Resilience Considerations and Examples

Resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands for individuals in our community and for the institution (American Psychological Association, 2018). Affirming resilience is not an excuse to avoid addressing underlying conditions that contribute to individual challenges, but to create an environment where our community can grow and support one another through adversity.

The institution operates from a strength-based understanding of resilience—that students and employees are resilient most of the time and the role of the institution is to provide a supportive place to struggle and recover, overcome fear of failure, and not stop trying to learn and grow.

Student Examples

  • Seeking tutoring in difficult class and improving mastery of the topic over time.
  • Recognizing and responding to challenges and setbacks that are part of personal development through seeking support and developing skills.
  • Developing coping strategies to manage stress such as time management, relaxation, sleep habits, and movement.
  • Demonstrating self-help seeking behaviors and accessing support services on campus.

Faculty Examples

  • Pursuing mentorship, coaching, or professional development after a career setback.
  • Seeking support through times of loss and developing the skills to cope and adapt to life after loss.
  • Pursuing opportunities to build personal cultural competencies to meet students where they are.

Staff Examples

  • Pursuing mentorship or professional development after a career setback.
  • Seeking support through times of loss and developing the skills to cope and adapt to life after loss.
  • Ensuring that team members have the cultural competencies to be able to adequately and appropriately meet students' and co-workers' varying needs. 

Institutional Examples

  • Providing nuanced support for students and employees designed to meet people where they are at various levels of development and need, like the basic needs program for students, and the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for employees.
  • Addressing barriers and impediments that prevent unfettered access to UO educational opportunities.
  • Establishing systems and policies that respond to the nuanced, textured, and varied needs of students, faculty, and staff.