Family Resilience Approach

Resilience, fundamentally, is the ability to bounce back from hardship and the phenomenon of overcoming stress or adversity, for example: personal crises, poverty, mental illness and trauma (Occupational Health & Wellbeing, 2012). This skill can help individuals overcome the most difficult of situations (Occupational Health & Wellbeing, 2012). Resilience theorists generally agree that the presence of protective factors can reduce the effects of exposure to adversity. The more protective factors (or “assets”) available, the more resilient a person will be. Protective factors are conditions or attributes that help people deal more effectively with stressful events and eliminate risk. On the contrary, risk factors are attributes or characteristics

Resilience is a term that is often applied to those who have faced hardship and viewed the experience in a positive light as an opportunity to grow and change for the better (Wagnild & Collins, 2009). The definition however seems to vary from place to place. Ungar et al. (2008) stated “definitions of resilience are ambiguous when viewed across cultures" (p.174) which is why the understanding of resilience may be difficult to capture (as cited in Windle, Bennett & Noyes, 2011). Although the literature agrees on several common themes about resilience there are many varying opinions on how to define the concept or the attributing factors. Earvolino-Ramirez (2007) and

Scholars define resilience as the outcome of successful adaptation to adversity (Zutra, Hall, & Murray, 2010). Resilience is the ability to recover from adversities challenges in a manner that leaves an individual more flexible and better able to meet future challenges. Resilience involves an ability to react creatively and constructively to change while recognizing that change is an ongoing part of life (Mikail, 2014). Zutra and Hall identify two core dimensions of resilience:

However, vicarious resilience (VR) permits clinicians learn how to overcome adversity from their practice with survivors of trauma and become participants to the survivor’s recovery from trauma (Hernandez-Wolf, Killian, Engstrom, & Gangsei, 2014). Vicarious resilience, is positive growth and transformation of the clinician resulting from their experience with the client’s resilience within the trauma therapy process (Hernandez-Wolf, Killian, Engstrom, & Gangsei,

The greatest and most prominent strength of the family is their ability to adapt to differences in culture and expectation. Although they are having their struggles in America, they are still ultimately successful in making a living for themselves in a different world. Along with the stress, the parents are still in conjunction with one another with regards to family values and it is clear that each member deeply cares for one another. This aspect of resilience is crucial because it has positive implications as to their willingness to change as a family unit for the better. Additionally, it is clear that the family is a set of very hardworking individuals, who have hope for a better life despite all the obstacles faced, and the very definition of resilience is the ability to see have hope in situations that others (non-resilient individuals) would not. Again, this particular set of strengths is important in allowing and assisting in the family altering their problems. With hope, it will help the family work towards their goals if they truly believe that their family can change

It is also very evident through literature that resilience is a process and not an outcome. A community must take steps in order to build and ensure their resilience in the event of a disaster. Throughout all of the research it is also evident that the eight levers found in the review by Chandra et al. all the tools that set the framework for a community’s

There are many ways to define resiliency, however, most definitions concentrate on the existence of both adversity and progressive change within the individual (Luther, et al., 2000). Sanders, Munford, & Boden (2017) state that resilience is creating a positive version of a high risk situation at an extreme degree and producing a positive development from it. Solivan, Wallace, Kaplan, & Harville (2015) state that resilience is the focus of resistance to many physical, social environment risks, as well as overcoming stress and adversity to uphold a healthy mental and physical wellbeing. Resilience can be defined in many different ways, however, the one common theme is that an individual is turning a negative situation into a positive one in their life.

Dr. Murray Bowen, a psychiatrist, offered us the family systems theory. This theory views the family as an emotional unit, further providing a thinking systems approach to describe the complex interactions in the unit. Bowen offered, “A change in one person’s functioning is predictably followed by a reciprocal change in the functioning of others” (Kerr, 2000). If one person within the family unit is having a difficult time, it effects everyone within the family unit. An example of this would be a father who is the primary breadwinner for his family suddenly loosing his job. Prior

Resilience can be a difficult and often a seemingly impossible attribute to acquire for many people in fear of change. I have become aware of this trait developing more in myself as I get older and have made it a priority to see the benefits of change and adapt to it. Moving here to Tennessee has helped me grow more as a person. The emotional and spiritual aspects of resiliency really came into play in this situation.

Upon opening for the online survey, the participants will be asked to answer 25 questions that measure psychological resilience (Connor

Coutu (2015, p. 115) argues that “Resilience is neither ethically good nor bad. It is merely the skill and the capacity to be robust under conditions of enormous stress and change.” I have known a number of people both personally and professionally in my life who when faced with a setback, a tragedy, the death of a loved one, really struggled through the aftermath. And in some cases they turned to drugs, alcohol and other unhealthy practices. And this changed my thinking on leadership. It is true that, the future of our organization relies on having resilient people who can work their way through problems, who can remain optimistic, who have a positive outlook on life, who can take a challenge and can solve a problem and can lead others through

I believe my family fits the definition of resilience. Resilience could be defined as the capacity to rebound from adversity. To become stronger and more resourceful. It’s important not to equate resilience with competent functioning. When thinking about resilience, it’s more than just getting through or coping with a particular or multiple challenging situation. Resilience involves positive transformation and growth that enables one to deal effectively with challenges. We can be compared to a rubber band. Something might happen that knocks us back for a short period of time, but, if we are resilient, we stretch ourselves and spring forward.

Taking account of the resources and the meaning that the family assigns to these stressors can definitely help conceptualize a family crisis. Reflecting this model with a family can provide room for hope. I could see myself helping a family bring awareness of their recourses and how they could help them cope with their current stressors. We can also help the family assign a more strength based meaning to their current situation. Providing the family with interventions to help with each factor can provide the tools to cope with

Families and individuals attempting to achieve resilience can be described as subystems of larger systems. According to Hutchison (2013), many systems have boundaries that indicate who is in and who is out (p. 39). The systems idea of boundary is pertinent to the culturally competent resilience model because in many cases boundaries can keep families away from resources that could be employed to help them be resilient. In the same way, in cultures where these boundaries tend to be more open or loose, individuals may be more well-equipped with the skills they need to access resources. Luhmann in his 1987 work on systems theory touches directly on the idea of culture and closed systems proposing that as systems become very complex, they become more and more closed to each other (as cited in Hutchison, 2013, p. 41). Luhamnn posits that with the development of culture and languages within a closed system they become unable to receive feedback from other systems. On the individual level, this could manifest in the inability of an individual or family to fare well unless met with culturally specific interventions which Ungar emphasizes the importance of.

Taiki Matsuura, a researcher in forensic psychology at NYU Langone Medical Center, once said “Despite all the talk of human resilience being an individual trait, most of us are only resilient as we are loved.” I believe, in many ways, community resilience is of similar nature – communities may survive only by the participation of all its members. Community resilience is a process in which many individuals may themselves be strong enough to survive a disaster on their own, but lack of collaboration will result in a dysfunctional post-disaster community. In terms of a recovery framework, Norris and Pfefferbaum call upon a linking of “adaptive capacities” in order to successful have a community survive, adapt, and thrive following disturbances