Emotional resilience is the product of our own experiences. The unique thing about emotional resilience is that unlike physical resilience, experiences need not be the same as the adversity that we now face.
In the training environment this type of “crossover” is exploited to help create emotional resilience in a number of professions. Airline pilots, the military, sales people, law enforcement officers and most recently healthcare professionals employ Immersion Simulation Environments to introduce controlled, simulated stress in a way that allows these professionals to develop emotional resilience.
The Internet abounds with software programs and even video games that allow a business person to “practice” their financial forecasting skills in their business management. Computer games and board games even provide an opportunity for emotional growth and the development of life skills.
But there is no “Flight Simulator” for life… or is there?
The “Flight Simulator” for life adversity and business adversity however is experience. The confidence that comes from encountering and overcoming the ebb and flow of daily life gently fills our canteen of emotional resilience. It is in dealing with the burnt dinner, the flat tire, the person in the ten item checkout line with 12 items, and the crying babies in the theater they give us the opportunity to build our emotional resilience.
A fine example of emotional resilience occurred during the late years of the Dot.com craze of the 1990’s. Robert had built an online business with his two brothers. The business had grown slowly to over a million dollars in sales per year with virtually no overhead because it was a virtual company. Each of the brothers were professionals with successful careers and solid business credentials so their success seemed inevitable. Unfortunately, the bubble was about to burst.
By March of 2000, Robert saw that sales were beginning to fall and inquiries to buy the brothers out, previously an almost weekly event, had completely ceased. Unlike his brothers, Robert had recently quit his job as a mortgage company president to devote himself full time to the business. The change in business climate would have caused most people in his situation to panic and in fact that was what happened as the Dot.com bubble burst. Robert however drew deeply from his emotional reserve and accomplished what most in those days could not, he calmed his fears and charted a new course.
An objective analysis of the company and the business plan disclosed a flaw that was common to most Dot.com’s of the day, there was no unique selling proposition and the product had no benefit not found for a similar price in most cities in the United State. The company was doomed!
In the book and the movie Dune fear is referred to as, “The Mind Killer.” It is through emotional resilience that we overcome the fear that chokes out thought and suffocates creativity. Robert and his brothers now took a great gulp from their canteens and took a bold move, selling a company whose sales were falling. They accomplished this by getting creative with marketing and actually improving sales. They knew that the improvement would not be sustained and they resisted the urge to “hang on” when sales finally turned around.
When they sold the company, they made a small profit above the capital it had taken to turn the company around. The new buyer, who had seen all the financials, was thrilled when the company continued profitable for another 9 months, long enough for the new owner to add new products and develop relationships with the existing customer base. Everybody won!
Whether or not we in fact use these “life lessons” to fill or drain our canteen is entirely our choice. We all know individuals who spend their lives complaining. Every little setback is a major problem, every challenge an insurmountable object. Some of these individuals when faced with a truly tragic adverse life event “rise to the occasion.” Everyone one around them is amazed that this individual is “managing so well.” Unfortunately this is the rare outcome of failing to build emotional resilience from everyday life. In reality these individuals when studied (and they have been) are really drawing their resilience from the other three canteens and in fact most often from their spiritual canteen. When studied objectively it is often discovered that these individuals are emotionally overwrought or emotionally numbed. Their emotional canteen is bone dry and they are compensating from their other canteens.
On the other hand we all know people for whom life’s little tragedies are nothing more than minor tribulations. These individuals are lights in the lives of their friends and colleagues. They are safe harbors when the emotional waters become stirred. They are often described with phrases such as “unflappable” or “steadfast”, or “strong.”
With these individuals the trials of everyday life reassure them of their own strength and fill their emotional canteen.
It is not just our challenges that fill our canteen. While our relationships fill our relationship canteen the emotions that are relationships create within us fill our emotional canteen. That is right, we get a two for one return on our investment. Even better, our emotional canteen is filled by the casual relationships we have at work. While is true that some of these work relationships fill our relationship canteen by being friendships as well, the encouraging pat on the back from a boss, the applause or accolades of colleagues and even the comradery at the water cooler provides a sense of belonging and inclusion that quickly fills our emotional canteen to overflowing.
