Building Resilience: A Personal Journey of Strength and Growth

1. Are you tough enough? • Yvonne Birks • yvonne.birks@york.ac.uk

2. What is Resilience? Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity. It means “bouncing back” from difficult experiences. Resilience is ordinary, not extraordinary. People commonly demonstrate resilience.

3. Developing resilience Resilient people do experience difficulty and strong feelings It involves behaviours, thoughts, and actions that can be learned and developed in anyone. Primarily it seems to involve supportive relationships that create trust, provide role models, and offer encouragement and reassurance The capacity to make realistic plans and take steps to carry them out A positive view of yourself and confidence in your strengths and abilities Skills in communication and problem solving The capacity to manage strong feelings and impulses

4. Strategies For Building Resilience • Developing resilience is a personal journey • Not all people react the same way or use the same strategies

5. My story • Probably isn't that useful its just my experience • 10 years as a nurse • BSc then PhD (psychology) at York • First job as a trial coordinator at York • More trials, outcome measurement/developmentPatient safety. Complex interventions • Fellowship • If I can do it you can do it

6. Get experience • Step by step • As much as you can • Recognise what you don’t know • Don’t feel tied to an area/method • Move if that makes sense for you • You can work on things that may not seem to fit together. • Become a safe pair of hands • The more experience you get the more resilient you will become.

7. Academic life can be tough • Rejection is a way of life! • Volunteer • Do a good job • Try not to ask questions all the time but know when to ask for help • Admit to mistakes and learn • Shoulder some of the load of others • Learn what is useful and what is not • Write writewrite write…….. • If you are working hard others will recognise it even if they don’t always remember to tell you.

8. Support • Hugely varied • Support will come from both expected and unexpected places • Look for people who give you feedback that challenges not just people who tell you how great/useful you are • Build networks carefully • LISTEN

9. Be prepared to feel uncomfortable • It doesn’t get easier • Learning is often uncomfortable • Positives/negatives • Harness it • Problem solving and communication skills

10. Believe…and practice.. • Not everyone can be the Lancet/BMJ/NEJM investigator • When you can, chose something YOU are interested in • Then be flexible in your thinking about opportunities • Practice • Accept how long it takes

11. Try again and other trite nonsense.. • Timing • Reflect • Learn • Be realistic • Make tough decisions • Move on…what ever that looks like • Good luck!