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andResilience puts the importance of building Resilience at the centre of the “Mental Health” narrative and mindset. It encourages everyone – schools, businesses, individuals – to focus on the importance of developing “the ability to adapt and cope effectively in the face of stress, trauma and mental health adversity”, and ensuring that this become a vital part of their approach to addressing and managing Mental Health challenges.

Even though andResilience is a very powerful vehicle for change, it is an extremely simple proposition. By encouraging everyone to always add the words “and Resilience” to the phrase “Mental Health”, it provides a headline, a banner, a consistent call to arms and a reference point to promote the importance of building resilience as a central part of tackling Mental Health challenges.

Although one might assume otherwise, andResilience does not propose or offer some form of complicated, expensive and/or time consuming new training or programmes. It does not require anything other than a commitment to:

  1. Adopt and consistently refer to “Mental Health and Resilience” when discussing all things “Mental Health” and/or, alternatively, adopt “Wellbeing/Wellness and Resilience”, as appropriate.
  2. Seek out relevant tactics, strategies and/or programmes that can be adopted to support the development of resilience, in the school or business environment, and/or for individuals, as appropriate.

In order to support adoption, andResilience offers access to the andResilience Best Practice Gateway to those schools and businesses that commit to adopting the phrase “Mental Health and Resilience” when discussing all things “Mental Health”. This is a Resilience Best Practice sharing platform, listing a wide range of practices and strategies that can be identified and adopted by schools and businesses wishing to support and grow the ability of students and employees to adapt and cope effectively in the face of stress, trauma and mental health adversity.

The purpose of andResilience is to materially change to the current Mental Health narrative at a national level in order to positively impact:

  • the way schools and business identify and prioritise their approach to mental health challenges and in their selection and allocation of related resources.
  • the way individuals consider how best to improve their ability to cope with Mental Health and other life challenges.

Adding andResilience to the current Mental Health narrative will materially change the mindsets and focus of organisations and individuals when thinking about and tackling Mental Health issues.

Everyone has slightly different perceptions and interpretations of the word “Resilience”. In the Oxford Dictionary, the generic definition of Resilience is “the capacity to withstand and recover quickly; toughness”.  In the context of andResilience, the definition adopted is: “The ability to adapt and cope effectively in the face of stress, trauma and mental health adversity”. Using and regularly repeating this specific definition of “Resilience” helps everyone understand why Resilience should be put at the very centre of all strategies and discussions around improving everyone’s “Mental Health”.

andResilience is primarily focused on building mental, emotional and social resilience. Having strong mental resilience is an essential part of developing improved physical resilience. In addition, extensive research shows that exercise and particularly physical challenges help build levels of mental resilience. Apart from the positive influence that exercise and fitness generally has on mental health, physical challenges require a positive mindset and determination to overcome them, helping to build the positive mindset and determination to overcome other life challenges, including mental health adversity.

In summary:

  • andResilience places Resilience at the centre of the mental health narrative on a consistent basis, and in doing so, directly and consistently changes the organisational and individual mindset around tackling mental health issues.
  • By way of contrast, for a number of reasons, Resilience programmes/training/strategies, many of which are excellent, currently remain on the fringes of the majority of the organisational strategy and mindset when considering the different ways of tackling mental health challenges.

andResilience does not promote its own specialist Resilience programmes and Resilience support mechanisms. What it does do is put the subject of Resilience at the centre of all Mental Health and Wellbeing strategies and discussions in organisations, and, as part of this, through our Best Practice Gateway, highlights the availability of Resilience strategies, programmes and best practices recommended and offered by other charities and organisations. Although one might assume that Resilience is already an integral part of all strategies and discussions around the subject of “Mental Health” and “Wellbeing” this is very definitely not the case. Excellent Resilience, Resilience programmes, Resilience strategies and teaching have been around for some time and are regularly offered by many organisations as part of their approach to tackling mental health challenges and to support wellbeing. However, the subject of Resilience is some way from being at the centre of the mental health narrative and consequently not generally a key part of the individual or organisational mindset. Where it is promoted in the context of mental health, it is generally seen as one of a number of measures that can be adopted to tackle mental health challenges, others being “plenty of sleep”, “regular exercise”, “a good diet” etc. Disappointingly, Resilience is only mentioned in 4% of all media searches for Mental Health – compared to 30% for sleep, 24% for exercise and 19% for diet. Although one might reasonably assume otherwise, Resilience is effectively a minor optional extra in the tools individuals are encouraged to think about and use when taking on mental health challenges. But by its very nature “the ability to adapt and cope effectively in the face of stress, trauma and mental health adversity” should not be treated as an optional extra, yet alone a minor one. The lack of any reference to building Resilience in the secondary school statutory curriculum provides an extremely depressing example of how far the importance of Resilience is out of the mainstream. By adopting andResilience, schools and businesses, can very directly address this problem, putting the substantial benefits of building strong Resilience at the centre of thinking and strategies that seek to address mental health challenges, for individuals and for the organisation as a whole.

