Mentoring Based on Resiliency
People often focus on the risk factors when working with students who are discouraged or from an adverse environment. In contrast, resiliency building is based on the belief that all young people have strengths and can act on them.
Mentors who adopt a "resiliency perspective" focus on nurturing and strengthening "protective factors". These are the essential elements of resiliency building, and they can mitigate negative and stressful experiences and enable young people to overcome adversity. They transcend ethnicity, cultural difference and socio-economic class and make a profound impact on the lives of young people who grow up under adverse conditions. They are about meeting the basic human needs for caring, belonging, respect and self-determination.
Source: From material in Peters & Thurlow 2002
Protective Factors that Enable Resliency
| Relationships | Able to form positive relationships |
| Service | Gives self in service to others and/or a cause |
| Life Skills | Uses skills including good decision-making, assertiveness and conflict resolution |
| Humour | Has a good sense of humour |
| Perceptiveness | Has insight into understanding people and situations |
| Independence | Able to distance from unhealthy people and situations |
| Positive View of personal future | Confident of ability to achieve goals |
| Flexibility | Able to adjust to change and cope with situations |
| Love of learning | Has capacity for, and connection to, learning |
| Self-motivation | Has internal initiative and positive motivation |
| Competence | Is "good at something" |
| Self-worth | Has feelings of self-worth and confidence |
| Spirituality | Has personal faith in something greater |
| Perserverance | Keeps on despite difficulty/not giving up |
| Creativity | Expresses through artistic endeavour |
<< Back