Resilience Can Be Taught: New Report Charts the Path Beyond Pandemic Recovery

MESH Helps advances well-being by strengthening kids' resilience through play

CHICAGO, Sept. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- MESH Helps today announced the release of its second white paper, Post-Pandemic: From Recovery to Resilience, a call-to-action for families, educators, and toy industry leaders to shift the focus of childhood back to what kids need most: purposeful play.

The white paper emphasizes two essential truths about resilience:

• Resilience is a skillset, not a trait. Children are not born resilient—resilience is built through relationships, practice, and play.
• Resilience is contagious. Just as stress spreads, so can resilience. When children model coping and adaptability, they strengthen not only themselves but also their peers, families, and communities.

Drawing on recent data, including findings from the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the Harvard Human Flourishing Study, the white paper highlights the urgent need to address the persistent youth mental health crisis by going beyond treatment to focus on prevention and skill-building.

"While mental health professionals continue their critical work supporting children in crisis, the broader community must do more upstream," said Rachele Harmuth, Founder of MESH Helps. "Resilience isn't something kids either have or don't have—it's something we can teach, strengthen, and spread through play."

The report outlines how families, schools, toy makers, and youth organizations can embed resilience-building into everyday life, particularly through play-based experiences that nurture adaptability, problem-solving, and emotional regulation.

The release of Post-Pandemic: From Recovery to Resilience signals the next chapter of MESH Helps' mission to ensure every child has access to resilience-building opportunities at home, at school, and in their communities. Families can discover toys and games with MESH Accreditation through the MESH Helps website and Amazon MESH Toys, as well as tap into play-based resources that foster resilience in everyday life at MESHhelps.org. Industry leaders are invited to join the movement by designing and spotlighting products that strengthen kids' mental, emotional, and social health skills through MESH Accreditation. Together, we can move beyond recovery—and build a more resilient generation.

The full white paper and resources are available for download here: www.MESHhelps.org

About MESH Helps
MESHhelps.org launched in October 2022 to address the growing concern of kids' mental health in an increasingly challenging world. ThinkFun, a division of Ravensburger, inaugurated MESH Helps in partnership with resilience expert, Dr. Deborah Gilboa to support the mental health of children today. In December 2023, MESH Helps became an independent nonprofit with a mission to help kids build resilience through play by strengthening the critical skills of mental, emotional, and social health. For more information, please visit www.MESHhelps.org.

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SOURCE MESH Helps