Chapter 16: Four Types of Resilience

We are sharing this chapter of Act, Rest, Reset, Repeat by Katie Hodgetts for members of our Hopeful Book Club.

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Chapter 16

Resilience is not how hard we can brace through challenge or how lightly we can hold global news. It’s a multidimensional skillset that allows us to withstand challenges and learn, adapt, grow and spread strength to others. To understand its multifaceted nature, I often draw upon Chris Johnstone’s work. He is a friend, resilience specialist and co-author (with Joanna Macy) of Active Hope. He outlines four types of resilience that help individuals and communities cope with and adapt to challenges, especially in the context of global crises. His framework helps us see that resilience is not onesize-fits-all, nor something that is a fixed. Rather, akin to the eight-step model, it’s something we must perpetually nurture through practice and awareness. He uses the metaphor of bouncing, not just back, but with, forward and outward.

1. Recovery Resilience – Bouncing Back

“The ability to return to our previous state after stress  or setback.”

This is the resilience most people are familiar with: the capacity to recover after difficulty. It’s what we draw on after a hard day, a failure or a loss. It’s the part of us that knows how to rest, reset and rebuild.

• Core question: How do I restore my energy and wellbeing after adversity?
• Tools: Sleep, fun, distraction, nature, self-compassion, supportive relationships, processing sadness.
• Example: After a draining campaign or a busy period, you take a week off to rest and reconnect with friends, returning with a clearer mind.

Recovery resilience is vital for avoiding burnout, selfregulation and finding space for ourselves.

2. Adaptive Resilience – Bouncing With

“The capacity to bend and flex without breaking.”

This form of resilience helps us stay engaged even when circumstances shift. Adaptive resilience is about adjusting in real time, finding new ways to meet our needs or live our values as conditions change. This is bouncing with the pressure, rather than resisting it.

• Core question: How can I stay engaged, even as things change?
• Tools: Flexibility, curiosity, re-prioritization, creative problem-solving, upgrading our self-care toolkit.
• Example: Your campaign loses funding, so you have to rethink strategy and accept the work that won’t see the light of day due to the cuts.

Adaptive resilience helps us pivot, rather than collapse. It lets us stay in the game by shifting how we play it.

FOUR TYPES OF RESiLiENCE

3. Transformational Resilience – Bouncing 

Forward

“The ability to grow through difficulty, not just despite it.”

This is the most profound and long-term form of resilience. Transformational resilience involves using adversity as a catalyst for growth, allowing experiences to change us for the better.

• Core question: What can I learn from this? How might I evolve?
• Tools: Reflection, narrative reframing, purpose, therapy, coaching or mentorship.
• Example: A climate changemaker hits burnout, re-evaluates their work–life balance and develops a more nourishing model for engagement. Then they share that model with others.

With transformational resilience, we often don’t go back to who we were – we move forward as someone wiser, deeper and often more compassionate.

4. Spreading Resilience – Bouncing 

Outward

“The ability to uplift and support others through our resilience.”

This final kind of resilience is about positive contagion. It’s what happens when your strength, calm or clarity helps others find their own. When you model recovery or growth, others are more likely to believe it’s possible for them too.

• Core question: How can my resilience support the resilience of others?
• Tools: Storytelling, mentoring, peer support, community building.
• Example: After navigating eco-anxiety yourself, you host a support circle where others can share their feelings and explore coping strategies.

Spreading resilience turns personal growth into collective momentum. It’s how movements are built, not just on policies or actions but on shared emotional infrastructure.

Putting it All Together

These four types of resilience are not separate stages, but interconnected capacities we can strengthen over time. Feel free to complete the following table in a journal, providing examples of times in your life when you have experienced and practised the four types of resilience.