On their website, the charity organisation Mind tells us that ‘Resilience is not just your ability to bounce back, but also your capacity to adapt in the face of challenging circumstances, whilst maintaining a stable mental wellbeing. Resilience isn't a personality trait – it's something that we can all take steps to achieve.’
How does the SEJ process support those in educational settings to achieve this ability?
We all have the capacity to bounce back to adapt and respond in a positive life enhancing manner, whatever circumstances there may be. We know this to be true if we observe young children in playgroups; if another child takes a toy from a child playing with it, they may move on to another toy or do something very different; they may even share. Left to their own devices, they will have resolved the ‘issue’ themselves without ‘adults’ interfering, which they often do… I wonder that sometimes we do this because we don't like feeling miserable or projecting our fearful thoughts onto the children… Can we not let children regulate themselves before we interfere?
The SEJ process is easy to learn and practice from a child at primary school age all the way to a young person in university and into adulthood. It fosters self-awareness and taking responsibility in the face of life’s challenges at different stages of a child’s growth.
Integrating the SEJ process into the academic skills curriculum at the University where I work enabled students to ‘bounce back’ in moments by taking personal responsibility, giving them in-depth insight, knowledge and skills to question thoughts that trigger fearful and limiting emotions and actions. It enabled them to be aware of emotions, causing them to respond with discernment and awareness. It was timely and responsive when the situation occurred, stimulating resilience within to be activated so they could respond in a life-enhancing manner. It is a truly powerful life skill that must indeed be taught if we wish to raise resilient and responsible adults.
Dr M Howard-Kishi
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