What does resilience actually mean?

Most often, people think resilience is the ability to adapt to tough situations, whether a traumatic incident that’s happened in our lives, facing uncertainty, etc.

But resilience is also about elasticity. It’s the ability to recover quickly. To get knocked down and back up on your feet. Real resilience is about recovery, bouncing back, and not letting those traumatic incidents and setbacks define you.

Victoria first came to Hull when she was around 12-13 years old. She stayed at our SW campus until age 17 in our Track program and also attended our Hull School.

After that, she spent time with our Interdependent Living Services (ILS) program until she was 22, focusing on youth transitioning to adulthood (YTA). This program helps youth transition from care to independent living by teaching life skills like managing money, finding housing, pursuing education or work, and building healthy relationships.

“Part of why I went to Hull was I had been in the hospital, twice, because I attempted suicide, and was having a hard time with self-harm and suicidal ideation,” Victoria says, now 25, thriving, and living with her family while taking care of her four cats.

In her time with Hull, Victoria recalls the strong relationships she had with staff members in her programs, how they made her feel, how she was able to connect with them, and what she learned to best support her mental health.

“I learned healthier ways of coping and effectively communicating how I’m feeling,” she says.

Victoria would also go for walks, explored artistic activities, checked in with herself to ensure her basic needs were being met —like getting enough sleep and staying hydrated.

“I enjoyed painting and working on art projects and listening to music,” she adds, saying that My Chemical Romance is one of her favourite bands, and like most younger people of today, finds a lot of music on TikTok.

Victoria shared that one of the most valuable lessons – and something she truly enjoyed – was learning the importance of having a structured day and creating routine.

Often, that’s what young people at Hull need most, as many come here without having had any structure or routine in their lives.

While at Hull, she’d have breakfast, go to school, come back to program for lunch, finish off her school day. Then in the evenings, she would have downtime but also go out into the community to see a movie or walk around the mall.

An important part of the care and support Victoria received came in the way of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which helps people manage emotions and relationships through mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness.

DBT is an important tool that Hull utilizes in how we support young people and their families.

Victoria is proud of the resilience she’s displayed over the years, and the skills she learned at Hull —skills she’s been able to adapt and use in her day-to-day life.

“To me, resilience is not about never experiencing hard things, but about being able to get back up after experiencing hard things.”

“Hull taught me there are healthy ways to cope and that I can build supportive social networks to help cushion the impact from hard times —and I think that contributes to my resilience.”

Nowadays, Victoria enjoys spending time with her friends, loves gaming, and has maintained her artistic and creative eye through painting.

“Hull Services helped change my life because I’m more stable now than when I was younger, I’m able to navigate adversity, and know where to find support. I made a lot of good memories with the staff there and created friendships.”

Victoria noted the important impact donors have on an Agency like Hull Services — from donating  furniture and making sure the young people had comfortable settings for the youth, to going above and beyond during the holidays by ensuring kids receive Christmas gifts, as many don’t get to see their families during that time.

And as someone who spent many years with us, Victoria knows that Hull Services is so much more than what people see on the outside.

“I think some people might perceive Hull as being this place where bad kids go, or they meet other kids and get worse. But none of that is true. It’s more than that.

Hull is a place where community is built, a place where advocacy happens, and is a place of potential.” – Victoria