Resilience: How we keep sailing

Summary

In this article the author draws parallels between resilience and what is required for safe sailing and navigation. As levels of stress and burnout in the NHS soar to unprecedented levels the ability to survive gracefully has high value. A ‘resilient’ material can bend under strain then spring back. Human resilience, however, is a much more complex, dynamic process, one fundamentally based on interconnectedness – with strong connections to others, a sense of meaning and purpose, and the capacity to deal with each unfolding moment by flexibly responding to life’s pressures and constraints.

By Jennifer Napier, GP; NIHR In Practice Fellow at Queen Mary’s, University of London

View Document