What is it?
Resilience, in its simplest form, is the ability to adapt to situations or events that don’t go to plan. Instead of allowing events to negatively impact you, or your organisation, learning to be resilient allows you to see things objectively and move forwards with a positive growth mindset.
We’re looking at the trend of resilience not just through the lens of individual mental health and emotional self-care, but also considering how the right tools and mindsets can help organisations and communities weather the storm.
“Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 42% percent of employees globally have reported a decline in mental health. Symptoms of burnout are increasing among employees and leaders alike.”
Why should I care?
We’ve considered resilience before at Good Futures, but we believe it’s such an important element of building future communities, we’re giving it another look. Building resilience should be a fundamental part of your work, regardless of whether your mission is supporting vulnerable individuals, preserving the environment, protecting animals, or medical research.
Resilience is needed everywhere: from people, to our pets, to the planet.
- Millennials have higher rates of depression and burnout than any other generation. Already tagged ‘the loneliest generation’, pandemic lockdowns have only exacerbated existing issues
- More than half of the populations of middle and high-income countries are likely to suffer from at least one mental condition during their lifetime
- In a recent PSDA survey, 650,000 cat owners thought their pets suffered loneliness
- A United Nations working group called for 30% of the planet to be protected from environmental damage by 2030.
The longitudinal effects of COVID are more than financial and physical. We're collectively scarred And that’s where charities have a pivotal role to play.
People are searching for hope.
For something to focus on that offers a respite from the unrelenting crisis avalanche. Community can be a shield and a buffer, offering support and understanding. Community can help individuals and groups heal from past trauma and be better prepared for whatever comes next.
“I think there is a big issue out there around almost the layering, or sedimentation, of crises upon crises upon crises, that risks eroding our sense of social achievement, actually, and resilience.”
Matthew Flinders, founding director of the Sir Bernard Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics at the University of Sheffield
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Covid Fatigue
Resilience isn’t just about battling from one crisis to the next. It’s also about taking the time to heal old wounds and repair from previous trauma.
We’ve spent the last 18 months in continual fight-or-flight response mode. Our homes are no longer a safe space of refuge to recharge and refresh, but our offices, our gyms, our pubs and our cinemas. We’re not working at home. We’ve been living through a pandemic trying to work at home.
Our brains have been bombarded with crisis after crisis: COVID-19, political instability in global superpowers, lockdowns 1, 2, 3, … 27, food and petrol shortages, and now the looming debt tsunami and rising interest rates.
Our bodies have been flooded with the stress hormone cortisol. In short bursts cortisol is great! It makes you super alert, able to detect and evade threats. But long term, high cortisol can wreak havoc on the body, resulting in anxiety, depression, insomnia, weight gain, high blood pressure and heart disease. We’re battling crisis fatigue.
What impact is crisis fatigue having on your staff, your supporters, your fundraising and the future of your mission? And how can you make the time and space to address it?
Pivoting your approach, channel or proposition
Faith communities had to adapt to COVID restrictions. London’s Finchley Reform Synagogue offered a ‘drive-in’ service' on one of the holiest days of the Jewish calendar.
Museums are continuing to innovate in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. From virtual tours to at-home art projects inspired by the paintings on the walls of their galleries
The pandemic had a drastic impact on the performing arts, putting the livelihood of many performers in serious jeopardy. Turning a tricky situation into an opportunity to be creative, Broadway dancer Robbie Fairchild opened a floristry business called boo.kay after failing to pay his rent and being landed with a $900 health insurance bill.
“It is hugely encouraging to see ambitious and creative proposals from museums all over the country who are passionate about serving their local communities and engaging audiences, despite very challenging circumstances and devastating loss of income.”
Jenny Waldman, Director of Art Fund
Helping others build individual resilience
After losing several members of her close family to Covid, artist Annie Nicholson (the Fandangoe Kid) hired an ice-cream van and took it around took an ice-cream van out to talk to others about mental health and grief during covid over a Mr Whippy.
Folx Health is a digital healthcare service provider designed specifically to provide customised medical plans for the LGBTQ+ community. It offers tailored hormone therapy packages, ED, PreP, STI testing, a medical database, and video calls with queer-affirming medical professionals.
Building resilience isn’t just about health and wellbeing. It’s also about organising your life to become better prepared for any future setbacks. A number of organisations are providing services to enable individuals to become more financially resilient. Even, for example, provides an automated savings model that helps individuals manage their salary and plan for financial independence.
“A lot of patients struggle to seek help for a long time because they try to solve their problems on their own. The magic of digital solutions is to give patients that opportunity, empower them and reach them early.”
Hanne Horvath, founder HelloBetter
Building community resilience
British Red Cross partnered with Yinka Ilori MBE to create a mural as part of their “Kindness Will Keep Us Together” campaign to create an atmosphere of positivity in the local area throughout the pandemic.
Arli is an app that connects users with drug and alcohol addiction with others working towards their recovery. The app offers coaching resources and builds small groups of up to 25 people to share their experiences. This community of support helps individuals to feel less alone and isolated as they go through the recovery process. The app secured a $1.9m seed fund investment earlier this year.
London caterers Karma Cans went from catering to corporate businesses to shifting their focus and providing low-cost food for the NHS and the Tower Hamlets community during the pandemic.
Sad Grads is an online platform that provided a sense of community for the UK final year art students that had their degree shows cancelled due to the pandemic
Redemption Roasters is the first ever prison-based coffee company, who train those behind bars the art of roastery, giving them professional barista experience. The aim of the company is to encourage reintegration into society and reduce the likelihood of reoffending, by partnering with businesses but mostly through hiring their own trainees.
So What?
1. INNOVATE - DIVERSIFIED INCOME GENERATION:
Coming out of the crisis, have you taken the time to reflect on what you learned, what you tried, what worked, and what didn’t?
In 2020 Good Innovation ran a series of 11 workshops with charity boards to help them reflect on how they responded to the pandemic, where they are now, and where they want to go next. Every single one of those organisations prioritised future-proofing income generation as fundamental.
As we head into even more uncertain economic times, and giving continues to stagnate, how and where can you innovate and diversify your portfolio?
2. CONSIDER - NEW MODELS OF RISK & GOVERNANCE:
When the UK locked down in March 2020, some charities chose to adopt a ‘command and control’ approach to governance and decision, whilst others broke the mould and delegated down. They confronted their risk aversion and empowered staff to make appropriate decisions. And in most cases, this approach led to more innovation, more experimentation and greater resilience in teams.
3. LISTEN - TO YOUR COMMUNITIES:
Now is the time to listen to your supporters, beneficiaries and communities. How have they been impacted by the pandemic? What do they need to build resilience, and what role could you play in supporting them to heal and recover? What assets and skills do you already have that might help them? What services do you offer that could be pivoted to a new audience?