs

• Much less published on this
• Ferreyra, USA 2001 Facilitated group one-to-one
  counselling life-skills substance use
  prevention disability awareness rights adult
  female disabled role models responsive
  curriculum (1-3hrs a week for 2 yrs)
• Theron, SA 2006 School-based individualised
  program group therapy art, music, CBT,
  resilience curriculum, visualisation, role-play

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• Innovative, evidence-based strategies
• Evoking images of family, obligation and
  responsibility2
• Vocational training field trips3
• Mountaineering survival skills9
• Organising a dance competition for younger
  children10
• Using same reward points system across home
  school environments7
• Peer-pressure limbo dancing11
• School-family-community veggie garden12

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A Revised Model of Social Ecology Small things
can make a big difference
Macro-systemic level
Micro-systemic level
Meso-systemic level
Exo-systemic level
A Hierarchical Social Ecology
A Complex Social Ecology
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Resilience Lets Get Real!
Professor Angie Hart

• Some kids do better than others having had very
  similar disadvantages in life one thing that
  you do could make a big difference
• Resilience gives us a framework within which to
  plan positive chain reactions and to fight back
  from negative chain reactions
• A resilient approach gives kids the opportunity
  to reinvent themselves
• For young people doing risky things it is
  especially helpful to get some protective
  processes going
• We need to focus on the fine grain management
  of effective detail
• Use the resilience evidence base to challenge
  custom and practice in policy and organisations
• There is hope for everybody! Every little can
  help.

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Suggest

• Understand resilience for yourself and others you
  work with - dont individualise resilience
• Be energised by complexity
• Acceptance planning for, hoping not
• Prioritise what we know probably works
• Make every thing you do a resilient move
• Try to include YP and parents/carers in
  resilience initiatives

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• A positive adult role model
• A couple of good hobbies
• Doing good for someone, at least once a week
• Steer towards positive kids
• Develop problem-solving skills
• Autobiographical narrative find two
  positives
• Point out meaning and joy in three small things
• Keep their future in mind and help them to, too
• Tackle inequalities in their life
• Attend to your own resilience
• If at first you dont succeed, try again later

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• Talk about a difficult child with complex needs
  with whom you work (or know)
• Share information about the childs problems and
  risks she/he faces (please change identifying
  information)

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• What personal and social/economic/political
  resources are realistically accessible to this
  child/family?
• Given the context in which the child lives how is
  he or she doing when compared with other young in
  similar circumstances?
• Given the childs strengths and access to
  resources in his/her family and community, how
  does the child cope (sustain well-being)?

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Resilient Therapy (RT)(Hart Blincow 2007)

• RT strategically harnesses selected therapeutic
  principles and techniques
• Ecological
• Originally developed in relation to children,
  families and young people
• Now exploring relevance beyond that (adults
  communities)
• Developed for use across contexts and by
  different practitioners, including parents and
  young people themselves
• Designed to work with people as co-collaborators
  in the development of the methodology rather than
  as recipients
• Is user-friendly and readily accessible you
  dont need a lengthy specialised training
• Non-pathologising upbuilding
• Focuses on complex children and young people
  living in challenging circumstances

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Resilience Lets Get Real!
Professor Angie Hart
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Resilience Lets Get Real !
Professor Angie Hart
Further reading

• Hart, A. and Blincow, D. with Thomas, H. (2007)
  Resilient Therapy Working with children and
  families. London Routledge
• Aumann, K. and Hart, A. (2009) Helping children
  with complex needs bounce back Resilient Therapy
  for parents and professionals. London Jessica
  Kingsley
• Email a.hart_at_brighton.ac.uk /
• Website www.boingboing.org.uk
• Tedexhttp//www.youtube.com/watch?vXPUzjyAoOK4