Written by Ericia Yeo, AWARE Intern

On Saturday, 3 November 2018, one of AWARE’s Power Fund grantees Brave Spaces held a workshop on ‘Cultivating Emotional Resilience From Within’. Emotional resilience enables us to be present to those around us and simultaneously acknowledge the negative feelings within us without being overwhelmed by them. When we hit a crisis, how long does it take for us to bounce back and cope with the feelings that come up?

Part of the workshop was spent discussing the different types of “Drivers” we all have, the categories of which are: ‘be perfect’, ‘be strong’, ‘be pleasing’, ‘try hard’ and ‘hurry up’. Participants discussed how each driver can be effective and ineffective, coming up with different strategies to cope with them. The participants enjoyed having the opportunity to have group discussions with others who are similar, as well as learning from the other groups as there can be conflict amongst different people with different drivers.

At the end of the session, participants were able to better understand emotional resilience, and define and redefine their understanding of emotions. Concepts of emotional literacy were discussed, where participants articulate the emotions that they experience as well as come up with both long-term and short-term strategies for coping with emotions and building emotional resilience – such as taking time off, practicing self-compassion and knowing how to talk about emotions. The importance of accepting emotions was highlighted – being open to feelings instead of pushing them away – for us to better understand ourselves.

About the organiser:

Brave Spaces is a non-profit organisation that provides support services for marginalised women through a dedicated helpline, social services, workshops and events. They recently launched the Brave Helpline (8788 8817) for LBTQI women in Singapore. This event was an opportunity for participants to experience one of the services Brave Spaces does, and the workshop was a success with positive participant feedback. There were many new insights gained from the sharing by Brave Spaces, as well as from the discussions had in the workshop.