BUILDING RESILIENCY:
COPING STRATEGIES
FOR WORK/LIFE
Lanai Greenhalgh, LCSW
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Manager
WHY TALK ABOUT RESILIENCY?
1. Work Satisfaction
2. Professional Success
3. Improved Health and Wellbeing
4. Reduced Use of Substances
5. Improved Relationship to Self and Others
6. Life Fulfillment and Longevity
Resiliency cannot be taught, but it can
be learned! It’s a practice!
WHAT IS RESILIENCY?
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Dictionary definition: noun 1. the power or ability
to return to the original form, position, etc., after
being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity. 2.
ability to recover readily from illness, depression,
adversity, or the like; buoyancy.
Working definitions: The ability to recover
quickly from disruptive change or misfortune
without being overwhelmed or acting in
dysfunctional or harmful ways.
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Facing stress at a time and in a way that allows
self-confidence and social competence to increase
through mastery and appropriate responsibility.
Resilience in an individual refers to successful
adaptation despite risk and adversity.
Resilience is the ability to thrive, mature and
increase competence in the face of adverse
circumstances. These circumstances may include
biological abnormalities or environmental
obstacles.
RESILIENCY QUIZ
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Answer the questions generally across all areas
of your life—work, play, home, family.
Pick three of the lowest scoring items on the quiz
to practice.
Pick three of the highest scoring items on the
quiz to focus on as areas of strength
RESILIENCY SCORING GUIDE
80 or higher = Very Resilient!
 65-80 = Better than Most
 50-65 = Adequate
 40-50 = Struggle to Bounce Back
 40 or Under = Need Practice!
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WHY TALK ABOUT RESILIENCY?
1. WORK SATISFACTION
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Employees are feeling pressured to get more
work done, of higher quality, in new ways, with
fewer people, in less time, with less budget in a
constantly changing workplace.
Resilient employees and managers know how to
function in non-stop changing and learning
environments and accept change as learning
opportunities.
Learning = change and change = learning
WHY TALK ABOUT RESILIENCY?
2. PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS
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Resilient employees create more opportunities for
advancement, have more job options, capitalize on
change for their own advancement or increased job
satisfaction.
This is due to:
A. Internal vs. external “locus of control.”
B. Problem-focused coping vs. emotion-focused coping.
C. Self-motivated, self-managed learning.
A. INTERNAL VS.
EXTERNAL
LOCUS OF CONTROL
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External:
Believes situations are out of their control.
 Do not see how their thoughts, feelings and actions impact the
situation. Have the “good-child/good employee” complex.
 Feel helpless to change the situation.
 Want authority to tell them what to do.
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Internal:
Believes they have influence over the process or outcome of a
situation. Sometimes seen as a problem employee.
 Are able to see how their thoughts, feelings and actions affect
the situation.
 Believe they have personal attributes and skills to handle the
situation or are willing to learn.
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B. PROBLEM-FOCUSED COPING
VS. EMOTION FOCUSED COPING
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Problem-focused coping is a left-brained activity
that focuses on the tangible details of a situation,
uses logic and reason to describe the situation
and seeks to understand a situation from a
question and answer perspective.
Emotion-focused coping is a right-brained
activity that focuses on the feelings of a situation
and can include fear, sadness, suspicion and
hopelessness as well as happiness and relief.
CORRELATIONS TO RESILIENCY
Problem-Focused Coping
 Social Support
 Coworker Cohesion
 Supervisor Support
+.48
+.39
+.32
+.24
Symptoms of Illness
 Emotion-Focused Coping
 Perceived Job Stress
-.40
-.50
-.56
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C.
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SELF-MANAGED LEARNING
First learning mode is parent to child, teacher to
student or authority to beginner.
Second is imitation of role models.
Third is self-motivated, self-managed learning,
which develops expert-level skills and
professionalism.
WHY TALK ABOUT RESILIENCY?
3. IMPROVED HEALTH AND WELLBEING
More likely to develop
stress-related illness
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Experience more stressors
in routine activities
Feel vulnerable, helpless
and without choices
Have limited internal and
external resources on
which to draw
Feel socially isolated, not
accepted
Have little capacity for self
change
Accumulate negative
experiences
Less likely to develop
stress-related illness
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Experience fewer stressors
in routine activities
Feel capable of taking
effective action
Draw action choices from a
wide range of internal and
external resources
Experience family and
friends as caring and
supportive
Manage self change well
Convert negative experiences into learning
MAKING STRESS LESS DISTRESSING
A stimulus is not the same as a person’s reaction
to it. Don’t blame the stimulus.
 There is no stress in any situation until a person
has “stress reaction” to it. Take responsibility for
your response.
 A stressful situation can be beneficial.
 Good events in a person’s life can be stressors.
 People who become convinced their jobs have
high levels of stress become less resilient.
 Today’s emphasis on workplace stress encourages
people to feel helpless.
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HANDLING STRESS: FEEL BETTER NOW!
Breathing Exercises
 Meditation
 Reframing With a Sense of Humor
 Music
 Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)
 Yoga
 Exercise
 Guided Imagery / Visualizations
 Journaling
 Cognitive Restructuring: Finding
Perspective
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WHY TALK ABOUT RESILIENCY?
4. REDUCED USE OF SUBSTANCES
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Each year Americans obtain 57 million prescriptions
for Valium and 15 million prescriptions for Librium
(tranquilizers).
In the 17-21 year old age group, 92% consume alcohol
and 41% use marijuana each year. A high percentage
of people go on to develop significant problems with
drugs and/or alcohol.
In 2007, an estimated 19.9 million Americans were
current illicit drug users. The rate of current illicit
drug use among Americans has remained stable since
2002, hovering around 8 percent.1
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Nearly 58 million people, or more than one-fifth
(23.3 percent) of the population age 12 and over,
participated in binge drinking (having five or
more drinks on the same occasion at least once in
the past 30 days).
