Enhancing Resilience in Youth: Sustainable Systemic Effects in Different Environments

Abstract

Nowadays, in order to promote psychological well-being and prevent diseases (mental and physical), several interventions have been developed and tested in school settings. These involve, for instance, mindfulness and compassion. Nevertheless, despite promising results attesting to the effectiveness of mindfulness in increasing well-being, there remain some open questions concerning how to implement mindfulness in a systematic way beyond research, incorporating it as a regular practice of the educational system which makes it possible to introduce a culture of resilience. In this chapter, wewould like to give insights into the sustainability of psychosocial interventions considering a systemic approach in a variety of environments. To do this, wewill revisit the concept of resilience (i.e. definition, resources) and how to enhance it (e.g. positive learning, positive peer culture, positive self-development). In summary, we wish to highlight that, to ensure the sustainability of psychosocial interventions in schools, a multilevel approach should be adopted. Specifically, we propose that a framework based on resilience may give rise to a pivotal concept through multiple novel interventions such as mindfulness and compassion, which should be integrated in more systemic and ecological view.