{"id":1572,"date":"2020-12-01T15:00:53","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T21:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/wels-educator\/?p=1572"},"modified":"2020-11-25T16:05:05","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T22:05:05","slug":"how-educators-can-help-children-build-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/wels-educator\/2020\/12\/01\/how-educators-can-help-children-build-resilience\/","title":{"rendered":"How Educators Can Help Children Build Resilience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Dr. Ashley Schoof<\/em><\/p>\n

We hear a lot today about resilience and its importance in coping with the prolonged stress of COVID-19. What exactly is resilience? And how can educators help encourage its development in children?<\/p>\n

Resilience is the determination, grit, and perseverance to tackle problems and cope with the challenges of school and life. That\u2019s the psychological and emotional definition. Spiritually speaking, we can think of resilience the way the apostle Paul described it in Philippians 4:6-9:<\/p>\n

Do not be anxious about anything,\u00a0but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God,\u00a0which transcends all understanding,\u00a0will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable\u2014if anything is excellent or praiseworthy\u2014think about such things.\u00a0Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me\u2014put it into practice.\u00a0And the God of peace\u00a0will be with you.<\/em><\/p>\n

Christian educators are equipped to teach spiritual resilience and to encourage children to go to the Lord in prayer for help in troubles. That is a wonderful blessing! We who work in professions connected to ministry are extremely privileged to be able to speak God\u2019s Word in our professional settings. I\u2019d like to offer some additional psychological and emotional skills that, when integrated with that power of the gospel, have tremendous power to help kids develop resilience.<\/p>\n

Understand the underlying physiological stressors.
\n<\/strong>One of my roles is to oversee the child and adolescent day treatment programs<\/a> we offer. You can think of day treatment as a \u201chigher dose\u201d of psychological care than typical outpatient counseling, which might take place on a weekly basis. In October this year, we saw a surge in referrals. The children and teens are presenting more acute symptoms than ever before. They are handling more stress than they have ever had to handle\u2014and it is sustained<\/em> stress.<\/p>\n

When we are faced with something outside our normal routine, outside our comfort zone, our brain releases a stress hormone called cortisol. This increases a human\u2019s ability to go into survival response mode. Cortisol does a couple things to us physiologically:<\/p>\n