What Holds Me Up

A reflective resource designed to explore the people, relationships, strengths, environments and experiences that can support, strengthen and sustain us.

What Holds Me Up? moves away from asking “How resilient am I?” and instead explores what can help us cope, adapt and move through difficult times.

Using the image of a bridge, the resource encourages exploration of people, practical support, skills and experiences, identity and belonging, community, and hope and purpose. Importantly, it doesn’t stop at identifying strengths. It also creates space to consider what may be placing pressure on the bridge and where additional support or change may be needed.

The resource includes:

• A visual bridge based reflective activity
• Exploration of different sources of strength and support
• Prompts to identify pressures affecting the bridge
• Questions to consider what may need strengthening
• Guidance for using the resource

Using the resource

What Holds Me Up? can be used alongside children, young people and adults to support conversations about what helps, what matters and the wider sources of support around them. It can also be used for individual professional reflection, supervision or reflective discussion.

The resource can be revisited over time as circumstances, relationships, pressures and sources of support change.

Professional guidance

The resource is designed to support exploration and reflection rather than measure or assess a person’s resilience. Difficulties should not automatically be understood as an individual’s inability to cope. Sometimes a relationship, resource, opportunity, environment or condition around the person needs to change.

Strength isn’t about coping alone. It’s about having the right support to hold you up.