Building emotional resilience in the social care sector

Resilience isn’t a personality trait – it’s a toolbox we can all take steps to develop.

Taking steps to look after your well being can help you deal with pressure, and reduce the impact that stress has on your life. This is sometimes called developing emotional resilience. Resilience isn’t just your ability to bounce back, but also your capacity to adapt in the face of challenging circumstances – something we all need right now.

As an organisation, we are looking at how we can capture the resources and strengths that our amazing staff have been exhibiting that have helped keep them going through the toughest times. We are looking at ways we can support them to recognise, harness and build on those blocks to strengthen their resilience. We all need to reflect on what helps us, and what brings us down. There are lots of great resources about resilience – we are in this for the long haul so now is a good time to take a look at them, especially if you haven’t considered your resilience before.

Mind has some great resources on “how I can be more resilient”

This includes tips on lifestyle changes, looking after your physical health, giving yourself a break and building your support network.

This Every Life Matters booklet has lots of tips and resources for improving your emotional wellbeing, including understanding your bucket of resilience.

Please take the time out to look after yourselves, and stay safe and healthy. Have a think about what has helped you get this far – is it laughter with colleagues and the people we support, learning a new skill, taking time out for yourself – whatever it is, recognise it and try and make sure you have the time to do it.

If you are struggling at any time, please ask for help, we are all in this together and it is so important that we all look out for each other.

Kirsty Millward

FitzRoy Head of Quality