Decades of research has identified three factors that play a key role in children’s resilience. These three factors are:

• Individual factors (i.e. characteristics of the individual)
• Relationship/social factors (i.e. characteristics of their relationships)
• Environmental factors (i.e. characteristics of their environment).

In A Short Introduction to Promoting Resilience in Children Colby draws on his extensive knowledge of psychology to present a model of care and management that accounts for each factor that has been implicated in children’s resilience, incorporating:

• Attachment (Relationships/Social)
• Arousal (Individual)
• Accessibility to needs provision (Environmental).

Attachment influences the beliefs a child has about self (including beliefs about personal competence), others (including their availability and preparedness to provide support), and the world (including beliefs about safety).

Arousal refers to the level of activation of the child’s nervous system. Arousal influences how well children perform in daily tasks and opportunities to experience a sense of competence and mastery.

Accessibility to needs provision influences exploration and opportunities to learn new skills.

A Short Introduction to Promoting Resilience in Children contains practical strategies for achieving:

• optimal attachment beliefs;
• optimal arousal for best performance; and
• secure exploration of the child’s inner capabilities and outer world.

For more information and to buy the book, click on the cover image to the right.