By Tony Newman
Who is this research briefing for?
This research briefing is aimed at frontline practitioners, particularly social workers, family support workers, foster carers, educational welfare officers, teachers, after-school club and pupil referral unit staff, youth workers, health visitors and children’s centre staff. Its aim is to:- identify the processes that can help promote and enhance resilience in children, young people and their families
- suggest some evidence-informed interventions that staff working in children’s services can utilise.
The briefing looks in turn at:
- what we mean by resilience and why it is important
- the relationship between resilience and child development
- how we can assess resilience and what tools are available to help us
- what processes either help or diminish resilience
- any limits to the application of resilience, including whether the experience of adversity is sometimes too severe for full recovery and the tension between resilient adaptation and pro-social behaviour
- which strategies and interventions for promoting resilience are best supported by the evidence.
Key considerations for practice are summarised at the end of each section or page.
And you can click on the 'Want to know more?' links to draw down information about (and links to) other useful sites.
Accompanying reference tool
A chart – Resilience in Children and Young People: Threats, assets and interventions – is referred to throughout this briefing and is embedded into section 7 about evidence-informed approaches to promote resilience. The chart is an aid and easy-to-reference reminder of key features that reduce or enhance a child’s resilience at different stages of development – and of types of evidence-informed interventions that practitioners can draw upon.
An easy reference print versions of the chart in two sizes can be ordered from the publications section of this website – and a pdf can be downloaded. www.rip.org.uk/publications/frontline