Our emotional canteen is also one of two that we can share with others. During times of adversary we can actually help fill another person’s emotional canteen by sharing the life experiences and the feelings that surround those experiences with that other person.
The beauty of this ability to share emotional resilience is that it does not take even one drop from your own canteen. In an almost miraculous fashion the sharing of the contents of an emotional canteen allows us to pour almost perpetually into the canteens of others and yet retain a full canteen for ourselves. It is not until we begin to sip or gulp from our own emotional reserve that we, ourselves, need to seek replenishment. Live richly, love honestly and fill the canteen of emotional resilience.
(Excerpted from my lecture series and book Avoiding Business Disasters: Lessons from the Disaster Field Office)
Griffin Works offers Pawsitive Interactions with Service Dogs During Response Operations©, an audience-customized training that breaks down barriers by offering hands-on handling training and demonstrations with working service dogs for fire departments, EMS agencies, and public safety organizations.
Part of the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium and home to the National Emergency Response and Recovery Training Center, TEEX has been leading homeland security training since 1998. The major TEEX programs include fire and rescue, infrastructure and safety, law enforcement, economic and workforce development, and homeland security. As a member of The Texas A&M University System, TEEX is unique in its ability to access a broad range of emerging research and technical expertise. Beginning with course design and development all the way through hands-on instruction and national certification testing, TEEX delivers comprehensive training through both classroom and hands-on instruction and as online courses.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) was created by Congress in 2000 as part of the Children’s Health Act to raise the standard of care and increase access to services for children and families who experience or witness traumatic events. This unique network of child-serving professionals, caregivers and young adults, researchers, and national partners is committed to changing the course of children’s lives by improving their care and moving scientific gains quickly into practice across the U.S. The NCTSN is administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and coordinated by the UCLA-Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCCTS).
The Emergency Management Institute (EMI) is part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The EMI provides national leadership in developing and delivering training to ensure that individuals and groups having key emergency management responsibilities possess the requisite skills to effectively perform their jobs.
The High Alert Institute maintains a list of reviewed courses provided by governments, universities and professional organizations. This list is geared towards the non-emergency management person who participates in disaster planning, preparedness, response, recovery or mitigation as part of their job responsibilities.
The High Alert Institute has partnered with Shutterstock to distribute stock images from the nature images donated by our supporters. For eligible stock images, Shutterstock will donate a portion of the royalty to the High Alert Institute. There is no cost to charitable organizations or to Shutterstock customers.
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Koi need forever homes, too! For pond enthusiasts, freshwater exotic and ornamental fish may not be available through pet stores or rescues in their area. The High Alert Institute Aquatic Pet Shelter Rehoming Program will be happy to assist you in stocking your new pond or adding a new finned friend to your school. Coming soon – when you adopt a Koi from the High Alert Institute Aquatic Pet Shelter Rehoming Program, we can arrange for delivery to your door anywhere in the continental United States.
Have you always wanted a Koi pond but don’t have the space one? Sponsor a Koi in our community shelter pond and we send you photos of your sponsored animal. Coming soon are live Koi Cameras above and below the water to enjoy your sponsored Koi anytime.
Dumping of freshwater non-native species and exotic aquatic pets into wild habitats is a man-made disaster that is truly preventable. The Institute’s Aquatic Pet Welfare Partnership works to raise awareness and reduce the impact on healthy ecosystems through education, as well as rescue and rehoming. Joined by champions of animal welfare and environmental stewardship, this association of aquatic pet rescue operations and aquatic pet shelters across the United States aims to save our finned friends and preserve our waterways together.
Want to share our cause with family, friends, and colleagues? Looking for a non-traditional way to celebrate a birthday or honor someone special? Support the Institute by starting your own Peer-to-Peer fundraising challenge! Let your contacts know why our mission is important to you and what they can do to support your cause. START YOUR OWN FUNDRAISER for the High Alert Institute.
