By Michelle Guertin Car trouble on a major highway in January; a bad cold hits you before a big presentation at work; a family member is diagnosed with a serious illness - can we handle it? what do you do to overcome it? With the probable slump of our ambitions to a ‘better me’ this is a good time to take a step back to reflect on ourselves, our households and our workplaces’ resiliency. Before we continue, what is resilience? It seems to be another addition to the buzzwords we hear so often, but do we really understand what this word implies? Neenan (2009) define resilience as “the ability, in the face of difficulty, to retain flexible cognitive, behavioural and emotional response” (p. 23). Another way of viewing resilience is “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress” (APA, n.d.). Ultimately, resilience is a person’s ability to bounce back from challenging situations. So here’s my question: how well can you bounce back? Can you handle challenging situations? In the last decade, natural disasters such as floods, forest fires and earthquakes, have greatly increased. Canada has seen 195 natural disasters since 2007 costing over a 3 billion dollars. When we look at the dollars and cents related to disasters, I think it’s safe to say that events of this nature are costly and are quite taxing on many of our resources. In the last decade, natural disasters such as floods, forest fires and earthquakes, have greatly increased. Canada has seen 195 natural disasters since 2007 costing over a 3 billion dollars. When we look at the dollars and cents related to disasters, I think it’s safe to say that events of this nature are costly and are quite taxing on many of our resources. These statistics are only scratching the surface of disaster and emergency preparedness in Canada. Knowing this, what can we do to increase our resiliency? Will a 72hr disaster kit in your home make you more capable of handling a power outage or a major snow storm? Will an emergency evacuation map of your office help? There is no magic solution to any situation because each disaster or emergency is different and ebbs and flows as time goes on. So what does this mean for us? How can we increase our ability to bounce back from a disaster or emergency? Roberston Cooper’s model (as cited in Davidson, 2010) for resilience comprises of four (4) facets: Confidence (feeling competent in one’s ability to cope), Social Support (creating strong relationships with the people around you), Adaptability (being able to grow and evolve as the situation changes) and Purposefulness (having clear values and sense of direction to help others around you). Davidson, D.J. (2010). The applicability of the concept of resilience to social systems: Sources of optimism and nagging doubts. Society and Natural Resources 23. pp. 1135-1149. Doi:10.1080/08941921003652940
This is but one way we can increase our personal or group resilience. Not every strategy will work for everyone or for every situation. Therefore, what’s important is to take the time to assess our surroundings and find ways to be more prepared and ready to not only face the challenging situations that may arise, but to return to a sense of normalcy quickly afterwards. References American Psychology Association (n.d.). The road to resilience. Retrieved November 20, 2017, from http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx Davidson, D.J. (2010). The applicability of the concept of resilience to social systems: Sources of optimism and nagging doubts. Society and Natural Resources 23. pp. 1135-1149. Doi: 10.1080/08941921003652940 Government of Canada, Public Safety Canada. (2013, September 12). Canadian Disaster Database. Retrieved October 11, 2017, from http://cdd.publicsafety.gc.ca/rslts-eng.aspx? cultureCode=enCa&boundingBox=&provinces=1%27LS%27%2C%27TS%27%2C%27VO%27&eventStartDate=%2720070101%27%2C%2720171231%27&injured=&evacuated=&totaCost=&dead=&normalizedCostYear=1&dynamic=false Neenan, M. (2009). Developing resilience. A cognitivebehavioral approach. New York, NY: Rutledge.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
ContributorsAll contributors have been hand-selected by your DisasterPlan.ca editors as "Subject Matter Experts" in their respective fields or interests. Archives
March 2019
Categories
All
|