Resiliency has been defined as the ability to: • Manage life’s challenges, stresses, changes, and pressures effectively.
• Cope and adapt successfully to adversity.
• Bounce back to a balanced state after facing a major disruption in life or career. People have an innate ability to demonstrate resiliency when they have resiliency skills built into their lives. Resilient people are able to adapt successfully under adverse circumstances such as: poverty, mental illness, disasters, terrorism, physical or psychological trauma, divorce, job loss, prison, loss of a loved one, parent’s divorce, prolonged stress, physical or sexual abuse, or a lack of safety. Resiliency, or a positive behavioral adaptation, is critical when people encounter any type of trauma. The Building Resiliency Workbook contains five separate sections to help participants learn more about themselves and how to build resiliency which will enable them to thrive in times of adversity, change and stress. • Optimistic outlook helps participants identify how optimistically they view and live life.
• Locus of control helps participants explore the extent to which they believe they have control over what happens in their lives.
• Sense of self helps participants explore the strength of their self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-concept.
• Ability to bounce back helps participants increase their ability to bounce back and recover from a setback.
• Change management helps participants become aware of how well they deal with change, and develop skills necessary to accept change. These sections serve as avenues for individual self-reflection, as well as participating in group experiences revolving around identified topics of importance. Each assessment includes directions for easy administration, scoring, and interpretation. Each section includes exploratory activities, reflective journaling activities, and educational handouts to help participants discover their level of resiliency and provides reflective exercises and instruction to build personal and professional resiliency. About the Authors: Ester Leutenberg has worked in the mental health profession for many years as an author, publisher and as an advocate for those suffering from loss. She personally experienced a loss when her son Mitchell, after struggling with a mental illness for eight years, died by suicide in 1986. Soon after, as a way of both healing and helping others, she co-founded Wellness Reproductions & Publishing with her daughter Kathy Khalsa. Ester began developing therapeutic products that help facilitators help their clients. She is the co-author of theSEALS series for teenagers as well as Meaningful Life Skills for older adults, and the eight-book Life Management Skills series for adults. Ester, a breast cancer survivor since 2003, has counseled other survivors in overcoming body-loss issues. Her involvements with Survivors of Suicide, the Coyote Task Force in Tucson, various support groups in Sun City Oro Valley and volunteering at two hospitals are among many ways she continues to feed her passion of helping mentally ill people, their facilitators and their families. John J. Liptak is the Associate Director of Career Services and adjunct instructor in the Counselor Education Department at Radford University. He received his EdD in Counselor Education from Virginia Tech. He has worked in a variety of settings including a federal prison, a mental health center, a job training program, and now in higher education. Dr. Liptak frequently conducts workshops on assessment-related topics. He has written seven books on career-related topics that have been featured in numerous newspapers including The Washington Post, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Associated Press. His work has also been featured on MSNBC, CNN Radio and on the PAX/ION television series, "Success Without a College Degree." At Radford University, he works with college students entering internships or preparing for graduation and entrance in the workplace. Through individual coaching sessions, workshops, and classroom presentations he helps students develop the emotional intelligence skills they need to be effective in the world-of-work. He is teaching a senior-level course that will teach emotional intelligence skills to graduating seniors. With Kathy Khalsa and Ester Leutenberg, John has written three comprehensive books for teachers and counselors to use with their students and clients: The Self-Esteem Program, The Social Skills Program, and The Stress Management Program: Inventories, Activities & Educational Handouts. With Whole Person Associates, he and Ester continue to co-write books to add to their Mental Health & Life Skills Workbook series, and their Teen Mental Health Series as well as the new Coping Series, the Mind-Body Wellness Series, and the Family Issues Series. John resides in Radford, Virginia with his wife Kathy, and their Shih Tzu named "MacKenzie." | 
