Lab Building

Bounded Flexibility

After something terrible happens, most people bend and come back. Decades of research by George Bonanno show that about two in three people follow a resilient path, that debriefing everyone straight away does not prevent trauma, and that the people who cope best are not the ones with one good strategy but the ones who read the situation, choose between several responses and change when one is not working. Bounded Flexibility turns that research into something to explore: moving charts, a simulator to steer through changing conditions in an activity you choose, a guide that answers questions with sources, and a balance between what a situation needs and what a person has. It does not say trauma is not real. It says lasting trauma is not the rule.

Open the prototype

The idea we are testing

1Four paths, not oneFollowing people over time shows four common paths after adversity: resilience, recovery, lasting difficulty and delayed difficulty. Averages hide them, and the average is where the expectation of damage comes from.

2Flexibility over any single strategyReading the situation, having several responses and noticing whether one is working. Showing feelings and holding them back are both skills, and being able to do both is what predicts doing well.

3Bounded, and the bounds can moveFlexibility works within what a person can predict and has to work with. A plan, a familiar person, an example to look at or an agreed way out widen the range before the day starts.

Connected to the Bounded Companion

Bounded Flexibility explains the research behind how the Bounded Companion helps people choose between responses: what a situation needs, what a person has and which response fits.

Open the Bounded Companion

Where it is now

A first prototype exists. It is unfinished and changes often, so what you see may differ from what we finally release.

When it is ready, it becomes part of Learn, free to read and use.

Who it is for

Families

A different expectation after something hard: watch the path over months, not one bad week.

Schools

Support that widens the range of responses instead of asking everyone to talk.

Psychologists

An exposition of the evidence, with full sources, to use with families and staff.

Taking part

We are looking for families, schools and psychologists in England and Portugal who want to try it and tell us what is unclear.

Let's talk

Tell the Companion about a moment that puzzles you, or write to Ricardo directly.

Talk to the Companion