THE IMPORTANCE OF RESILIENCE

Sqn Ldr Richard Maxwell-Whale, XO RAF Force Protection Centre, visited Hartismere School in Eye, Suffolk, to deliver a talk about resilience to Year 11 students before they undertake their GSCE exams.

His interest in resilience has grown from personal experiences and his previous role as an instructor at the RAF Officer Training Academy. He completed a year of study into the psychological resilience of phase 1 trainees as part of a MSc in Leadership and Management. The talk involved dealing with difficult situations and failure, skills to develop resilience, optimism and perspective. He even managed to utilise Lego to help explain resilience! The students found the talk very informative and useful as they approach their exams and life after school. The teachers also enjoyed the visit and are keen for him to return to talk to the next group of year 11 students.

Richard said, “it was a real privilege to talk to young people in the wider community about a subject that I feel is more important now, than it has ever been. We often confuse resilience with robustness and in an increasingly challenging world, our ability to learn from failure or adverse events (resilience) is crucial in building our future.” This visit is part of a project Richard is developing within the RAF to promote awareness and understanding of resilience and its importance.