7Cs of Resilience

Pediatrician Ken Ginsburg, MD, specializes in adolescent medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. To help kids and teens boost their resilience, he created the 7 Cs model that has now become a successful way of looking at resilience. These 7 Cs are attributes of healthy resilience.

But what are the 7 Cs? In this article, we answer just that. Read on to find out more.

The 7 Cs Of Resilience

1.    Competence

Competence is the ability to know how to handle stressful or difficult situations effectively. To become more competent, you must develop skills to trust your judgments and make wise choices. Without competence, you may never know how to respond to difficult or stressful situations.

2.    Confidence

Confidence is one’s ability to know that they can make healthy and responsible decisions. In many ways, confidence is deeply rooted in competence. You will gain confidence by being competent in real-life scenarios, but it is important to have positive self-talk even when you are not competent. Having positive self-talk ensures that you stay optimistic and positive.

3.    Connection

One of the most important factors for resilience is connection. Connection is when you have close ties to family, friends, and community. This connection provides a sense of security and belonging that makes you feel safer in the world. Without connection, you may feel completely disconnected and inadequate, making it difficult to become resilient. 

4.    Character

In order to be resilient, you need to know right from wrong. The reason for this is that you will not be able to make responsible choices if you don’t know right from wrong or don’t have character. If you do not know right from wrong, you will not be able to make decisions that are both healthy for yourself and contribute to society. So, you need to have a good character in order to be resilient.

5.    Contribution

Feeling as though you have a sense of purpose in the world is a powerful motivator for becoming resilient. So, you should aim to feel like you are contributing to your community. Doing so will allow you to have a sense of purpose and reinforce positive relationships. Together, these factors allow you to be more resilient and comfortable in the world.

6.    Coping

Coping is when you learn how to deal with stress or difficult scenarios in a healthy manner. Being prepared with coping mechanisms will allow you to handle adversity healthily and effectively. If you do not know healthy coping mechanisms, you will never become healthy and resilient. For this reason, coping is a key factor for resilience.

7.    Control

Control is about developing and understanding your internal control so that you can problem-solve your way out of difficult situations. This allows you to feel in control of your outcomes, as opposed to a victim of your circumstances. As a result, you will feel more capable and confident since you have control over the outcomes in your life.

Final Thoughts

The 7 Cs are crucial features for healthy resilience. Once again, the 7 Cs are competence, confidence, connection, character, contribution, coping, and control. If you lack one or more of these attributes, you are likely to not be as resilient as you could.

One final note about the 7 Cs is that action is more important than talk. You may read about the 7 Cs or even talk to someone about them, but your knowledge will be completely useless if you do not actively implement them in your life. For this reason, it is imperative that you take action steps to become more resilient.