Wellbeing is one of a number of relabelling approaches taken to encourage a more positive approach to “Mental Health” which otherwise is seen as and is a relatively negative label being primarily associated with problems and challenges. Alternative to “Mental Health” include “Wellbeing”, “Wellness”, “Psychological Fitness”, “Mental Wellness”, “Healthy Minds”, “Positive Psychology/Education”. Whilst many of these do achieve the “more positive approach” objective, they each have one or more of the following problems;

  • they are a very long way from being universally adopted
  • the nuances of the different labels are relatively opaque and not easily understood by anyone other than those who actively promote them. Whilst they could be considered to generally be a “better” descriptor than just “Mental Health”, their ability to deliver improvement is limited if the individual does not really understand or embrace them.
  • They are also effectively trying to take on and marginalise the “Mental Health” label, diverting the thinking towards the new label. However, the phrase “Mental Health” is, and for the foreseeable future will remain, outstandingly the most common reference point for all mental health narratives. Any attempt to substitute another phrase that ignores the dominance of the phrase “Mental Health” will find it challenging to become the major national reference point when addressing mental health issues. To date, none of the above phrases have become dominant at a national level, with perhaps the most successful alternative – Wellbeing – being most effective in centrally controlled organisational settings such as schools.

In contrast, andResilience is flexible and adaptable to work with a wide range of labels, and at the same time, recognises and accepts the importance and dominance of the phrase “Mental Health”. The approach is not intended to fight the phrase “Mental Health”, merely to add to it to create a far more balanced and positive narrative around which to consider mental health strategies and challenges. In addition, and unlike other alternatives, andResilience introduces a powerful, broadly understood and much needed positive “can do” mindset that is essential for the individual to adopt when under duress, in order to improve their chances of overcoming any mental health or other life challenge.

“Wellbeing” and “Wellness” have become established vehicles for mental health discussions and strategies in a number of organisations and it would almost certainly be very unhelpful and of little value to seek to change that expression in that organisational culture. Recognising this, and also capitalising on the undoubted benefits of the Wellbeing and Wellness label, the proposal for those organisations, when generally referring to “Wellbeing” / “Wellness”, is to consistently adopt the phrase “Wellbeing/Wellness and Resilience”, an approach which effectively integrates the best of both.

The andResilience proposition is in its early stages of being adopted by a number of schools and businesses. At this stage, there is not yet any empirical data available that can demonstrate the before and after benefits of andResilience. However, early feedback from schools that are adopting andResilience already confirms a more constructive approach being taken in discussions around the subject of “Mental Health”. To put this in context, andResilience simply provides a more practical and positive perspective and mindset, with which organisations and individuals can establish the best ways to approach their mental health challenges. It certainly does not require participants to adopt some rigid form of andResilience training regime and there is no requirement for organisations to make significant immediate changes to the way Mental Health challenges are tackled. Once an andResilience narrative and mindset is established, those changes will gradually evolve naturally.

Existing research shows that improvements in an individual’s level of resilience reduces the severity of mental health problems experienced by a large proportion of those in the studies. Extrapolating those findings to andResilience, the simple logic is that the more organisations and individuals actively recognise and focus on the importance of building strong levels of resilience as an effective way of tackling mental health problems (and to help tackle life challenges generally), the more that their mental health will benefit from increased levels of resilience.

The andResilience proposition has been developed by The Sophie Clarke Foundation, working in partnership with the mental health charity, Wifrid’s House. The proposition and programme has evolved in response to feedback from head teachers, mental health professionals and GP’s all of whom identified the need for and the benefits of a more positive approach to the mental health narrative and mindset.

