Education Mental resilience is being able to do your work in a way that feels good Written on Monday, February 16, 2026 The Mental Resilience section has updated their education on this topic. ‘Mental resilience is all about performance’, explains Anabelén de Gouw. She is a lecturer in this section, and her teaching includes training courses on mental resilience. ‘By performance we mean carrying out whatever task you’re doing really well in the here and now. But we also consider performance in the long term: sustainable deployability. We want police employees to have firm mental foundations, for example so they can recover their equilibrium after a traumatic incident, for example.’ ‘We started teaching on this topic years ago under the heading ‘mental strength’. At the time, this took the form of a three-day training course. But in my view, it wasn’t really embedded firmly enough in our teaching’, Anabelén explains. ‘And the importance of this topic continues to grow, so we’ve now decided to give it a more prominent position in the organisation.’ Three forms of resilience ‘If you look at education, you can see three sorts of resilience: physical, moral, and mental resilience. New educational resources enable us to promote resilience more broadly and deeply throughout the organisation. And fortunately in recent years there has been more attention for the topic. Mental resilience also includes dealing with matters such as high levels of stress, setbacks, work pressure, etc. and yet still being able to do your work in a way that feels good.’ ‘The new educational resources are available to all employees of the Police Academy, but also to all police students and employees. We’ve developed knowledge clips and mini lectures, for instance. But there’s also an e-learning and an updated reader. We’ve also made a presentation, specially for all lecturers at the Police Academy, which they can use immediately in their teaching.’ ❛❛ Our starting point is that the brain forms a single whole. Extra tools for discussing resilience ‘Mental resilience is on the curriculum of basic police training in any case’, Anabelén says. ‘With the presentation, we provide lecturers with extra tools for discussing it in their classes. And we do mean all lecturers here, not just the ones who give Integral Professional Skills Training.’ ‘We have six different tools we can use to improve police employees’ resilience. It’s not an exhaustive toolbox, but it’s enough to make a good start. We’ve updated the underlying theory on the basis of recent research insights: e.g., about how our brains work.’ The ‘triune brain’ theory is outdated In the second half of the twentieth century, the American neuroscientist Paul MacLean developed the theory that our brains consist of three parts, each with specific functions and capabilities. ‘That’s why people talk about the reptilian brain, the emotional brain, and the rational brain. But this theory is outdated’, Anabelén explains. ‘Your brain is of course influenced by stress and blood pressure, but the basis of this theory – i.e., three separate parts of the brain – doesn’t hold, so we no longer refer to it. Our starting point is that the brain is a single whole.’ ‘Another tool we can use is cognitive control’, Anabelén goes on. ‘That’s an important tool, because this is where a rational approach can make a difference: turning unhelpful thoughts into helpful ones. We’ve now added Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to this. ACT focuses mainly on increasing psychological flexibility.’ ‘Psychological flexibility is all about accepting thoughts, including negative ones, and embracing them just as they are. Often we want to banish negative thoughts and try to suppress them. And fighting these thoughts takes a lot of energy. ACT teaches you a different approach: a more accepting one. It takes you out of that constant stream of thoughts and brings you back to the here and now.’ Mental resilience is important for everyone ‘Another tool we use is the Action Reflection Model. This is a really useful tool, because it consists of just three really short steps. Step 1 is “How do I feel about what happened?”; Step 2 is “Why do I feel this way?”; and Step 3 is: “What will I do if this happens again?”. That gives you a short reflective cycle you can immediately put into practice’, Anabelén says. ‘So what’s so important about mental resilience? Police employees naturally encounter more traumatic events than most civilians. But at the same time it matters so much to them that their work is meaningful that they are prepared to accept this ‘side effect’. However, it is of course very important that they carry out their work properly and can continue to do so.’ ‘The new educational materials are not only useful for police employees who have experienced traumatic events – they’re helpful for anyone who is not in a good place mentally. But also for people who are feeling on top of the world. What about if you’re in love, for instance? Just think how difficult it can be to concentrate on your work in a situation like that…’