by Lindsay Heggie
Academic Skills and Writing Specialist (Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada) and International Relations Director, LSAC Board of Directors
Every time I see an advertisement for a workshop on resilience, I think, “oh fantastic, just what I need to better support my students!” And a little voice in my head says, “I hope there’s something in it to support me, too; I’m having a hard time.”
I found one such workshop particularly affecting. It was hosted by the Learning Specialists Association of Canada (LSAC) in January 2022 and featured by Dr. Michael Ungar, Canada Research Chair in Child, Family and Community Resilience. He studies people who, despite adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), do not experience the expected negative outcomes. That is, he studies students who show resilience despite hardship and intense stress.
According to Dr. Ungar, resilience is more than just “bounding back” or “showing grit.” It is our “ability to navigate our way toward the psychological, social, cultural, and physical resources that sustain our wellbeing, and our capacity (individually and in groups) to negotiate for these resources in ways that are culturally meaningful.”
He notes that in addition to ACEs, which are well-known and well-studied in the research on trauma and resilience, there are BCEs: benevolent childhood experiences. For example, if a student liked their school, if they had a teacher who cared about them, if they had good neighbours, if there was an adult in their lives who gave them support. Because resilience isn’t something we do on our own. “Nobody achieves individual resilience without supportive networks… even our grit, our motivation, our coping capacity, are all
dependent on what we receive from the environment around us,” emphasizes Ungar.
It is not about being a rugged individual who pulls themselves up by their bootstraps to succeed despite adversity. It’s about being a resourced individual. Especially when our problems are many, and complex, we need lots of resources to cope effectively.Dr. Michael Ungar
Of the many books he has written, the one that focuses on this message is Change Your World. In it, Dr. Ungar goes into detail on the twelve factors that facilitate resilience under incredible stress (including a global pandemic):
- structure and routines
- accountability to others
- love from others
- network of supportive relationships
- powerful identity
- sense of control
- belonging / culture
- rights and responsibilities
- basic needs
- physical wellbeing
- financial wellbeing
- and positive thinking.
I highlight these twelve factors not only because the data are interesting, and even reassuring — but because they relate to our professional practice. The students we support are not, as I often remind graduate students, attending school in a vacuum. Life happens — it is happening all around us, and sometimes it interferes with our academic goals. But it is not only this interference, the potential for adverse experiences to influence student work, but the benevolent experiences that play a role. As learning specialists, we can play a positive role in so many ways, to help foster student resilience: by helping them set up structure and routine, by supporting their sense of control and belonging, by giving them opportunities for accountability, and by being a supportive, caring figure in their lives.
- If you would like to watch a recorded version of Dr. Ungar’s talk, you can find it here: Michael Ungar on Resilience, “Helping Learners Bounce Back Better”.
- Want to peruse LSAC’s monthly eKeynote archives? Resources > Online PD (Webinars & eKeynotes).