Building resilience in children and young people 

From a study by The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS)

What does good practice looks like in community-based interventions designed to build resilience in children and young people aged 7–20?

This is a summary of a review of 19 Australian and international studies, most of which examined school-based or community-based group programmess delivered by teachers, trained facilitators, yoga instructors or other non-clinical practitioners.

The central idea is that resilience is not a fixed personal trait. Rather, it is a dynamic process in which children and young people draw on internal resources, such as problem-solving, planning, self-regulation and confidence, as well as external resources, such as supportive relationships, family stability, positive school environments, cultural identity and community belonging.

Resilience can increase when protective resources are strengthened, and can decrease when young people are repeatedly exposed to adversity. For this reason, resilience-building interventions usually aim to:

• strengthen personal skills
• improve access to supportive external resources or
• reduce the impact of risk factors.

The review identifies a wide range of personal, family, community and cultural factors associated with resilience:

1. Personal resources include cognitive skills, emotional regulation, coping strategies, optimism, self-esteem, communication skills and physical health.
2. Family resources include secure attachment, supportive relationships, stable housing, routines, positive role models and parental warmth.
3. Community resources include quality education, safe schools, extracurricular opportunities, friendships, social support and community cohesion.
4. Cultural resources include a strong and positive cultural identity, participation in traditional practices and connection with one’s cultural group.

The evidence reviewed suggests that three types of community-based group interventions can improve resilience or resilience-related outcomes:

• psychoeducation interventions
• relaxation and mindfulness interventions and
• counselling with art interventions.

The strongest evidence is for psychoeducation. These interventions teach children and young people about mental health, stress, emotions, coping, relationships and wellbeing, and often draw on cognitive behavioural or social cognitive principles. They usually include practical exercises to build skills such as goal-setting, decision-making, problem-solving, emotional regulation, communication, assertiveness and conflict resolution.

Psychoeducation interventions were found to improve confidence, coping skills, interpersonal strengths, optimism, self-worth, self-efficacy and self-esteem. They can also improve emotional resilience, general adjustment and psychological wellbeing. The most consistent finding is that psychoeducation strengthens resilience by improving how young people see themselves. This pattern appeared across studies despite variation in programme content, delivery methods and research quality. The paper notes that psychoeducation programs are generally acceptable, low-risk and not highly resource intensive, making them well suited to universal community settings.

Relaxation and mindfulness interventions include activities such as yoga, breathing techniques, meditation, physical awareness and emotional awareness. The evidence suggests these approaches are most effective when combined with psychoeducation. Programmes that included both mindfulness-related activities and psychoeducational content improved coping skills, emotional regulation, self-esteem, social connectedness and resilience. However, mindfulness or meditation interventions that lacked psychoeducation were less consistently effective. Some evidence even suggested they could increase a negative affect. The paper therefore cautions against using mindfulness alone as a resilience intervention.

Counselling with art interventions, such as visual arts, painting or drumming combined with psychoeducation, also showed promise. These interventions were associated with improved peer connectedness, self-compassion, overall wellbeing and resilience. However, the evidence base is smaller than for psychoeducation, and it remains unclear whether the art component itself produces change or whether it mainly increases engagement with the psychoeducational content.

Effective programmes often run over a longer period, include more than one session per week, provide opportunities for interaction with facilitators and peers, incorporate physical activity, and sometimes use digital resources to improve accessibility and engagement. These features may not be “active ingredients” in themselves, but they appear to help young people participate meaningfully.

The facilitator/child alliance is described as especially important. Strong alliances are characterised by trust, empathy, shared purpose and agreement about methods. The child’s perception of the relationship is more predictive of positive outcomes than the facilitator’s view. A strong alliance improves engagement, increases attendance and participation, reduces dropout and helps young people develop a sense of safety, mastery and agency.

Overall, the study argues that universal, non-clinical, community-based interventions can play an important role in promoting resilience among children and young people. Psychoeducation is the best-supported approach, while mindfulness and art-based activities appear most useful when they support engagement with psychoeducational content.

The community should therefore focus on creating conditions that help children and young people build resilience before problems become severe. Based on the study, this means:

• Provide accessible group programmes in schools and community settings, especially universal, non-clinical programmes that young people can join without needing specialist mental health referral.
• Use psychoeducation as the core approach, because it has the strongest evidence for improving resilience, self-esteem, coping skills, confidence and wellbeing.
• Offer engaging activities alongside, such as art, music, sport, yoga, nature-based activities or digital resources, but ideally paired with psychoeducation rather than used alone.
• Build positive social support networks by giving young people opportunities to connect with peers, trusted adults, mentors, teachers and community workers.
• Create safe, inclusive environments where young people feel a sense of belonging, cultural identity, trust and stability.
• Train and support community-based workers such as youth workers, teachers, counsellors and facilitators to build strong therapeutic relationships, even if they are not clinical specialists.
• Focus on engagement, by running programmes over a longer period, offering more than one session a week where possible, and encouraging interaction between young people and facilitators.
• Work with young people’s strengths, such as motivation, existing coping skills, talents, cultural connections and supportive relationships, rather than focusing only on problems or deficits.
• Reduce barriers to help, including long waiting lists, stigma, cost, transport difficulties and lack of culturally appropriate services.
• Listen to young people’s feedback and adapt programmes to their lived experiences, needs, culture and preferences.

In short, the community should not rely only on clinical services after difficulties escalate. It should build a broad network of early, accessible, relationship-based and strengths-focused supports that help young people develop confidence, coping skills, belonging and resilience.

Read the full study here.

Could your group help build resilience in the community? See this article; The Resilience Challenge