FORWARD PLANNING

9.30 - 11.30am, Tuesday 7 February 2012

Central London venue

In times of economic hardship, the question about how we increase people's emotional resilience is pressing. On Tuesday 6 February the Young Foundation is hosting a major speech by Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum who until recently led the $125 million emotional fitness regime for the US military.

A member of the first generation of female US soldiers sent to the frontline during the first Gulf War, Cornum was taken prisoner by the Iraqi forces. On her release, having sustained severe torture without revealing any confidential information, she became an American war hero. She explains: "There are some people who are just naturally resilient, who look at problems as challenges to be overcome. Some people even see adversity as an opportunity to excel. I recognised that I had those skills and others didn't. What we have learnt since then is that the thinking skills that lead to resilience can be taught."

In this high profile lecture, supported by the Barrow Cadbury Trust and hosted by the Macquarie Group Foundation, Brigadier General Cornum will be exploring the issue of whether resilience is a skill we can teach and explore how we might do this in the UK. The lecture will be chaired by Lord Gus Macdonald (Senior Advisor, Macquarie Group and former Government Minister)

The Young Foundation is one of the leaders in this field through its role in developing programmes to teach emotional resilience in schools, to youths involved with gangs and to older people. This event will coincide with the launch of Resilience - a new venture from the Young Foundation - which is training frontline professionals to enhance people's capacity to cope, adapt and thrive in difficult times.

ENDS.

Notes to editor:

• Please contact Alison Harvie at the Young Foundation on +44 (0)7909 912 444 or alison.harvie@youngfoundation.org

• The Young Foundation - through its predecessor organisations - has been directly involved in strengthening society and pushing up social growth for over fifty years: helping to create mass membership voluntary organisations like Which? and the University of the Third Age, growing new generations of community leaders through thev schools for social entrepreneurs. The Open University remains perhaps the most successful example of a new organisation that helped to transform thousands of people's sense of their potential. The Young Foundation are involved in over 50 ventures and initiatives that range from neighbourhood websites to community schools, new models of healthcare to training community campaigners.

• The Barrow Cadbury Trust is an independent, charitable foundation, committed to supporting vulnerable and marginalised people in society. The Trust provides grants to grassroots voluntary and community groups working in deprived communities in the UK, with a focus on Birmingham and the Black Country. It also works with researchers, think tanks and government, often in partnership with other grant-makers, seeking to overcome the structural barriers to a more just and equal society.

• Macquarie Group (Macquarie) is a global provider of banking, financial, advisory, investment and funds management services. The Macquarie Group Foundation is Macquarie's philanthropic arm and, together with Macquarie staff, has contributed more than £107 million globally to over 1,300 community organisations around the world since it was established in 1985.