BUILDING RESILIENCE

Isaiah 49:13 ¹³Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. 

'Being resilient is the ability to cope under pressure and recover from difficulties. It allows you to take on new situations and demands positively, approaching this with a problem-solving attitude and keeping a sense of perspective...'understanding what needs to be done. It means being able to recognise and respect your own limits.'

• Belonging
• Help-seeking 
• Learning

When we consider 'belonging', we need to recognise that people have an inherent need to belong to one another, it is therefore crucial that within Lumen Christi we reflect on how we foster a 'sense of belonging and connectedness'. Staff and volunteers at all levels should consider taking advantage of everyday opportunities to build in relational support, and opportunities to connect, with colleagues which may help them to feel valued and ‘held in mind'.

The BPS suggests leaders and managers should consider:

• Checking in with staff quickly, little and often through the use of texts, emails, and virtual staff meetings etc.
• Explicitly encouraging staff to check-in with each other
• Continuing to give everyday praise and feedback to ensure teachers still feel valued and that their efforts are recognised
• Communicating updates regularly with all staff
• Using online technology to create a ‘virtual staffroom’ where teachers can chat and check-in with each other
• Being clear about the difference between times when staff should attend the virtual staffroom e.g. whole staff briefings, and times where it is optional
• Creating ‘buddy networks’ so teachers have a small network of individuals they can contact when needed.

Help-seeking can be perceived as failing or being weak, it can create feelings of vulnerability however, many staff in education have reported that both seeking and being able to provide help contributes positively to their individual sense of resilience.  At Lumen Christi, by focusing creating a culture where help-seeking behaviours are encouraged, valued and modelled by leaders, staff and volunteers; we want to develop a community-based understanding of resilience, cultivated through pre-existing relationships, as opposed to an approach which may suggest that teachers need ‘expert’ help or support right now. In summary:

• We want all school staff to model help-seeking behaviours
• We will enable staff to contribute to decisions e.g. through online consultation and ask explicitly if staff may need additional support and what this might look like
• We will encourage colleagues to seek support from peers – teachers report particularly valuing using peers as sounding boards
• Collectively engaging in initiatives  that promote team reflection

We know our Lumen Christi team value the opportunity to learn and develop their sense of belief in their own abilities (self-efficacy) and that this in turn builds resilience.  We also know that it is likely that at this time, many of our staff may be experiencing feelings of self-doubt, particularly as they try to develop ways of doing their job in uncharted waters. Therefore, we are encouraging all staff teams to learn together from their successes and failures every day, adjusting plans, trying new things out and reflecting on this (reflective practice).  We can do this by:

• Explicitly recognising reflective conversations as learning opportunities
• Recognising learning as inherently challenging and an experience that can lead to feelings of self-doubt or vulnerability
• Together, engaging in initiatives that promote team reflection e.g. a virtual staffroom and trialing a 'solution-focused' approach with a specific focus on doing more of what is working well

 RESOURCES