For Schools:

  1. A Schools “Foundations Programme”; which runs through the steps organisations (schools and businesses) need to take to adopt and buy in to always using the phrase “Mental Health and Resilience” replacing the use of just “Mental Health” throughout the organisation on a consistent basis. This will include support materials and presentations that can be used to disseminate the message to different parts of the organisation and related stakeholders (eg parents of students) at different stages of the buy in process.
  2. Access to Best Practice Strategies: Using the andResilience Best Practice Gateway, organisations will be able to identify proven resilience building strategies and tactics that they can use selectively and, as appropriate, to build an andResilience programme that best suits their specific needs, resources and timelines. This will provide direct links to all the available resilience strategies and best practices with the ability to specifically search for specific requirements or characteristics to maximise relevance and suitability for an organisation’s particular circumstances.

For Businesses: 

  1. andResilience Presentations: As required we can provide support presentations to disseminate the andResilience message to the various stakeholders within the business.
  2. Access to Best Practice Strategies for Business: andResilience Best Practice Gateway, organisations will be able to identify proven resilience building strategies and tactics that they can use selectively and, as appropriate, to build an andResilience programme that best suits their specific needs, resources and timelines. This will provide direct links to all the available resilience strategies and best practices with the ability to specifically search for specific requirements or characteristics to maximise relevance and suitability for an organisation’s particular circumstances.

Whilst the team is able to engage with an organisation’s leadership team as part of the decision to adopt andResilience, there is very limited capacity for the team to be directly involved in an organisation’s transition process, although we can provide relevant support materials to facilitate the change process and support in the navigation of the Best Practice Gateway, as well as direct you to other organisations that can help, if required.

Putting andResilience at the centre of all mental health thinking:

  • Positively inform, influence and shape organisational strategies
  • Change individuals perceptions and behaviours, encouraging them to adopt a more positive ‘can do’ approach and mindset.

By placing andResilience as a very central and visible part of your corporate culture you will be creating a decision making reference point and a personal growth environment that will actively encourage and support the growth of personal and organisational resilience in your school/business.

With the addition of andResilience as a key part of the Mental Health narrative, one is creating a positive complimentary focus, providing a wider range of additional support pathways that can be discussed and offered, encouraging a reduction in the application of a negative “Mental Health Problem” label, giving individuals a constructive and positive mindset to overcome a wide range of anxieties and other problems.

Once fully embedded in the narrative, the culture and the mindset, andResilience will put organisations on the front foot when dealing with Mental Health challenges and significantly reduce the time, cost, distraction and firefighting involved in addressing and overcoming individual mental health issues.

It is very important to recognise that there is no requirement or recommendation for schools or businesses to change their existing providers, advisers or strategies. The only change required is the consistent adoption of the phrase andResilience, in the form of “Mental Health and Resilience”, and/or “Wellbeing and Resilience”. It is extremely likely that existing activities will fit under this overall heading just as much as they fit under a “Mental Health” or “Wellbeing” heading.

The primary aim of andResilience is to reframe the context of discussions around mental health challenges and appropriate solutions. It is not in itself intended to replace existing mental health strategies. The main difference in approach is that organisations will be able to consider, review and enhance existing practices against an ambition to promote building Resilience as a key part of their overall approach to Mental Health. Accordingly, andResilience should not directly affect existing programmes or services. However, it will encourage organisations to consider whether those existing programmes and services deliver the right mix of engagement and support and whether they offer the best use of their overall mental health budget. This may result in no change, some change or, possibly, significant change over the short, medium and long term.

The essential transition step of always referring to “Mental Health and Resilience” and/or “Wellbeing and Resilience” together with implementing the Foundations Programme should involve very little or no financial costs. Thereafter, the potential cost of adopting programmes and strategies that might better build resilience levels will very much depend on the strategies the school or business chooses to adopt but it should be noted that the majority of the recommendations on the Best Practice Gateway involve little or no cost to adopt. If a new strategy is selected that does have a cost it seems likely that funding the cost may involve a partial reallocation of existing budgets involving no or low incremental overall costs.

The time taken to adopt andResilience will depend on the approach taken by the adopting organisation. If an organisation is committed, the transition of “Mental Health” to “Mental Health and Resilience” should be relatively simple to achieve and involve low or no cost. To really embed the phrase “Mental Health and Resilience” and the related behaviours into the culture is likely to take longer and, depending on the starting point and the attitude of the leadership, could take two to five years to achieve.

