Helping Students Develop Resilience, Grit, and Emotional

Fortitude Piloting a Resilience Training Program on College Campuses

Josh Altman, Ph.D., LCSWAssociate Director, Student Counseling

CenterAdelphi University

ACHA Annual Conference 2019 Denver, Colorado

Who I am

Videos

What is resilience?

Activity and breakout group discussions

Question & answer

What resonates with me, what

caused tension?

Piloting and Assessing

Larger discussion

What do you th in k o f…

The Current State of Affa ir s

● 33% of all college freshman in 8 industrialized countries (representing 14,000 students) now meet the full criteria for at least one mental health disorder. (World Health Organizations, 2018)

● 30% rise in students seeking appointments at counseling centers between between 2010-2015 even though student enrollment grew by only 5 percent during that time. (CCMH, 2016)

● 33% of students reported feeling so depressed at some time in past year that it made it difficult for them to function. (Chronicle of Higher Ed, 2016).

● 34% of college students who were being seen in counseling centers in 2016-2017 reported that they had “seriously considered attempting suicide” (CCMH survey, representing 147 colleges/universities and 161,000 students, 2017)

Case Examples

T h r e e an o n y m o u s case e xam p le s ○ Ke ith - 18 , m o m d r o p - o ff se ve r e h isto r y o f su icid a l

th o u gh ts

○ Ly n n - 20 , d o e s p o o r ly o n e xam “h o w can m y p ar e n ts b e p r o u d ?”

○ Sam - 20 Fe lt “tr au m atize d ” b y h e r r o o m ate w h o ca lle d th e m an n o y in g

*An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

So What, Who Cares? Why is resilience important?

Why is resilience e sse n t ia l fo r co lle ge stu d e n ts?

Resilient people are more likely to ...● Succeed in the day-to-day demands of school, work, and

relationships.● Bravely meet challenges and obstacles and stay strong through

them● Know when to ask for help and support when they need it● Know how to keep themselves in good shape by resting and

getting what they need in order to be their best self● Develop and sustain positive relationships built on trust and

mutual respect● Have a sense of purpose and goals for the future

(Adapted from Cornell University)

What do you th in k o f…

“I have missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I have missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Michael Jordan

She was living in a car, recently d ivo r ce d , r a isin g a ch ild o n h e r o w n an d p e n n ile ss. U n ab le to a ffo r d a co m p u te r , sh e h ad to w r ite th e fir st th r e e ch ap te r s

o f h e r b o o k o n a m an u al ty p e w r ite r . T w e lve p u b lish e r s

r e je cte d th e m an u scr ip t!

JK Rowling

She was born to a single teenage mother on

w e lfa r e in r u r a l M ississip p i. Sh e w as to ld sh e

h ad “b e h avio r a l issu e s” an d m o ve d b ack an d

fo r th fr o m h e r gr an d m o th e r to h e r m o th e r

an d th e n to h e r fa th e r b y th e t im e sh e w as 14.

Sh e live d in p o ve r ty an d su ffe r e d p h y sica l

an d se xu a l ab u se fo r m an y y e ar s. At 14, sh e

b e cam e p r e gn an t an d th e p r e m atu r e b ab y

d ie d a fte r b ir th . Sh e fo u n d r e silie n ce

th r o u gh e d u ca t io n an d p e o p le w h o b e lie ve d

in h e r , in clu d in g h e r gr an d m o th e r , te ach e r s

an d m e n to r s.Oprah

Winfrey

✓ He was arrested over 20 times.

✓ H e r e ce ive d co u n t le ss d e a th th r e a ts to h iman d h is fam ily .

✓ H is h o u se w as b o m b e d an d se t o n fir e .

✓ T h e d ir e cto r o f th e FBI, J. Ed gar H o o ve r b e gan a p u b lic cam p aign to d iscr e d it h im an d a p r iva te sp y o p e r a t io n to t r y an d b r in g h im d o w n .

