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Pathways 2 Prevention

The Pulse of Resilience: Building Resilience from the Ground Up

1 hr 3 min

Guests: Adam Woods, Sneha Patiyathal

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Summary

This episode features a discussion with Adam Woods and Sneha Patiyathal, two youth workers from Australia and India, about building resilience. They share their perspectives on what it looks like to support young people in different cultural settings and emphasize that resilience is a practice anyone can learn. The conversation highlights common challenges faced by youth and the impact of positive affirmation.

Key takeaways

  • Resilience is a learned practice, not a luxury.
  • Support for young people should be tailored to their cultural context.
  • Acknowledging a young person's worth, with the phrase "you matter," can be transformative.
  • Youth face challenges such as "contagions unraveling kids" and the "quiet damage of absent parents."
Show notes

Two countries, two youth workers, one shared conviction: resilience isn't a luxury, it's a practice anyone can learn.


This is a special multicast episode, recorded alongside our partners at the Unnecessary Harm podcast, built around this year's World Resiliency Week theme, "The Pulse of Resilience: Fall, Feel, Rise." Host Shane Varkow sits down with Adam Woods, coordinator of the Hope Tour in Australia, and Sneha Patiyathal, a youth prevention specialist in Kerala, India, and one of this year's World Resiliency Day global ambassadors.


Adam and Sneha are two of the architects behind this year's global campaign, and they bring the view from the ground: what it actually looks like to walk alongside young people in two very different cultural contexts. They talk about the contagions unraveling kids in their communities, the quiet damage of absent parents, and the moment a young person hears "you matter" for the first time.


If you work with young people, lead a coalition, or just want to understand what real resilience-building looks like outside a policy paper, this one will stay with you.

Guest Bios

Adam Woods coordinates the Hope Tour in Australia and is part of the Acts Global Church Network, a community organization helping people rebuild their lives with hope and reasonable grounds for it. He's one of the architects behind this year's World Resiliency Week campaign.


Sneha Patiyathal is a youth prevention specialist and credentialed catalyst at the Fourth Wave Foundation in India. She has represented her organization at the United Nations in Vienna and the Asian Youth Forum on Drug Use Prevention, and serves as one of eight World Resiliency Day global ambassadors.

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