Resilience, Self-management and Agency: Living Practice Wisdom Well

Practice wisdom is critical to effective practice and to achieving excellence in practice because it supports creativity, breakthrough thinking and is the foundation for effective discernment, good judgement and appropriate decision making. This chapter argues that in the contemporary neo-liberalist society, practitioners need resilience, self-management and agency for practice wisdom to be possible and achievable. That is, in order to practise creatively, ethically and with good judgement, practitioners need to be psychologically well, and supported by positive workplace and societal structures and cultures.
Resilient practitioners who have self-management skills and agency will be better able to enact practice wisdom because they will be better able to cope with the realities, challenges and stressors of modern workplaces. On this basis, the support of practitioners’ wellbeing – and in particular, their resilience, self-management and agency – is a significant professional imperative.