resilience

There’s more than one way to build resilience

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By Gary Lovatt

Working intensively with partners from Health, Crime and Education it’s hard to get through a meeting these days without the mention of needing to build ‘better resilience’ in young people.

Indeed it’s refreshing that after years of apparent compartmentalisation of behaviours into different areas (alcohol, smoking, sexual activity, anti-social behaviour, self-harming etc) we’re learning that attitudes and behaviours generally start with addressing the protective factors that allow young people to make better, informed choices.

So how do you achieve and measure resilience? The answer is that you need to adopt a multi-targeted strategy, starting with examining the determinants of those behaviours in more detail. Read the rest of this entry »

This entry was posted in Alcohol Reduction, emotional health, Mental Health, Public Health, Research, Sex and Relationship Education, Social Marketing, Social Norms, Youth Work and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Mindfulness – the next part of our journey

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mindfulness-title (2)Over the past 6 years we have been working with young people on programmes designed to challenge perceptions, create informed choices and build resilience.

Identifying and tackling Social Norms can make a measurable difference in terms of reducing risk taking behaviour among teenagers and adolescents. Understanding peer behaviour has enabled us to measurably tackle drinking, smoking and drug rates.

When it comes to emotional health and wellbeing however, a more subtle approach is often needed. Read the rest of this entry »

This entry was posted in Education and PSHE, Mental Health, Public Health and tagged , , , , , , , .