Pandemic Strength

The mantras of, 'strengths all around you, strengths within you, and strengths can be shared or borrowed' were embraced, witnessed, and exercised during the disorientating events of the COVID pandemic.  The catastrophic events that compounded over many months, forced my own “strengths load” to increase, as both old and new clients came to terms with their depression and anxieties while they sheltered in place. 

These feelings were also felt by my students as they were told to immediately leave campus — many of which were on campus at the time of the evacuation.  In the subsequent weeks, we had to think of ways to salvage the spring semester and continue to teach class remotely — something I had never done before.  However, my own remote learning experience informed portions of what I implemented in my own scramble to continue teaching.

This challenging situation called on an educational strengths approach which endeavors to keep the interest and needs of student while also considering efforts to personalize the learning experience.  The strengths-based method has three parts, 1) identify and affirm individual strengths and talents, 2) develop and integrate those strengths, and 3) implement and interaction within the class.  This meant establishing a much closer relationship and connection with students to truly recognize and understand  their individual strengths and talents as the semester progressed.  This is something I may not have tapped into without the pandemic emergency as in-person interactions can sometimes be experienced as . . . well, less personal.

 Positive psychological regulation can result from the processes and outcomes of an individual’s struggle. Adversarial psychological growth begins after experiencing a severely negative life event that is highly distressing – shattering their habitual understanding of the world as “a just, safe, and predictable place”.  As the traumatic episode is integrate into their mental models, new understandings of the experience render the basic perception of the world or the self as untenable developing a higher level of psychological functioning.  Growth outcomes can include a deeper appreciation of life, formation of new worldviews and philosophies of life, and a greater sense of personal strength and growth.

 As we continue to move away from our pandemic experiences, we can embrace a new mantra of, 'strengths within us, strengths all around us, and strengths shared and borrowed' while we rediscover our environment and reconnect with each other. — FB

References

Cantwell, L. S. (2008). Positive psychology: Exploring the best in people, volume 1, discovering human strengths. Praeger.

Lopez, S. J., Jennifer, T. P., & Snyder, C. R. (2018). Positive psychology: The scientific and practical explorations of human strengths (4th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Sadaghiyani, S., Belgrade, A., Kira, M., & Lee, F. (2022). Finding strength in adversity: Exploring the process of posttraumatic growth among multicultural individuals. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000517