People often focus on the risk factors when working with students who are discouraged or from an adverse environment. In contrast, resiliency building is based on the belief that all young people have strengths and can act on them.
Mentors who adopt a "resiliency perspective" focus on nurturing and strengthening "protective factors". These are the essential elements of resiliency building, and they can mitigate negative and stressful experiences and enable young people to overcome adversity. They transcend ethnicity, cultural difference and socio-economic class and make a profound impact on the lives of young people who grow up under adverse conditions. They are about meeting the basic human needs for caring, belonging, respect and self-determination.
Source: From material in Peters & Thurlow 2002
