Resilience is often described as the ability to not just ‘bounce back’ and recover from stress or abnormal conditions, but also to ‘bounce forward’ and come back stronger than before. This applies to organisations as well as individuals. There are many common reasons why people may experience high stress levels in the workplace, but for aid workers in particular, the nature of their work and the risk of exposure to traumatic material or experiences can leave staff vulnerable to burnout, cumulative stress and vicarious trauma.
To support security managers and aid workers in building personal resilience (and, therefore, organisational resilience), Fiona has developed the RESPECT resilience toolkit as part of the book she published in 2018 entitled: Psychosocial Support for Humanitarian Aid Workers. In the following blog she summarises some of the key areas that the toolkit presents as ways to promote personal resilience: Relaxation, Education, Social, Physical, Exercise, Creativity and Thinking.