Recovery & Resilience

• With help from a mental health professional, and support from family and friends, mental health concerns are treatable, and recovery is expected.
• You can think of recovery as part of a personal journey to feel a degree of control over life, and to have meaningful relationships with trusted people – whether they are family members, friends, or people at school or work.
• Recovery also means different things to each person. For some, recovery means that no symptoms will persist, while for others, recovery means learning to live a full life despite any ongoing symptoms.

Developing resilience – the ability to have inner strength and “bounce back” or recover from stress and challenges – can help kids and teens prevent problems and recover from mental health concerns.

You can help your child or teen develop resilience by:

• Avoiding the use of catastrophic (very negative) language and emotional outbursts in response to stress
• Using positive stress management techniques in your daily life
• Asking ‘how’ questions rather than ‘why,’ to encourage critical thinking and teach practical problem-solving skills – for example, ask “How are you going to fix your bike chain?” instead of “Why did you leave your bike out in the rain?”

Find more information on resilience in the Links and Resources section of this website.