Yes, the addition of a Resilience programme or programmes should provide a positive addition to existing mental health strategies. However, if introduced as a standalone strategy without consistently adopting “Mental Health and Resilience” to replace the phrase “Mental Health” it will fall well short of the andResilience approach for the following reasons:

  • It will not on its own materially change way the school or business discusses and approaches Mental Health challenges. The standalone approach itself is unlikely to materially influence the allocation of the organisational Mental Health budget compared to andResilience .
  • A standalone approach is unlikely to develop and embed Resilience as a core part of the school or business culture.
  • Similarly, individuals will be less likely to consistently consider the benefits of building resilience as a key part of their thoughts and actions surrounding improving their mental health, missing the “can do” mindset that andResilience is intended to encourage individuals to take when they are facing specific mental health and other life challenges.

Whilst building personal resilience would benefit everyone in the U.K. without exception, helping each one of us to be better able to cope with whatever life throws at us, andResilience is certainly not being put forward as a cure all for every Mental Health problem. Even if resilience levels increase universally throughout the population, improved resilience on its own will never replace the need for very specialist care and psychiatric support for those with mental health issues requiring clinical treatment.

Whilst andResilience should bring an improved ability for everyone to better tackle day to day stress, trauma and mental health adversity, for more deeply rooted problems, the ability to access experienced mental health professional support will always be essential. However, by improving everyone’s ability to take on and overcome day to day challenges before they turn into a bigger mental health problem, the pressure on the U.K. mental health infrastructure will be significantly reduced, increasing the ability of those with more serious mental health problems to more quickly access care and support. So directly and indirectly, yes, andResilience is intended to help all those with Mental Health problems in the U.K.

Claiming major differences in absolute or relative levels of individual resilience andtrying to make direct comparisons of levels of resilience between past and present is a very subjective and extremely unhelpful way of looking at the challenges everyone is facing. Currently one in four people in the U.K. report suffering Mental Health problems annually, effectively about 15m people. Clearly that figure is far too high and in itself is exacerbating Mental Health problems because the Mental Health infrastructure is completely overloaded and failing to provide the support people need. Without appropriate care and support, individual and national mental health levels will continue to deteriorate. What one can say with very high conviction is;

  • the number of people suffering from Mental Health problems in the UK needs to significantly reduce for there to be sufficient and timely professional help for those who need it most, and a much greater commitment to building levels of resilience in individuals in schools and businesses will increase resilience levels which will reduce the number of people that suffer from life and mental health challenges that they cannot overcome, not least because Resilience is “the ability to adapt and cope effectively in the face of stress, trauma and mental health adversity”.

The andResilience proposition is a very long way from the dismissive and demeaning “get a grip” mindset. Everyone is encouraged to recognise the benefits of developing an individual ability to adapt and cope effectively in the face of stress, trauma and mental health adversity”. The approach is positive, proactive and preventative. Individuals are supported and encouraged to develop and strengthen their resilience, through teaching (and learning) techniques and coping strategies, through observing others demonstrating resilience and through personally experiencing a whole range of challenges and finding ways to overcome them. A commitment to putting Resilience at the centre of mental health strategies and discussions, ensures that organisations and individuals fully explore all the different ways one can build resilience to overcome mental health and other life challenges. It also encourages individuals to adopt a constructive, positive and empowered “can do” mindset in the face of difficulty.

A healthy and resilient school/business cannot thrive and flourish without having healthy and resilient students/employees. By developing an understanding of and commitment to building resilience, all the stakeholders will become more proficient at adapting and coping in the face of personal and organisational challenges. Leading to happier, healthier and more resilient students/employees with better life prospects and delivering similar benefits to the schools/businesses. This is not about metaphorically cracking the resilience whip to make students/employees work harder, it’s about encouraging and supporting personal and organisational growth.

Everyone has resilience in some form or other. Some exceptional people (for example Nelson Mandela or Henry Fraser) have extraordinary levels of resilience – but the majority of the rest of us “normal people” not nearly as much. Whatever your current level of resilience, focusing on and finding ways to improve resilience is an absolutely essential part of increasing your chances for personal success and happiness, and improving your ability to overcome mental health challenges, whatever life throws at you. A commitment to andResilience encourages and supports individuals and organisations to aspire to improve resilience levels. Even if someone already ‘has resilience’, there will always be substantial benefits in improving that resilience empowering them to be even better placed to adjust and cope effectively with stress, trauma and mental health adversities.