Every day, a type of quiet, practical work takes place in a room, such as a small therapy office with a stack of printed worksheets on the corner of the desk or a hospital break room where a counselor is taking notes between patient visits. Press releases about it are not being written by anyone. It is not the subject of any conference keynote. However, if you ask the right practitioners, they will tell you that when it comes to developing resilience in real people, in real situations, a few free, nearly invisible tools are doing the heavy lifting.
To be honest, I find it a little odd that these tools don’t receive more attention. The wellness sector is noisy. Monthly subscription apps promise change. Programs for corporate resilience cost businesses thousands of dollars. However, the professionals who work most closely with anxious physicians, overburdened professionals, and regular people facing severe adversity continue to turn to free services.
One such tool is the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. It is freely available in PDF format and has been part of the research literature since the early 2000s. It provides practitioners with an organized method to measure an individual’s current status prior to initiating any kind of intervention. You would think that something so helpful would be available everywhere. It isn’t. Surprisingly few practitioners have included it as a standard part of their intake process, and the majority of clients are unaware of it. Measuring resilience seems less important than addressing the current crisis, which makes sense but may be shortsighted.
Another is box breathing. embarrassingly easy. Take a four-count breath, hold it, then release it. Do it again. In high-stress healthcare settings, where burnout rates are estimated to be around 80%, practitioners have begun discreetly using it in team meetings, prior to challenging conversations, or even just while standing in a hallway. It doesn’t appear to be a clinical intervention. That may be the exact reason it functions.
It’s important to note that the most successful free tools have one thing in common: they are based on the body and the here and now rather than on theoretical goal-setting. The “Three Good Things” practice, gratitude journals, and reframing exercises derived from cognitive behavioral therapy are not novel concepts. For years, they have been in the public domain, accessible to anybody with an internet connection. However, it’s possible that people undervalue them due to their accessibility. It seems to be assumed that something is probably not serious medicine if it is simple and free.
It is worthwhile to challenge that assumption. Research increasingly demonstrates that resilience is not a fixed trait that some people are born with and others completely lack. It functions more like a skill, responding to repetition, practice, and the appropriate circumstances. When practitioners are aware of this, they often look for tools that users can use on a Tuesday morning, in between sessions, without requiring a subscription or login. An exercise in mindful breathing. a list of support contacts written by hand. One reframing question written on a piece of sticky paper.
It’s difficult to avoid feeling that the difference between what’s available and what’s actually used is a sort of lost opportunity as you watch this area develop. There are the tools. There is proof. More than anything, what appears to be lacking is someone who is prepared to discuss them honestly and without putting a price on them.
