Ultra-rapid development and deployment of a family resilience program during the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learned from Families Tackling Tough Times Together

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic brought uncertainty, anxiety, and stress into households; however, it also created an opportunity as many families, sequestered at home, found themselves spending much more time together. To support families and improve their ability to cope, recover, and build resilience amid the pandemic, Purdue University’s College of Health and Human Sciences launched Families Tackling Tough Times Together (FT), a strength-based, multi-week, online program informed by scientific evidence about family resilience. Offered through a Facebook group, FT targeted parents or caregivers, children, youth, young adults, older adults and helping professionals serving families. FT was designed to appeal to both military and civilian families, in part, because both groups were experiencing similar challenges associated with the pandemic. This was an opportunity not only to bring civilian and military families together, but also for civilian families to learn from the experiences of military families in surmounting significant challenges. This paper describes the development and implementation of the FT program, as well as lessons learned. Strategies highlighted in this paper may be helpful to researchers or practitioners who wish to implement a rapid-response intervention aimed at building family resilience.