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Incarceration

Overcoming the effects of incarceration

Incarceration can be traumatic and stigmatizing, both for those who serve time and for their families. Here you’ll find stories from people who are going through it.

Incarceration

Family Toolkit: Coping with a Loved One’s Incarceration

These resources from Sesame Street provide caregivers with advice for coping as a family and talking with children about the incarceration of a loved one.

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Incarceration

How I Went From Federal Prison to Capitol Hill

Lawyer Christopher Poulos describes how sharing about his past and refusing to take no for an answer helped him succeed after being incarcerated.

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Incarceration

We Need to Talk About an Injustice

Human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson emphasizes the importance of humanity and compassion in creating a just society.

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Lessons from the book

Listen to Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant share key findings from Option B about how you can build resilience.

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The Importance of Resilience

Resilience is the strength and speed of our response to adversity. It’s a skillset we develop over the course of our lives, and there are concrete steps we can take to build resilience long before we face any kind of difficulty.
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The Elephant in the Room: Talking About Loss and Hardship

We often have a hard time talking about adversity—but staying silent can make our loved ones feel even more isolated after loss or hardship. This video offers simple ways to speak with empathy and honesty when our friends are suffering.
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Fighting Permanence

One way we build resilience is by fighting permanence, which is the belief that our grief or pain will last forever. Taking steps to remind ourselves that even the most painful feelings won’t always be so intense can help us find the strength to heal.
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Self-Confidence & Self-Compassion

When you treat yourself with the same kindness and understanding you’d show a friend, that’s self-compassion. When you believe in your abilities, that’s self-confidence. We can practice self-compassion and develop our self-confidence on a daily basis to build resilience.
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The Platinum Rule of Friendship

We’ve all heard of the Golden Rule: treat others how you want to be treated. But the way you want to be treated when facing adversity may be completely different from how others want to be treated. Use the Platinum Rule instead: treat others how they want to be treated.
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Raising Resilient Kids

Kids are often more resilient than we think. There are concrete things we can do to help them build that resilience, including making sure they know they aren’t facing adversity alone.
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Finding Meaning

After loss or trauma, we all hope to bounce back. Some of us manage to bounce forward. Learn how helping others gives our suffering meaning, allowing us to grow from the most difficult experiences of our lives.
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Taking Back Joy

The guilt we feel after loss or trauma can prevent us from enjoying the things we love. But when we give ourselves permission to do what we love, we allow ourselves to reclaim joy in our lives.

Resilience is like a muscle.
We’re here to help you build it.

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