Description

3 Steps to Resilience: NRF Foundations Manual  

The 3 Steps to Resilience: NRF Foundation Manual uses the metaphor of a tree—roots, trunk, and branches—to help organize the nervous system across all ages by identifying strengths, challenges, and vulnerabilities. It guides practitioners in addressing stress, supporting co-regulation through relationships, and customizing care based on individual neurobiology, all while promoting collaboration through a shared language and approach. This Framework also serves as a meta-psychology, teaching practitioners how to think in a neurodevelopmentally attuned way and apply what they’ve learned through an organized, integrative map.
Overview

What is the 3 Steps to Resilience: NRF Foundations Manual?

The 3 Steps to Resilience: NRF Foundation Manual offers a structured approach to help organize and support the nervous system—at any age—by identifying strengths, challenges, and vulnerabilities that impact overall health. This process begins by examining five cultural assumptions (or norms) that often interfere with the development of protective factors essential for building resilience.

Within these five protective factors lie the NRF’s three core steps, illustrated through the metaphor of a tree: roots, trunk, and branches. The roots represent the 24-hour sleep-wake cycle, a foundational rhythm that allows us to assess and differentiate between adaptive and toxic stress. The trunk symbolizes safe, stable, and nurturing relationships, which are essential for co-regulating the nervous system—especially for infants, young children, and others with heightened vulnerability, regardless of age. The branches reflect the individual differences in body-brain architecture, helping practitioners tailor support in ways that respect each person’s unique neurobiology.

By taking a deeper look at risk and protective factors within body-brain systems, this framework supports the creation of customized care plans and fosters collaboration across providers and disciplines. Using a common language and a shared approach, it strengthens interdisciplinary teamwork and helps build resilient, well-coordinated communities. Finally, the NRF serves as a meta-psychology, teaching practitioners how to think in a neurodevelopmentally attuned way and apply what they’ve learned through an organized, integrative map that supports both insight and action.

Table of Contents

Connie Lillas, RN, MFT, PhD

Founder & Executive Director, NRF Institute – Research to Resilience; Child and Family Therapist, private practice; California Endorsed Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist and Reflective Practice Facilitator III/Mentor and Trainer, Pasadena, California; Faculty, Napa Infant-Parent Infant Mental Health Fellowship, University of California Davis, Continuing and Professional Education
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Contributing Authors

Carole Anne Hapchyn, MD, FRCPC
Infant and Early Childhood Psychiatrist; Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Alberta; NRF Mentor and Trainer, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Jennifer Hixon, PsyD, BCBA
Clinical Psychologist, School Psychologist; Adjunct Faculty at Cumberland University, Tennessee, and Central Texas College, Texas; staff member at Texas Tech University, Texas
Jessica Richards, MS, MSW, LCSW
Clinical Social Worker, private practice, Pasadena, California; California Endorsed Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist and Reflective Practice Facilitator II; NRF Mentor and Trainer
Betty Peralta, MIT, MS-MHC, IMH-E (III)
Consultant and Trainer on Trauma to Resilience, Equity, and the NRF in private practice, Alta - Alternative Learning and Therapeutic Avenues; Parenting Coach for Office of Public Defense and Broadview Emergency Shelter; Reflective Consultant for Early Intervention Agencies and Community-based Organizations in Early Learning, Washington State