Welcome to the Project Resilience web site sound files which contain excerpts from our three videos: "Survivor's Pride: An Introduction to Resilience," "James' Story," and "Tanika's Story." On each clip you will hear youth speaking about their resilience.
Sean For more info on the "Survivor's Pride" video, including ordering information, click here.
Tanika For more info on or video, "Tanika's Story," including ordering information, click here.
Melvin For more info on the "Survivor's Pride" video, including ordering information, click here.
Terry For more info on the "Survivor's Pride" video, including ordering information, click here.
James For more info on our video, "James' Story," including ordering information, click here.
On this sound file, you will hear an excerpt from the vocabulary of strengths section of
our "Survivor's Pride" video. The full video is 75 minutes long. In addition to the vocabulary
of strengths section, it covers our basic theory of resilience, the meaning of survivor's pride,
techniques for conducting strengths-based interviews, and the role of teachers in fostering
resilience. Sean is talking about humor, his particular form of resilience. At 16, Sean
lived with his mother and her boyfriend in an atmosphere of violence and hostility. A
prominent part of his resilience is his capacity to minimize his pain by laughing at himself.
Humor as a resilience is not to be confused with being the class clown, which all too often
involves building yourself up by tearing others down. Listen to Sean's resilience.
Listen to Sean
(This requires that you have RealAudio installed on your computer. You can get it for free here. It won't take long to install.)
This is a sound clip from our video "Tanika's Story." The full video shows a 26-minute strengths-based interview I conducted with Tanika. A young woman of 16, Tanika gave up her childhood to take care of a mother who could neither hold a job nor raise her children. The clip you are about to here is the longest on our web site -- four minutes in all. I think you will find it worthwhile to hear the full impact of Tanika's unfolding awareness of her own strength. Listen as she explains to me how her creativity has helped her rise above the troubles in her life -- how she expresses her pain in song, an art form that makes difficult feelings beautiful and that others can admire and appreciate.
Listen to Tanika
(This requires that you have RealAudio installed on your computer. You can get it for free here. It won't take long to install.)
You are about to hear the voice of Melvin from the vocabulary of strengths section of our "Survivor's Pride" video. Melvin is a 16-year old youth who has been in and out of foster homes for more than half of his life. He was removed from his mother's home because of severe neglect. Here he is talking about a court hearing in which the judge asked him whether he would like to go into foster care or remain with his mother. Listen to the resilience in his answer -- his clear thinking, independence, determination to protect himself, and his compassion for his mother's position.
Listen to Melvin
(This requires that you have RealAudio installed on your computer. You can get it for free here. It won't take long to install.)
You are about to hear a clip of the Survivor's Pride section of our video by the same name. Terry is a young adult who grew up with two alcoholic parents. As a child, Terry stepped in for her missing parents and became mother to the younger children in her family. Here we hear about a visit with mom who apologized to Terry for the horrible responsibilities that fell on her as a child. You might think that the apology worked. But it didn't. While it served her mother's needs, it missed the point for Terry. Rather than repairing the past, it stirred up new pain by violating Terry's survivor's pride. Listen to Terry explain that what she needed most from her mother was not an apology but an acknowledgement of all that she had done.
Listen to Terry
(This requires that you have RealAudio installed on your computer. You can get it for free here. It won't take long to install.)
This is a sound clip from our video entitled, "James' Story." The full video shows a 25-minute strengths-based interview that I conducted with James. A young man of 16, James has been involved with both gangs and drugs. At the time the video was made, James had moved from Chicago to Madison, Wisconsin in order to change his life by breaking away from the gang. His school counselor in Madison discovered him living in a car and helped him find housing in a shelter. Listen as James explains his strength and his determination to separate from the pack, to withstand their pressure, and to pursue his own goals.
Listen to James
(This requires that you have RealAudio installed on your computer. You can get it for free here. It won't take long to install.)