Building resilience

Building Resilience
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Building Resilience
Introduction
Building resilience both as an individual as well as the community has become a significant subject especially with the increased occurrence of disasters in the society. Resilience is a term that is normally used by psychologist to describe the ability to bounce back and cope with traumatic incidences that have occurred and affected the community (Victorian Council of Social Services, 2017). The focus of this paper is to entirely provide an insight on how to build resilience in communities by describing the skills as well as strategies that can be used in the task. Also, this will provide information on how politics influence resilience and it will also project the federal framework as far as resilience is concerned. The significance of this article is that it will give the reader an idea of the issue of resilience and how they can build resilience in their communities. The information can be used in providing the potential path forward for individuals who are interested in helping their community deal with adversity and traumatic incidences.
Strategies and Skills Required to Build Resilience
There are various ways that one can use to build resilience in their communities. One of the most crucial strategies for achieving this is through building and maintaining a healthy relationship which will help the community to deal with a certain problem together rather than trying to cope as individuals. According to Morrison (2015), relationships are among the first things that suffer when adversity or disaster affects a community.

Besides, when an individual is stressed, they usually cut relationship with others and deal with the problem on their own. However, healthy relationships are critical as they help people with the issue to come together and overcome the trauma that they might be facing as a community (Morrison, 2015). Additionally, other strategies that are significant include accepting the stressful event that has already happened and setting the goals on how to deal with them as a community and move forward. It is also crucial to take decisive actions immediately and to remain hopeful that the goals will be achieved. Furthermore, talking about the trauma or the past adverse event and sharing the feelings with others is another strategy that can be extremely helpful (American Psychological Association, 2018).
Politics and Resilience
Politics are a significant aspect of the society as they usually influence the way people react to situations and, therefore, it is an integral part of building resilience in a community. One way that politics can be helpful is through building networks that are useful in improving the quality of social interactions as well as insisting on the significance of relationships between communities and the places they live in (Green, 2016). Politics also provides a platform for people speaking out about the issues affecting the community which can also be used in exchanging ideas and skills on how to tackle issues within a community and society in building resilience. In the journey of building resilience, collaboration is a key factor which can be achieved through diversity and increasing social cohesion. Politics can be useful in bringing people together and ensuring collaboration for a common goal (Green, 2016).
Federal Framework for Building Resilience
Collaboration with the federal government is a relevant strategy for building resilience even at the community level as it provides support to the people. In the United States, various frameworks have been issued to enhance resilience and this incorporates focus on particular sectors as far as building resilience is concerned. One of these frameworks is the Resilience in Economic Development Planning which was issued in the year 2014 following the 2013 flooding disaster in Colorado (OECD, 2017). The objective is to provide the best practices for economic resilience and requires the local communities as well as authorities to incorporate resilience concepts in all of their economic planning. The other framework is Strong Cities Strong Communities which was issued in the year 2011. It provides a bottom-up approach in dealing with economic challenges in the nation (OECD, 2017). The aim is to strengthening the local communities economically as well as providing a strategy for distributing the federal resources. Consequently, other frameworks include the Crisis Response and Disaster Resilience 2030 and National Disaster Recovery Framework as well as Housing and Urban Development Strategic Plan (OECD, 2017).
Path Forward
The continued occurrences of both natural and man-made disasters have made resilience a crucial topic in today’s society. Hence, it requires drafting a forward pathway of implementing it. One of the recommendations is that all the federal agencies should incorporate resilience as their guiding principles and also ensure that the federal government support in resilience building programs. In other words, the government should include resilience building as part of their mission and objectives. The other recommendation is for both public and private sectors in the community to work together and cooperate with one another in building resilience. Additionally, experts who include researchers, as well as professional groups, should join hands to develop a strategy that is effective in building resilience.
Conclusion
In summary, building resilience is increasingly becoming crucial in today’s society especially with the continued occurrence of disasters. Therefore, this analysis informs on the strategies as well as the federal framework for building resilience. It also recommends the path forward for enhancing resilience. Besides, some of the key strategies include acceptance and building relationships. Politics also plays a significant role as it helps in networking and bringing communities together. The federal government on its part has issued some frameworks, especially in the economic sector with the emphasis being on focusing on the community levels to build resilience. The path forward is for the people to corporate with each other as well as the governments and agencies to incorporated resilience as part of their mission.
References
American Psychological Association. (2018). The Road to Resilience. Retrieved January 15, 2018, from American Psychological Association: http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx
Green, J. (2016, June 09). Cultures of Resilience and the Politics of Resilience. Retrieved January 15, 2018, from Cultures of Resilience: http://culturesofresilience.org/politics-of-resilience/
Morrison, N. (2015, September 08). Eight Strategies For Building Resilience. Retrieved January 15, 2018, from Forbes Website: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2015/09/08/eight-strategies-for-building-resilience/
OECD. (2017). National Policy Frameworks on Resilience in OECD Countries. Retrieved January 15, 2018, from OECD Website: http://www.oecd.org/cfe/regional-policy/national-policy-resilience-frameworks.pdf
Victorian Council of Social Services. (2017). Building Resilient Communities. Retrieved January 15, 2017, from VCOSS Website: http://vcoss.org.au/documents/2017/05/Building-Resilient-Communities.pdf