✓ H e w as stab b e d w h ile sign in g h is n e w b o o k .

✓ Bu r n in g cr o sse s o n h is law n w e r e co m m o n .

✓ Le d th e M ar ch o n W ash in gto n w ith 250 ,0 0 0 p e o p le .

✓ W as o n e o f th e m o st im p o r tan t le ad e r s, in Am e r ican H isto r y ?

Dr. Martin Luther King, JR

Why do you think this talk is called The Road to Resilience?

What does being resilient and bouncing back from adversity look like?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebtGRvP3ILg

How can we actively build resilience and emotional fortitude?

Resilience can be broken down into 4 different parts:1. Physical Resilience refers to the body’s ability to withstand, recover, and rebound from stressful situations. a. Exerciseb. Sleep c. Nutrition

Mental Resilience

How do I prioritize mental health if I have no time?

Building resilience and emotional fortitude continued…

3. Emotional Resilience is an individual’s ability to successfully adapt and recover from difficult times. a. “They practice acceptance. Pain is painful...Stress is stressful.” b. After facing significant adversity there is likely no return to “normal”

but instead a “new normal.”

Building resilience and emotional fortitude continued…

4. Social Resilience is the capacity for individuals to build positive social relationships and to tolerate feelings of loneliness and social isolation.

a. Developing friends to lean on, confide in

a. Volunteering , getting on teams, clubs

Activity #1

1. Turn to the person next to you (if someone is left out, please join another group)

2. Talk to them for one minute about anything. “Hi, my name is? Where you from, what is your major”

Activity # 2

Worksheet handout

Survey the program

● Metrics and measures can help determine how well something has been accomplished.

● Metrics can help tell us if we’ve met, not met, or exceeded a deliverable.

● How will I know if I have accomplished each?

(Google Forms, Mentimeter)

Survey the program

The Future

● Building Campus Culture of Resilience (BCCR) ● Resilient Adelphi ● Freshman Orientation ● First Year Experience ● Faculty & Staff

Parting Thoughts

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved”

Helen Keller

References: ● Auerbach, R. P., Alonso, J., Axinn, W. G., Cuijpers, P., Ebert, D. D., Green, J. G., …

Florescu, S. (2017). Mental disorders among college students in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys – CORRIGENDUM. Psychological Medicine, 47(15), 2737. Retrieved from http://libproxy.smith.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=125562248&site=eds-live&scope=site

● Center for Collegiate Mental Health 2017 Annual Report. Available at https://sites.psu.edu/ccmh/files/2018/02/2017_CCMH_Report-1r4m88x.pdf

● Center for Collegiate Mental Health 2016 Annual Report. Available at http://ccmh.psu.edu/publications/

● Center for Disease Control: National Vital Statistics Reports Volume 67, Number 4 June 01, 2018 Deaths: Recent Increases in Injury Mortality Among Children and Adolescents Aged 10–19 Years in the United States: 1999–2016.

● Dweck, Carol S.. (2008) Mindset :the new psychology of success New York : Ballantine Books.

References: ● Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance. New York, NY, US:

Scribner/Simon & Schuster.● Melissa G. Hunt, Rachel Marx, Courtney Lipson, and Jordyn Young (2018). No More

FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology: Vol. 37, No. 10, pp. 751-768.

● https://doi-org.libproxy.adelphi.edu/10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751● Sandberg, S., & Grant, A. M. (2017). Option B: Facing adversity, building resilience, and

finding joy.● Turkle, Sherry. (2011). Alone together : why we expect more from technology and less

from each other. New York :Basic Books,● Wilson , Robin. “An Epidemic of Anguish .” The Chronicle of Higher Education, The

Chronicle of Higher Education, 2018, www.chronicle.com/● Building Resilience. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2018, from

https://health.cornell.edu/resources/health-topics/building-resilience

Josh Altman jaltman@Adelphi.edu

347-504-2890