Seven Ways to Build Resilience

Learn how to bounce back from setbacks, stress and challenging times.

Resilience is the ability to cope with and recover from difficult situations. It includes our capacity to make the best of things, deal with stress and rise to the occasion. We all have this ability, though not always as much as we'd like. This engaging, practical book draws together scientific understanding, real life examples and proven methods in describing how you can develop seven essential skills that help your resilience grow.

Author Chris Johnstone experienced burnout and depression when working as a junior doctor, crisis becoming a turning point when he had a near fatal car crash. His journey of recovery led him to make the study, practice and teaching of resilience his central life work.

This self-help guide includes:

• A toolkit of resources for emotional first aid.
• Techniques for storyboarding your life and seeing the positive pathways you can take.
• Practical strategies and insights for dealing with tough times.
• Skills for thinking flexibly and creative problem-solving.
• A science-based system that helps the gains you make 'stick'.

If you're feeling challenged in your personal life, workplace or relationships, SEVEN WAYS TO BUILD RESILIENCE offers you proven pathways to protect your wellbeing. If you have hopes or ambitions with inevitable hurdles in the way, the resilience tools described here can help you survive the bumps and keep to your path.

About the Author

Dr Chris Johnstone is one of the UK's leading resilience trainers, with more than three decades' experience teaching in this field. He graduated in medicine with distinction in 1986, after a first degree specialising in psychology. Experiencing burnout and depression as a junior hospital doctor, he became a leading figure in the campaign to improve working conditions. He trained as a GP before moving into the mental-health field, where for many years he ran groups teaching resilience skills. Influenced much by positive psychology, he trained with Martin Seligman and other leading practitioners in 2005. Since then he has pioneered the role of resilience training in mental-health promotion, coaching practice and the workplace.

His previous book Active Hope (co-authored with Joanna Macy) has been published in more than eight languages, his video-based online course Personal Resilience in an Hour has participants from more than 55 countries. He lives in the north of Scotland,