NASP Convention President's Special Strand: "Resilience: Building Strength for Life"

The 2008 President’s Special Strand, “Resilience: Building Strength for Life,” is part of a year-long initiative to help school psychologists recognize and implement evidence-based strategies to build resilience in children, youth, and themselves. We know that resilience is essential to meeting life’s challenges positively; however, we are just beginning to understand how resilience develops and what we can do to foster it.

Many scholars define resilience within the context of stressful life events. Others, like our Distinguished Lecturer Sam Goldstein, have proposed the concept of a resilient mind-set—a stress-hardiness approach to understanding resilience. The literature is beginning to develop a consensus on the resilience variables that exist within each child, the family, and other important community environments. These factors seem to interact to offset the negative effects of adversity, thereby, increasing the probability of positive outcomes rather than dysfunction.

Presented by leading experts in the field, the sessions in this year’s President’s Special Strand address a number of practice areas relevant to building resilience within the school setting. The learning environment offers a unique opportunity to focus on strengths, build capacities, and create positive, nurturing relationships. Likewise, school psychologists can play a key role in fostering protective factors that help to inoculate at-risk students from the harmful effects of chronic adversity, stressful environments, and personal predispositions.

FS01: Is Resilience an Evidence-Based Concept? Thoughts From the Latest Bandwagon

10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 6

Sam Goldstein, PhD, Professor, George Mason University, VA, and Practitioner with the Neurology, Learning and Behavior Center, Salt Lake City, UT

In this multimedia presentation, 2008 Distinguished Lecturer Sam Goldstein traces the historical, scientific, and popular concepts of resilience as a driving force in the new positive psychology. Dr. Goldstein asks (and answers) whether the theoretic tenets of the resilience model are worthy of the rapid growth of this model in applied psychological practice, education, and the broader culture. He addresses specifically whether research is sufficient to justify the increasingly popular concept that resilience may not only serve as a powerful antidote for the myriad challenges and adversities children face today but also guide the practices of education, mental health, and parenting long into the future.

FS04: When No One Understands: Enhancing the Resilience of Adolescents and Their Families

10:00–11:20 a.m., Friday, February 8

Brad Sachs, PhD, Director, The Father Center, Columbia, MD

Adolescence is a profound juncture in the family’s development that entails every member striking a new balance between continuity and change, separateness and attachment. This balancing act requires each generation to find ways to grieve for what is being lost in order to cultivate what will be gained. When parents and adolescents are unable to recognize and resolve the depths of this unavoidable grief, anguish is the inevitable result. However, when parents and adolescents are able to find ways to constructively grieve, the resilience of both generations is enhanced. Dr. Brad Sachs explores the complexity of this dramatic developmental passage so educators and clinicians can more effectively intervene when adolescent anguish spurs teens and their parents to seek support.

SS27: Serving All Children: Top 10 Strategies for Transforming School Mental Health

1:00–2:20 p.m., Wednesday, February 6

Beth J. Doll, PhD, Professor, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE

Authors of chapters from the new NASP publication, Transforming School Mental Health, discuss the 10 essential strategies for successful population-based school mental health services. Population-based services are planned from data-based portraits of the mental health needs of all students in a school, and incorporate mental health service programs that fit the unique strengths and needs of a school or district. Ultimately, population-based services can foster school mental health services that are more planful and accountable than traditional service delivery systems. Attendees can participate in a dialogue with the chapter authors about the different practices and policies that are necessary to implement population-based models in their own schools. This session is sponsored by the Convention Committee.

SS29: Enhancing Resilience by Developing Student Self-Discipline

10:00–11:20 a.m., Thursday, February 7

George Bear, PhD, Professor, University of Delaware, Newark

In the context of school discipline, self-discipline refers to students assuming responsibility for their own behavior. Unfortunately, this goal is lacking in many Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) programs. This session reviews research linking self-discipline to how children think and feel and presents evidence-based, and practical, recommendations for developing self-discipline. This session is sponsored by the Convention Committee.

SS26: Systems Change: Critical Knowledge for the Resilient School Psychologist

11:30 a.m.–12:50 p.m., Thursday, February 7

Michael J. Curtis, PhD, Professor, University of South Florida, Tampa

Resilient school psychologists are successful at facilitating systems change that enables them to engage in professional practices responsive to dynamic changes in schools. Many are interested in Problem Solving/Response to Intervention as a framework for responding to those changes and for providing more effective services for students. The panel will discuss issues relating to systems change efforts at the statewide, district, and building-levels. They also will discuss the skills needed and will explore ways in which school psychologists should fit into such efforts in order to create organizational environments in which they deliver services responsive to the needs of students. This session is sponsored by the Convention Committee.

SS28: Social Identities and Academic Resilience: What Do We Know?

1:00–1:50 p.m., Friday, February 8

Frank C. Worrell, PhD, University of California at Berkeley

Research on the achievement gap among underrepresented groups is explored, citing how cultural identities can be protective factors. This session is sponsored by the Convention Committee.

SS25: Resilient Decision-Making: Acting With Fidelity to Prevent Harm

2:00–3:50 p.m., Saturday, February 9

Stacy Kalamaros Skalski, PhD, and John Stanek, JD, Bethesda, MD

How do school mental health professionals, administrators, and law enforcement personnel balance their professional, ethical, and legal responsibilities to maximize the potential for preventing harm and ensuring that troubled youth receive the help that they need? This session examines the legal, ethical, and practical considerations in answering this question for school practitioners. The responsibility of practitioners to engage in resilient decision making for troubled youth in the face of potential obstacles and limited financial resources is explored. This session is sponsored by the Convention Committee.

Other Related Resilience Workshops

Wednesday, February 6

6:00–9:00 p.m.

Workshop 18 - Positive School Psychologists: Promoting Resiliency and Preventing Burnout

David N. Miller, PhD, State University of New York at Albany

Thursday, February 7

12:00–3:00 p.m.

Workshop 27 - Empowering Learning Through Study Skills and Self- Regulation

Virginia Smith Harvey, PhD, University of Massachusetts–Boston; Louise A. Chickie-Wolfe, PhD, James B. Eads Elementary School, Munster, IN

2:00–5:00 p.m.

Workshop 28 - Resilient Classrooms: Places Where All Children Can Succeed

Beth J. Doll, PhD, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Friday, February 8

9:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Workshop 33 - Resiliency: Building Strength for Life

Sam Goldstein, PhD, Neurology, Learning and Behavior Center, Salt Lake City, UT

1:30–4:30 p.m.

Workshop 43 - The Seven Habits of Best Practices in School Psychology

Jeff Grimes, Retired, Des Moines, IA; Alex Thomas, Retired, Port Clinton, OH