Resilience: Before, During, and After a Crisis

Resilience: Before, During, and After a Crisis

April 9, 2004 was the first day that my platoon was ambushed in Iraq. At the time, I was an active duty enlisted Infantryman, who had arrived in Iraq three weeks prior to the ambush. I distinctly remember hearing the first rocket propelled grenade (RPG) as it destroyed the civilian vehicle that was next to where I was standing. After I came to my feet and realized that I was okay, my platoon was greeted with additional RPG’s and small arms fire. The rest of the day was strange. I had a lot of thoughts and feelings. I still do.

As I reflect on this incident years later, I realize there were circumstances before, during, and after experience that have formed who I am as a person, and what I believe about resilience. In this blog, I will reflect on how the lessons learned from that event are transferable to the current crisis.

What is resilience? American Psychological Association (2020) defines resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors.

How do I build resilience before a crisis?

1.  Research and Education. Before my first combat experience in Iraq I spent much of my time researching how historical figures managed their emotions during crisis and combat. In our current context, individuals and teams can also prepare by prioritizing continual education and research. Although we cannot prepare for every type of crisis, we can acquire skills that historically contribute to being resilient. This includes enhancing awareness and embracing the reality that crisis is inevitable in a volatile and uncertain world.

2. Training and Rehearsals. Awareness of the reality of crisis is not enough to build resilience. In addition, resilience is developed by experiencing challenging situations. This is where training is imperative. Challenging yourself mentally before a crisis is essential when difficult moments come up in “real world” situations. Any military leader can attest that you never skip rehearsals. Rehearsals increase each person’s understanding of how to respond during a critical situation. Individuals and teams can increase resilience by implementing rehearsals, simulation training, and role plays that are relevant to your occupational or operational context.

What do I do to sustain or build resilience during crisis?

1. Centering Cognitions. Learning how to focus and taking time to relax, be mindful, and breathe is a critical skill that contributes to decreasing anxiety and stress responses (Cromer, 2013). Taking time to conduct breathing exercises, mindfulness practices, and body relaxation training are examples of ways to build resilience during our current crisis.

2. Commitment. Maddi and Khoshaba (2005), describe the concept of commitment in building resilience during a crisis. Specifically, fully committing to overcoming adverse situations no matter how great. In the current crisis, an example of this would be to verbally affirm your commitment to persevere no matter how damaging the economic crisis or how long the social distancing mandates. This may seem like a simple step, but there is much to learn from assessing our own commitment to a growth mindset.

What do I do after a crisis?

1. Rest. After crisis having a time to rest is important. The amount of tension that we hold in our body is remarkable. Many times, we will spend days, months, and possibly years remaining hyper-vigilant and tense (Cromer, 2013). Learning to rest through retreating is a critical component of building resilience post-crisis. This will look different for each person, for some it may be a brief moment in the day or others it may be a retreat from screens. The intention is to be descriptive rather than prescriptive.

2. Reflect. Reflecting is critical for individuals or teams. Some may benefit from psychotherapy such as Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) or Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) to process the crisis. Others may need a safe space to give language and meaning to your crisis experience. This can be done in psychological debriefings or critical incident stress debriefings (Gist & Devilly, 2010). Teams and organizations may benefit from coaching and consulting to process through the occupational impacts of the current crisis.

3. Reorganize. Times of uncertainty allow us to identify aspects of our lives that are essential and excess. This can be scary. These can be disorienting illuminations because we quickly realize that some of those activities, departments, and/or services were not as critical to success as we once believed. Reorganizing our occupational and personal lives to reflect a new perspective is important, but inevitably involves loss of some kind.

4. Respond with Gratitude. Expressing gratitude towards others is a way to connect with your community. Community building and enhancing your positive interpersonal relationships is correlated with psychological well-being and occupational thriving (Williams, 2018). The most significant personal change after my combat deployment was my commitment to verbally affirm my social support community. I wanted them to know how much I valued their support during difficult times. This type of shift can be adopted by all of us to encourage others and increase our awareness of the value of our community.

There are a variety of ways to foster resilience. Everyone responds to crisis differently, given their unique variables. Despite the variance of the global experience, we all may benefit from committing to building resilience as individuals and community members. If you are interested in learning more about our Resilience consulting and coaching services at Legacy Consulting & Research Group, email us at info@legacycrg or call (877) 358-4200.

Up next, Blog 5: Positive Interpersonal Relationships

References:

American Psychological Association.  (2020, Feb). Building your resilience. Retrieved from: https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience

Comer, R. J. (2013). Abnormal psychology. (8th ed.). New York, NY: Worth.

Gist, R., & Devilly, G. J. (2010). Early intervention in the aftermath of trauma. In G. M. Rosen & C. Frueh (Eds.), Clinician’s guide to post-traumatic stress disorder (pp. 153–176). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Maddi, S. R., & Khoshaba, D. M. (2005). Resilience at Work: How to Succeed No Matter What Life Throws at You. New York: AMACOM.

Williams, C. (2018). Psychological Well-Being, Occupational Thriving, and Positive Interpersonal Relationships (Doctoral dissertation, Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Psychology).

Dr. Cedric Williams

Founder + CEO

Legacy Consulting & Research Group LLC