Training Students to Handle Emotional Load: Resilience Outcomes from a Graduate-Level Counseling Course – A Pilot study

The purpose of this study was to determine if emotional resilience can be effectively increased through targeted instruction. To examine this question, five novel curricular elements were designed to target the social-emotional competencies known to undergird the development of emotional resilience. These five curricular elements were incorporated into an 8-week course on Counseling in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. Students completed a self-assessment pre- and post-course to assess for change in level of resilience. Results indicated overall increased levels of resilience after the 8-week course. While further research is needed, this study is the first to show that increasing emotional resilience can be achieved through targeted curricular intervention in CSD.