What Is Resilience?

Resources you will need:

A hand full of elastic bands

Aim

To enable young people to understand the term ‘resilience’.

Overview

We found that the word ‘resilience’ can be a confusing word for young people. One way of defining this term is to give everyone an elastic band. What do they notice about what happens to an elastic band after it gets stretched?

Instructions

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  1. Give each young person an elastic band.

  2. Ask them to stretch it a few times and observe what it does. What do they notice about what happens to an elastic band after it gets stretched?

  3. Once the young people identify that the elastic band maintains its original shape after being pulled and stretched. Explain that this is resilience; when we are able to recover from something and spring back into shape.

  4. Encourage the young people to think of more examples and words they associate with ‘resilience’.

  5. As with positivity, tell the young people that resilience doesn’t have to be something you are naturally good at, but that we can teach ourselves to become more mentally and emotionally resilient over time.

ResilienceBrighter Futures