From the staffing pool to the shelter ponds, from the boardroom to the classroom, and from reading the science to writing the analyses, High Alert Institute programs and services benefit from the experience, expertise, and generosity of our volunteers. Put your talents to use for good and to good use – VOLUNTEER TODAY.
Make your donation twice as nice by rehoming aquatic pets and providing a rehabilitation companion pet to a deserving person, family, or facility. Sponsor part or all of a Joy of Koi Program pond installation – complete with rehomed koi – and give the gifts of love and recovery.
Professional photographers, amateurs, and legal copywrite holders are all welcome to participate in the High Alert Institute Nature Photo Donation Program. Sales of the images benefit the Institute and donors are eligible for tax deductions equivalent to the fair market value of their photos. Landscapes, seascapes, animals, flowers – all may be accepted – whether new or vintage images. People may be included in the photo but only if unidentifiable (i.e., blurred figures at a distance).
Did you know that unused patents and copyrights can be donated to charity? Intellectual Property (IP) just sitting on a shelf will lose value as it becomes obsolete. The High Alert Institute IP Donation Program seeks to rescue stranded, technology-related IP with the potential for development into marketable products. Once accepted by the program, the owner/inventor is eligible for a tax deduction equivalent to the fair market value of the IP. The Institute receives the patent licensing fees or revenue from the sale of the IP to businesses, helping us to fund our mission. In turn, businesses are able to advance their markets and create jobs for less money than starting a project from scratch.
Disasters are defined as situations in which needs exceed or overwhelm available resources. Some disasters affect an entire community, while other disasters impact individuals and families. Crises of physical or psychological health can be very personal disasters.
The therapeutic value of pets during illness, trauma, and recovery is well established. And Koi fish may be well suited for people who are not able to provide verbal pet commands or physically care for pets like dogs and cats. Koi ponds are also a source of beauty and peace, providing an ideal setting for quiet reflection or meditation.
We are working to partner with pond installers and aquatic pet rescues/shelters to offer free or reduced-cost ponds with rehomed Koi fish to people seeking this type of pet therapy.
Disasters disrupt life and impact our sense of personal, family, and community safety. Survivors and responders alike often are not aware of the emotional, psychological or spiritual challenges that they may face from disaster onset through recovery. With two decades of experience training responders and communities to prepare for the behavioral health aspects of disasters, we will continue to provide education and a curated list of resources to groups or individuals.
Non-medical factors that impact overall health are termed Social Determinants of Health or SDoH. Noise pollution, poor air quality, and poor water quality are three environmental factors known to have a strong link to overall health. And the same environmental factors that impact humans impact their pets and other animals in their care. We continue to assist in advocacy, education, and technology development to mitigate the impact of SDoH on humans and animals alike.
Our efforts in shelter and rescue are the main focus of our environmental stewardship, reducing the environmental impact of non-native aquatic animals being dumped into public waterways. The High Alert Institute also assists innovators with the design, development, and evaluation of green and renewable energy technologies. Reducing the carbon footprint associated with disaster preparedness, response, and recovery furthers our continued mission to mitigate risk and improve resilience.
We partner with public and private organizations, sharing resources and fostering partnerships to improve disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, and mitigation.
The High Alert Institute team has over a century of combined research experience in medical, nursing, behavioral health, and disaster sciences. Our team provides support to researchers and technology developers through comprehensive literature searches and reviews, as well as failure mode database searches and adjudicated reviews.
When disaster strikes, most aquatic pet owners have limited options to secure the safety of their pets. Sheltering in place may not be possible if there is no power to provide aeration and “pet-friendly” shelters do not include ponds or aquariums. Our goal is to provide an option for aquatic pet owners in need of rescue and shelter for their finned friends.
Our goal is to share our two decades of disaster readiness experience with animal welfare organizations, shelters, caretakers, and pet owners, as they implement contingency plans for natural and manmade disasters.
