Resiliency Project: A Gecko’s Guide to Building Resiliency in Child Abuse Staff & Volunteers

Description: The (US based) Resiliency Project engaged researchers, educators, and practitioners from the child abuse field in a collaborative effort to develop, implement, and evaluate an organisationally based program to build resiliency in staff and volunteers. Twelve service organisations participated in the project.

Key to the project were the pilot "resiliency coaches" who evaluated all training and technical assistance products related to the organisational program model.

The model identified 5 key themes- self-knowledge and insight, sense of hope, healthy coping, strong relationships, and personal perspective and meaning- that can be promoted in the culture of organisations.


This is a summary report.

What's the evidence base for this resource: Evaluation conducted by the Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA) at the University of Texas School of Social Work.


Potential uses and limitation:  It includes examples of specific interventions implemented under the categories of Policy, Supervisory Technique, and Competency-based Training. There are a range of training and reflection exercises that could be useful in supervision contexts.  Suggested practice examples  range from personal reflections, through to policies that promote staff well being.

Where it comes from:  Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA) in the Center for Social Work Research, School of Social Work