Resilience Practitioner Training

Would you like to reliably respond well to difficult situations and help others do this too? This course offers a pathway to become a skilled and certified Resilience Practitioner.

This online training is designed for practitioners (including health professionals, counsellors, coaches, therapists, teachers and HR specialists) who wish to familiarise themselves with evidence-based resilience tools they can use themselves and pass on to those they work with. It is also a good fit for anyone wanting to strengthen resilience skills in their own life.

On this page

• Preview this course
• Course structure
• Course modules
• Certification
• About the Trainer
• Payment
• Sign-up here

Preview this course

You can watch our recent free webinar introducing this course on You Tube at these links. We edited it into three parts for easier viewing:

• Part 1 (15 mins) introduces the idea of Resilience as a Story Pattern we can help happen at a range of different levels – in our own lives, in groups or communities we belong to, and in the larger world. It is on You Tube at https://youtu.be/SQ4UlpHJw-4
• Part 2 (25 mins) guides you through a six-part storyboarding process that helps you find your answer to the question ‘What would a story of resilience look like here’, helping you find your part in this story, or support someone else, when you or they are facing an adversity. It is on You Tube at https://youtu.be/TD_f4Nrgioo
• Part 3 (10 mins) describes how to step more confidently into the role of being a Resilience Practitioner, introducing the 8 module Resilience Practitioner Training online course that starts on 15th October 2024. You can see this on You Tube at https://youtu.be/y28bTIba40E

You can watch a recording of a previous free introductory webinar (just under an hour) at this link

You can watch a five-minute YouTube video introducing the approach of the course at this link

Course structure

The live version of the course, which starts on 15th October 2024, has three core elements:

1. A series of seven weekly webinars plus one additional review webinar on 28th Jan 2025, each starting at 7.30pm UK time, 11.30am US PT, 2.30pm US ET, 8.30pm Europe CET For other time zones, please convert at https://dateful.com/time-zone-converter. (please note the time may differ on 29th Nov in some timezones). Each webinar lasts 90 minutes, and is recorded, with recordings hosted on the course online resource. This makes it easy to catch up if you can’t make one or more of the live sessions.
2. An online resource hosting the webinar recordings, additional video tutorials and resources, and a discussion forum. Participants have long term access to this resource, making it easy to revisit the course at a later date.
3. Each webinar invites participants to try out resilience practices in the days between webinars – as a resilience practitioner is someone who engages in practices to support resilience.

You can see more information about the course at this link.

A recorded version of this course is also available for people who’d like to do this course now, and draws on recorded webinars from November 2022 to January 2023, accompanied by an online resource with video tutorials, downloadable handouts and a discussion forum. You can start this at any point and do the course at your own pace. Please contact us if interested.

Course modules

Each of us has a personal resilience toolkit of Strategies, Strengths, Resources and Insights we’ve developed to deal with stress and adversity. The Resilience Practitioner Training builds on this toolkit by focusing on seven key areas where learnable strategies and insights help personal resilience grow. The course is presented in eight modules, each supporting specific resilience interventions and self-help practices.

Module 1 – Storyboarding, Core Framework and Foundations

We start by exploring what resilience is by reflecting on examples we’re familiar with. Using narrative tools, we draw out key elements in the story of how resilience goes. This module introduces the core framework of the course, based on developing a personal resilience toolkit of Self-Helps SSRIs (Strategies, Strengths, Resources and Insights). Foundational practices, such as storyboarding and mapping influences, are introduced. A central theme is how we help others deal with dips, with self-help tools that help them find the upslope of recovery.

Module 2 – Emotional First-Aid

What helps us deal with emotional storms and distress? This module draws on advances in neuroscience that help us understand the impact of our autonomic nervous system on how we think, feel and act. Applying emotional intelligence strategies, we look at ways to listen to and benefit from our feelings, while also being able to weather emotional upset. Emotional First-Aid practices are introduced that we can teach people to settle themselves when feeling distressed. We’ll look at useful elements in a crisis drill, drawing on self-compassion, mindfulness and ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy).

Module 3 – Thinking Flexibly, Self-Help Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive Therapy is of proven benefit in treating depression and anxiety. This module introduces a self-help form of cognitive therapy based on applying three thinking skills taught in the Penn Resilience Program. We’ll look at using the ABC Thinking Check tool to increase awareness of the impact of the way we think, as well as nudge ourselves or those we work with to explore new perspectives.

Module 4 – Overload Management, Dealing with Stress

This module introduces the human function curve as a way of helping understand the relationship between pressure and performance. We’ll look at what happens to our bodies and minds when we’re in overload, recognizing how breathing and relaxation practices act on our physiology to help settle symptoms of stress. We’ll also look at practical strategies to tackle overload when too many plates are being spun.

Module 5 Problem-Solving Strategies, Cultivating Creative Responses

Problem Solving Training has been shown to be as effective as antidepressants in the treatment of depression, though you don’t need to be depressed in order to benefit. We’ll look at how to cultivate creative thinking, strengthen frustration tolerance and use structured problem-solving processes that help open up new pathways forward in areas where we, or those we work with, have been feeling stuck.

Module 6 – Strengthening Support, Resilience in Relationships

This module looks at how to help people strengthen their support networks and nourish the relationships that sustain them. We identify at common obstacles to asking for, and receiving support, as well as ways to help our clients through these. Moving from personal to interpersonal resilience, we look at what helps dealing with bumpy patches between people and repair relationships when they go wrong.

Module 7 – Stickability Part 1 – Helping Resilience Habits Stick

Much of what is communicated in training courses is likely to be forgotten within a short period of time. How can we increase the chances that the benefits of this course, or the wellbeing interventions we offer, will endure? This module looks at the maintenance stage of change and explores ways of planting resilience habits so that they are more likely to stick.

Module 8 – Stickability part 2 – Enhancement and Follow-up review

An opportunity to review learning after a period of reflective practice to apply the tools we’ve looked at, seeing where enhancements can be made.

Certification

On completing the course (with a minimum 80% online course completion and returning a post-course questionnaire) participants would be awarded the Resilience Practitioner Certificate. The course is recognised by the Association for Coaching for 20 hours of CPD (Continuing Professional Development) training time.

About the trainer

Dr Chris Johnstone, one of the UK’s leading resilience trainers, has 40 years experience in this field. After a first degree specializing in psychology, he graduated in medicine with distinction in 1986. He trained as a GP, then moved into the mental health field. For many years he ran a groupwork programme in the NHS teaching resilience skills.

Influenced much by Positive Psychology, he trained with Martin Seligman, and in 2005 started teaching Positive Psychology at Bristol University. For his work pioneering the role of positive psychology training in the workplace and education, he was included in the Independent on Sunday’s ‘Happy List’ of leading contributors to wellbeing in the UK.

His books include Seven Ways to Build Resilience (published in 2019) and, co-authored with Joanna Macy, Active Hope – how to face the mess we’re in with unexpected resilience and creative power (published in 18 languages and revised in 2022).

Payment

The course is available for an earlybird discount price of £295 (approx US$375 or €342) if booked by 8th October 2024 and £345 (approx $437 or €403) after this. Please book using the paypal button below (PayPal automatically converts currencies if needed, and accepts debit/credit cards). Please contact us if you’d prefer to pay by direct bank transfer or if you have problems using the paypal button. If you would like to do this course but are on a low income or in financial hardship and can’t afford our normal fee, please contact us and we can send you a link to book at the concession price of £195 (approx US$249 or €226) if booked by 8th October 2024, and £245 after this (approx US$310 or €287)

Sign-up here