Demystifying Mental Toughness

123 Supporting People: What Can You Learn About Resilience From The Military

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Episode notes

In today’s episode I speak to Richard Dorney MBE.  Richard served in the military for almost 39 years and has a wealth of experience in dealing with high stress situations.  He’s now the Director of Strongmind Resiliency Training, a company that works to improve mental health support, trauma management and resilience mainly in public sector organisations exposed to stress and trauma.  Richard goes on to share his background and lessons that he’s learned.  We discuss resilience development and leadership in the military, Trauma risk management (TRIM) in the military and in healthcare and corporate settings.  

Key Learning Points:

  • Resilience is not innate, it isn't just something you have, you can develop it.
  • The mission comes first in the military.
  • There is a focus on the preservation of quality, power and capability. The military does very well in understanding it’s people and their capabilities.
  • Leadership in the military is very good, they invest a great deal of time and effort training leaders at every stage of their leadership development.
  • Peer support is a vital component when dealing with Trauma.
  • A strong mind is about mental resilience, robustness, thinking, attitude and behaviour. 
  • A fundamental key of a strong mind is self-awareness.
  • Psychologically informed, empathetic and compassionate leadership is vital when managing people.

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Other Useful Resources linked to Mental Health

Blog - 5 Ways to Create a Psychological Safe Sporting Environment

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