With the fast pace of today’s modern lifestyle, it’s no surprise that we often become stressed with the challenges we face both in the workplace and at home.

When this happens, we reach out for help and support from those closest to us and who we can trust.

This can include friends, family, neighbours, work colleagues, teammates, and even the person in a pub, bar, cafe who we share a couple of moments or drinks with whilst relaxing and unwinding.

In fact, anyone we come across in our day-to-day lives.

These people are known as our ‘support network.’

So, let’s look in more detail at this group of people who we often open our hearts up to and share our innermost thoughts and feelings.

The Cambridge English Dictionary defines a support network as: “a group of people who provide emotional and practical help to someone in difficulty.”

A professional support network is a group of people who can offer you advice, feedback, referrals, and encouragement in your career. It can help you grow your skills, expand your opportunities, and overcome challenges.

These networks are critical to our well-being - people we count on and confide in.

Network members aren’t paid to be friends with the person at the centre of the network, nor are they doing the person a favour. They genuinely care for the person and can offer support, advocacy, monitoring, or companionship. Network members receive friendship as well as provide it - and often find it extremely rewarding.

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They commit to assist the person at the centre to lead an enriched and meaningful life and help realise his or her dreams and goals.

How healthy and worthwhile is your Support Network?

Look out for further blogs in this series – “How to build a support network,” “Why are support networks important?” and “What are the benefits of support networks?”

If you need further information about this approach, or any other resilience topic, please contact russell@theresiliencecoach.co.uk