1 (More reflections arising from my earlier concerns re that graphic). Resilience narratives can be harmful. But so is devaluing/denying possible resilience. Nothing is simple or easy when it comes to trauma & mental health. It’s all about allowing for different experiences.

2/ The point is it’s not our fault either way. If resilience isn’t enough for us it’s not because we’ve failed. People need to be supported, validated, and given the help we need. But if we have found ways to survive the sh** we’ve been through, through some form of “resilience”

3/ then it’s not ok to erase that either. Regardless of what our needs, vulnerabilities and strengths are we deserve to be acknowledge as whole and complex. Not judged by some isolated factors that may or may not fairly represent our situation. So resilience is BS but also not

4/ The big problem with resilience narratives in my view is they reduce us and erase our context. They call on us to overcome sh** we never should have to overcome on our own. We deserve support. But we also deserve credit for the ways we do survive. The ways we do navigate life

5/ despite the obstacles in our way. The problem with resilience narratives in either direction is they are caricatures of our struggles and strengths. We are not failures if we don’t simply overcome. And we are not in crisis just because someone else deems it so.

6/ Don’t make us caricatures in resilience tales where we are either inspirational superheroes **or** in crisis in need of intervention. Don’t erase our vulnerabilities or our strengths or the context in which they appear. It’s way more complicated than that.

Signed: a whole human who is super-resilient in some ways even though she never should have had to be, but also vulnerable in others. All of which should be validated and supported without caricature or categorical simplistic narratives.