Allied Health

The 7Cs of Resilience

In light of the commencement of The Resilience Project at Glen Waverley Primary School, you might catch yourself pondering, what does it mean to be resilient? Is it about staying strong even when times are tough? Is it “moving on” from the past? Is it to not worry? Or perhaps, something else?

A quick definition search for the term ‘resilience’ returns responses such as “The capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties” and “The ability to be happy, successful, etc. again after something difficult or bad has happened”. In its core, resilience defines the process and outcome of how we adapt to the adversities with which comes changing demands both in our environment and within ourselves. For this reason, the term resilience not only applies to people, but can also apply to a city after a disaster, to an economy after a downfall or to a forest after devastating fires. 

Think of your own life experiences and a challenge you faced. Were you able to adapt to the difficult situation? You might have felt defeated, or found it hard to “brush it off”, or maybe your mind was full of worries, but perhaps you were still able to shift your behaviours and mindset to meet the new demands in your life. Congratulations, you showed resilience! You may say you showed resilience because you had to, but in fact resilience doesn’t just happen – it’s a complex interplay of different components that come together.

There are 7 important building blocks to resilience dubbed the “7Cs of Resilience”. These are:

• Competence,
• Confidence,
• Connection,
• Character,
• Contribution,
• Coping, and
• Control.

Nurturing and building our capacities in these 7 areas can help us develop resilience. Let’s take a look at each one. 

Competence

Competence is the ability to apply developed skills in order to help us accomplish a goal or deal with difficult situations. Examples of these skills include communication skills, negotiation skills, academic skills and reasoning skills to name a few. These skills help us advocate for ourselves and inform healthy and effective decision making.

Confidence

Confidence is all about being sure of ourselves and our abilities, and links closely to competence. Confidence helps us to explore possibilities, take risks and be less fearful of failures. 

Connection

Connection is about the various relationships we have, be it with other people, animals or places. Not only do these relationships become our support network during challenging times, but also serve to expand our perspectives and creativity. A strong sense of belonging helps us develop a strong sense of security.

Character

Character looks at our own personal identities, our core beliefs and values. It is about thinking, feeling and behaving in alignment with what we believe. Character helps us develop our sense of right and wrong, strengthens our social awareness and helps us make wise choices.

Contribution

Contribution is the sense of purpose we have in our life and how we can use our skills and strengths to give back to the world. By knowing that we make the world a better place, we can find it easier to seek and accept support from others without guilt or shame.

Coping

Coping looks at our ability to respond and manage our emotions in healthy and productive ways. Each of us have our own set of strategies for coping; being able to discern when we need to use them and which strategy to use depending on the situation is key to ensuring we don’t succumb to unhealthy “quick-fix” solutions. 

Control

Control looks at our ability to understand what is within and what is out of our control. Once we focus on what is within our control and have the opportunity to influence it, then we can feel empowered. Additionally, control looks at how we earn privilege and respect through demonstrating responsibility and making wise choices.

How do you feel you fair in each of these components? Were there things that resonated with you as your strength? Or perhaps there were areas in which you felt you could work on?

Interestingly, this list was originally created by an American paediatrician as a way to view resilience in children and adolescents, however most, if not all, are applicable for adults too! As influential adults in children’s lives, we have the responsibility and privilege of nurturing their resilience, and one way to do so is by addressing the 7C’s of Resilience. In a future newsletter, we will look at how we can help build the children’s capacity in each of these areas.