Personal Resiliency Builders

Individual Protective Factors that Facilitate Resiliency

• Relationships - sociability/ability to be a friend/ability to form positive relationship
• Service - gives of self in service to others and/or a cause
• Life Skills - uses life skills, including good decision-making, assertiveness, and impulse control
• Humour - has a good sense of humour
• Inner Direction - bases choices/decisions on internal evaluation (internal locus of control)
• Perceptiveness - insightful understanding of people and solutions
• Independence - "adaptive" distancing from unhealthy people and situations; autonomy
• Positive View of Personal Future - expects a positive future
• Flexibility - can adjust to change, can bend as necessary to cope positively with situations
• Love of Learning - capacity for, and connection to, learning
• Self-motivation - internal initiative and positive motivation from within
• Competence - is "good at something" 
• Self-worth - feelings of self-worth and self-confidence
• Spirituality - personal faith in something greater
• Perseverance - keeps on despite difficulty, doesn't give up
• Creativity - expresses self through artistic endeavour

Environmental Resiliency Builders

• Promotes close bonds
• Values and encourages education
• Uses high warmth/low criticism of interaction
• Sets and enforces clear boundaries (rules, norms, and laws)
• Encourages supportive relationships with many caring others
• Promotes sharing of responsibilities, service to others, "required helpfulness"
• Provides access to resources for meeting basic needs of housing, employment, health care, etc.
• Expresses high and realistic expectations for success
• Encourages goal-setting and mastery
• Encourages pro-social development of values (such as altruism) and life skills (such as co-operation)
• Provides leadership, decision-making, and other opportunities for meaningful participation
• Appreciates the unique talents of each individual.

from "Fostering Resiliency in Children and Youth: Four Basic Steps for Families, Educators, and Other Caring Adults" by Nan Henderson, M.S.W. , in Resiliency In Action: Practical Ideas for Overcoming Risks and Building Strengths in Youth, Families, and Communities (1999), Nan Henderson, Bonnie Benard, and Nancy Sharp-Light, eds.