Welcome to this resource site on our project, Building Resilience!

This site represents a collaborative effort between Dr. Leo Flanagan and The Center for Resilience Advisory and the students and faculty at these Penn State Campuses: Altoona, Fayette, Harrisburg, Lehigh Valley, Mont Alto, and York. During the academic year 2017-18, we are exploring our levels of resilience and looking for ways to help strengthen them in order to improve retention and academic success!

This website is meant to share resources and lessons learned from the journey.

How to navigate the site? Click on the different pages (see left side of this page) to access general information about resilience, learn about effective strategies and current research, and see the latest reflections at the blog!

Remember, building resilience is like training for a sport – it’s a combination of daily practice, using strategies that work, and getting help from coaches when you need it!

But it’s also about not just gritting your teeth and shoving your way through obstacles – it’s about learning to thrive and live well with the joys and in spite of the challenges. The bad news is that we can’t often do anything about the bad things that come our way, but the good news is that we CAN do something about how we respond to it.

What we know from research (more broadly and on our own campus) is that when you put your mind to improving some aspect of yourself, and you work hard with effective strategies to make a change, you CAN make a positive change! So that’s a very empowering message.

Get started by looking at some background information on resilience and then look at the strategies page for some specific ideas you can use to build your ability to be more resilient when challenges come your way.

Get in touch if you have any questions and enjoy exploring the resources in the site!