‘Building resilience is a term that is often heard in the corridors of the business community’ said Peter. He went on to say ‘I always thought of myself as a strong man, you know – capable, a well liked manager, a good husband and Father but when I started not sleeping and loosing my rag with the kids I knew something was wrong but never put it down to stress. It wasn’t until my wife said that I ought think about going to the doctors that the realization of how anxious I had become dawned on me. I had started to tumble down a black hole when I had to make a couple of my staff redundant, I took on more and more, worked really long hours and began to worry that I might be axed too. If only I had known what I do now about keeping well when the going gets tough, I might have spared myself and my family this miserable time.’ Peter is one of many people who attended one of our courses on building resilience. The knowledge and skills helped him bounce back and stay well in the same situation that had previously defeated him. By sharing the same information in this blog we hope it will help others from going down the same slippery slope. So lets start with understanding what we mean by ‘resilience.’ What is ‘resilience?’ Starting with the dictionary definition we see it is ‘the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape.’ And where people are concerned it’s ‘the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.’ So human resilience is when a person can go through challenging times and remain well or recover quickly. Because of our changing economic climate and the pressure that brings, more and more people are suffering and are not able to bounce back after a knock. However, what is interesting is that there are lots of people who are experiencing the same tough times and yet are able to remain well or bounce back to well being quickly. ‘Face new challenges, seize new opportunities, test your resources against the unknown and in the process, discover your own unique potential.’ 
 John Amatt When trouble strikes why are some people ok and others not? So lets take two fictitious characters John and Andrew. Both managers in the same company that has seen a downturn in customers, revenue and profitability. At a meeting they are told by their CEO how difficult the situation is and a programme of cuts and redundancies is inevitable. They both are shocked by the unexpected news and for several days feel below par and worried. However, John goes back to his team and explains the situation, motivates them with a heartfelt inspiring chat about pulling together to do the best they can. He goes through his feelings and thoughts with his partner, and after a chat with some business colleagues he comes up with a strategy for his department, which he
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