Having teenagers myself, I am constantly trying to help them with their resilience. I often find that teenagers have their own set of challenges when it comes to resilience as some are just beginning to find and understand their identity and their voice and most are also just trying to fit in. This is why I found this article so fascinating.
The article How Do Refugee Teens Build Resilience? looks at how different cultures experience resilience. The researchers asked the young Syrian refugees about their hopes for the future rather than the traumas they had suffered in the past.”We’re often so focused on documenting the negative impacts of war,” says Panter-Brick. “But that is only half of the story. We found that these young people actually prefer that you focus on their strengths rather than their vulnerabilities, their dignity rather than their misery, their capability rather than their vulnerability, and their resources and their agency rather than their victimhood.”
Such a good reminder to be asset-based and as always lead with compassion.