About 17 million people or 6.9 percent of the
population age 12 and over, reported heavy
drinking (defined as binge drinking on at least 5
of the past 30 days).
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Of the 17.2 million illicit drug users aged 18 or
older in 2005, 12.9 million (74.8 percent) were
employed either full or part time.
Research indicates that between 10 and 20
percent of the nation's workers who die on the job
test positive for alcohol or other drugs.
Life’s best survivors gain strength from stressful
experiences instead of turning to chemicals for
relief. Substance abuse interferes with resiliency.
WHY TALK ABOUT RESILIENCY?
5. IMPROVED RELATIONSHIP TO SELF AND
OTHERS
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Qualities that make people more resilient also
promote solid self-esteem, which helps promote
healthier relationships with others.
Healthy relationships with others and solid selfesteem make people more resilient.
Resiliency includes both interpersonal and
intrapersonal qualities that interact with each
other.
WHY TALK ABOUT RESILIENCY?
6. LIFE FULFILLMENT AND LONGEVITY
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How long a person lives is determined by four
factors:
1. Genetic Endowment
2. Lifestyle
3. Environmental Factors/Natural Events
4. Psychological Resiliency
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
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More than 30 years of research into the inner
nature of highly resilient survivors has created a
clear understanding of human resiliency and how
it develops.
Highly resilient people show many similar
qualities
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“PLAYFULNESS”
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Playful, childlike curiosity.
Ask lots of questions, want to know how things
work. Play with new developments. Enjoy
themselves as children do. Have a good time
almost anywhere. Wonder about things,
experiment, make mistakes, get hurt, laugh.
Ask: “What is different now? What if I did this?
Who can answer my questions? What is funny
about this?”
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“LEARNERS”
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Constantly learn from experience.
Rapidly assimilate new or unexpected
experiences and facilitate being changed by them.
Ask: “What is the lesson here? What early clues
did I ignore? The next time that happens I will. .”
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“ADAPTATION”
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Adapt quickly.
Very mentally and emotionally flexible.
Comfortable with contradictory personality
qualities. Can be both strong and gentle,
sensitive and tough, logical and intuitive, calm
and emotional, serious and playful, etc. The more
the better. Can think in negative ways to reach
positive outcomes.
Asks: “What could go wrong, so it can be
avoided?”
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“SELF-ESTEEM”
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Have solid self-esteem.
Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself. It
determines how much you learn after something
goes wrong. It allows you to receive praise and
compliments. It acts as a buffer against hurtful
statements while being receptive to constructive
criticism.
It says, “I like, appreciate and love myself.”
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“SELF-CONFIDENCE”
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Have solid self-confidence.
Self confidence is your reputation with yourself.
It allows you to take risks without waiting for
approval or reassurance from others. You expect
to handle new situations well because of your
past successes.
It says, “These are my reliable strengths. . .”
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS”
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Have good friendships, loving relationships.
Research shows people in toxic working
conditions are more stress resistant and are less
likely to get sick when they have a loving family
and good friendships. Loners are more vulnerable
to distressing conditions.
Talking with friends and family diminishes the
impact of difficulties and increases feelings of
self-worth and self-confidence.
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE”
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Express feelings honestly.
Experience and can express anger, love, dislike,
appreciation, grief—the entire range of human
emotions honestly and openly.
Can also choose to suppress their feelings when
they believe it would be best to do so.
Obtains help from outside resources when
needed.
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“OPTIMISM”
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Expect things to work out well.
Deep optimism guided by internal values and
standards. High tolerance for ambiguity and
uncertainty. Can work without a job description,
is a good role model of professionalism. Has a
synergistic effect, brings stability to crisis and
chaos.
Ask: “How can I interact with this so things turn
out well for all of us?”
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“EMPATHIC”
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Read others with empathy.
See things through the perspectives of others,
even antagonists. Win/win/win attitude in
conflicts.
Ask: “What do others think and feel? What is it
like to be them? How do they experience me?
What is legitimate about what they feel, say and
do?”
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“INTUITIVE”
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Use intuition, creative hunches.
Accept subliminal perception and intuition as
valid, useful sources of information.
Ask: “What is my body telling me? Did that
daydream mean anything? Why don’t I believe
what I’m being told? What if I did this. . .?”
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“SELF-PRESERVATION”
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Defend self well.
Avoid and block attacks, fight back. See through
and side-step cons, “games” and manipulations
that others attempt.
Find allies, resources and support.
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“RESOURCEFUL”
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Have a talent for serendipity (an aptitude for
making desirable discoveries by accident).
Learning lessons in the school of life is the
antidote to feeling helpless or victimized. They
can convert a situation that is emotionally toxic
for others into something emotionally nutritious
for them. They thrive in situations distressing to
others because they learn good lessons from bad
experiences. They convert misfortune into good
luck and gain strength from adversity.
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“RESOURCEFUL” (CONTINUED)
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A good indicator of exceptional mental health is
when a person talking about a rough experience
says, “I would never willingly go through
anything like that again, but it was one of the
best things that ever happened to me.”
Ask: “How can I turn this around? Why is it good
that this is happening? What is the gift?”
QUALITIES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
“GROWER”
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Get better and better every decade.
Become increasingly life competent, resilient,
durable, playful and free. Spend less time
surviving than others and survive major
adversities better.
Enjoy life more and more.
REMEMBER. . .
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Your mind and habits will create either barriers
or bridges to a better future.
Resiliency can't be taught, but it can be learned.
It comes from working to develop your unique
combination of innate abilities and using your
external resources for support.
The struggle to bounce back and recover from
setbacks can lead to developing strengths and
abilities that you didn't know were possible.