Five Years of The Resilience Resource
Five years. Countless stories. One unwavering mission: to see people made whole
This month, as we celebrate five years of walking this road together, we’re inviting those who share this vision to help us carry it forward. Your generosity ensures the kind of whole-person care we believe in will be here for the next five years, and beyond.
Five years ago, The Resilience Resource was more a hope than an infrastructure. It began at a desk cluttered with mismatched coffee mugs and stacks of notes, guided less by a business plan and more by a stubborn belief: the way we care for people could be different.
From the first conversation, the vision was clear. We would not reduce people to compartments. We would refuse to split them into physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and relational silos, as if any one could be fixed in isolation. We would see and serve people as whole, sacred, beloved humanity. This unwavering commitment to holistic being became our first and deepest distinctive, and it has transformed everything.
The Distinctive That Defines the Work
Holistic people care isn’t a trendy slogan for us; it is a compass. In consultation, it means reviewing an organization’s policies and seeing the links between burnout, leadership culture, spiritual obligation, and relational strain. In training, it means integrating body, mind, heart and soul as interwoven with the four core relationships of humanity (self, the sacred or spiritual, the natural world, and community) into every session- preparing people not just to endure, but to thrive before, through, and after crisis.
It means working with teams until they see resilience as a collective responsibility, not just an individual character trait that some have and others do not. It means sitting with individuals and asking not just “What’s wrong?” but “What is your body telling you? Where are you finding joy? What losses are you carrying?”
Even in crisis response, where urgent stabilization often overshadows deeper needs, we intentionally care in ways that lay the groundwork for long-term resilient recovery for individuals and communities. Because to us, resilience isn’t about never breaking. It’s about restoring the whole person so they can live, love, and lead well for years to come.
“The Resilience Resource team unapologetically refuses to disconnect and dissect a person’s experience into separate components… We strategically analyze needs and solutions for how they all work together for a single purpose – a thriving life.”
Five Years in Action
Over these past five years, this mission has taken us into the wake of hurricanes, wildfires, war zones, and political upheaval. We’ve stood with communities and organizations during the Ukraine war, hurricanes in Florida and North Carolina, wildfires in LA and Maui, the Gaza/Israel conflict, and ongoing political violence in Haiti. We’ve responded to terrorist attacks in New Orleans, catastrophic flooding in Texas, and cared for those working against human trafficking in Indonesia.
We’ve partnered with organizations across sectors—humanitarian aid, risk management, missions, and local first responders—serving in more than a dozen countries. In each context, our core work is the same: to see honor and be present with the complexity of the human experience, support the long-term well-being of individuals, communities, and organizations, and ultimately, to see people made whole.
Stories We Carry
We have celebrated with the caregiver who finally took a guilt-free vacation.
We have seen leaders rewrite policies to protect the health and humanity of their personnel.
We have seen organizations take an intentional hit to their bottom line to limit growth for the sake of their people.
We have watched fractured teams become communities of mutual care.
We have sat in sacred silence with grieving communities who had nothing left to say.
We have stood with first responders returning from scenes no one should have to witness.
We have walked with leaders through the lonely weight of hard decisions.
We have gathered with those rebuilding after loss.
We have witnessed healing in people who once believed they were beyond repair.
We have rejoiced with teams who found a way forward after deep conflict.
We have seen individuals rediscover joy in work they once dreaded.
We have grieved alongside communities marked by tragedy.
We have stood in awe at the resilience of those who kept showing up when it felt impossible.
We have cheered for organizations that chose care over efficiency.
We have stayed present in moments when there was no fixing.
We have laughed with people who thought they had forgotten how.
We have seen the weight lift from someone’s shoulders after their first true rest in years.
We have watched people learn that boundaries can be an act of love.
We have been present at the bedside of the dying.
We have held hope for those who could not hold it themselves.
We have believed in people until they could believe in themselves again.
And we will keep believing—
when the days are heavy and when they are light,
when the room is full of laughter and when it holds only silence,
when the work costs us and when it gives us life,
because we have seen what happens when people are not left alone in their pain.
Each of these moments was a small act of resistance against the systems that measure people only by output. Each was proof that holistic resilience is not only possible, it’s powerful.
Looking Ahead
Anniversaries are a strange mix of reflection and anticipation. Looking back, we are humbled by what these five years have held. Looking forward, we are aware the work is far from finished.
The pressures that fracture people; production-driven cultures, the global epidemic of loneliness, repeated crises with minimal recovery time, remain fierce. But so does our commitment to counter these pressures with something stronger: holistic people care rooted in dignity and hope.
In the next five years, we will keep equipping leaders, supporting organizations, and standing with individuals in the hard places. We will keep asking the deeper questions. We will keep choosing presence over productivity, connection over comparison, and rest over relentless striving.
If you’ve been part of this journey, you already know the impact we make together. Your gift today is an investment in the next chapter of whole-person care—helping those in the hardest places not only survive, but truly thrive.
To you, our friends, partners, donors, and fellow travelers, thank you. You have proven that when people are seen whole, they can thrive whole.
Here’s to the next chapter, and the next years of doing this work together.
— Scott and Josie Gwin
Co-founders: The Resilience Resource
And the invaluable members of The Resilience Resource Team