Resilience is described as our capacity to bounce back from stress, trauma, and adversity. Protective factors during childhood, such as adequate caregiving and regulatory capacity, a sense of efficacy, belonging, support in times of need, help to develop this capacity.  However, resilience is best described not as a trait or fixed ability but as a dynamic process that can be nurtured and strengthened at any age through awareness, intention and practice.

The first steps involve learning to identify current triggers, regulate dysregulated arousal, and return to normal functioning. Those who go beyond these first steps are able not only to cope and recover, but to grow and thrive, discovering that stress, adversity and even trauma can catalyze personal and collective transformation.

In this webcast, the ongoing effects of past, current and recurrent trauma, including the pandemic, racialized trauma, and oppression, will be addressed, and the physical correlates of surviving and growing from adversity will be clarified.

A variety of skills will be explored:

• regulatory skills to implement in the face of ongoing stress and adversity
  
• attentional skills to interrupt detrimental patterns and foster new ones
  
• physical actions to support connection, cultivate self- compassion and welcome difficult emotions.
  

The role of hope, spirituality, and meaning making in fostering resilience and beyond will be addressed.