Communities
resilience training for all
STRONG-BALANCED COMMUNITIES PROGRAM
We have created a program to develop the personal resilience of community leaders. The role of a community leader is not to fix all the community's problems but rather to work together with the community members. If community leaders mobilize and guide others, they should know the basic skills to promote mental health and work on themselves too. If community leaders have a strong and balanced self, it will be easier for them to facilitate the problem-solving and decision-making processes in their neighborhood, and create original initiatives to benefit the community itself.
We are focused to work on in developing countries, where mental health services continue to be lacking.
The program is adapted from the "Master Resilience Training" program created by Dr. Karen J. Reivich and Martin E. P. Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania for the American Army.
The concept of a resilient community is to build community-based capacity for mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery in an all-hazards manner. Our focus is to strengthen mental health skills in individuals, as community leaders, as a first step into building a resilient community itself.
Why we should develop mental health skills in our communities?
Conflict, displacement, natural disasters, climate crises, disease outbreaks, and limited access to education, health, food, drinking water, and sanitation have caused devastating situations in the world.
Affected communities are the first to respond to a disaster or stressful situation. They are also the ones that remain to rebuild and recover from their effects. When communities are resilient, they are better prepared and depend less on outside help.
In our experience, complex contexts left people helpless and even with significant mental illnesses, such as depression, general anxiety, or PTSD to name the common ones. Community leaders, such as traditional and religious leaders, civil servants in rural areas, women from local associations, and teachers are key to societies but are not excluded from being trauma survivors.
This program is a complementary and essential activity for any development or humanitarian aid project that promotes communities' well-being in the humanitarian aid cycle, through basic psychoeducational on trauma and resilience building of community leaders.
Governments, Agencies, NGOs, and enterprises that include a future-oriented perspective in their strategic plans will find this training a visionary approach to promoting positive social capital.
Likewise, this program is an essential component of reinforcing economic resilience and resilience to climate change in the National Parks' communities. The "Conservation and Development Projects" (ICDPs) that prioritize individuals' mental health to maintain their socio-ecological stability are increasing. This is crucial to stop forest and wildlife crime.
About the Resilience Training
Our resilience training aims to be the final training for enterprises, agencies, and NGOs in developing countries, that are working to enhance the resilience of key leaders, providing a set of mental health skills for the personal and professional development of their communities.
The course is divided into a journey of self-discovery through 6 fundamental pillars that strengthen resilience, the Resilience Core Competencies:
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Self-knowledge
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Self-Regulation
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Optimism
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Character Strengths
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Mental Agility
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Connection
At each stage, individuals and teams will be learning a set of skills that includes exploring their current thoughts, emotions, and behavior patterns, verifying whether they are favorable or unfavorable for their personal and professional performance. Through the teaching of evidence-based skills to improve well-being, they can choose to transform their personal and professional lives into more positive, productive, and meaningful ones.
The Strong-Balanced Resilience Training for community leaders will strengthen their psychological fitness, facilitate stress management in adverse situations, increase workplace efficiency, maximize individual performance, and prevent the onset of mental disorders.
