In pursuit of my social work education, I am currently enrolled in Dynamics of Human Behavior at Ohio University (SW 3701). I have recently learned of Family Resilience Perspective*. This would be a lens that a social worker would use post family distress. This perspective “seeks to identify and strengthen family processes that allow families to bear up under and rebound from distressing life experiences”. To me, this perspective is vital for hope, confidence, and security within a family unit. Three dimensions of this perspective incorporate family belief systems, organizational patterns, and communication processes. I think this perspective can be helpfully used in community intervention, along with families. An example of this is taking into consideration common local or regional belief systems, routine community patterns, and political or business communication processes. This would be advantageous post community distress, including economic and natural resource deprivation.
*Hutchinson (2012) Essentials of Human Behavior Integrating Person, Environment and the Life Course SAGE Publications, inc.
I have personally been putting a lot of extra thought into this type of post distress intervention within communities, rather than families. This is because of a high personal interest in community collaboration, especially in the face of a high-risk future due to climate change and resource access.
I have been reading a FABULOUS book entitled Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. This book is ideal for parenting strategies, along with personal coexistence strategies. Coexistence with our environment, that is. Through this reading, I have been introduced to ideas regarding ecopsychology, naturopathy, horticultural therapy, and learning ‘nature smarts’. I look forward to a future of incorporating these techniques and information into my practice.
“David Orr, professor of environmental studies at Oberlin College and founder of the Meadowcreek Project, a conservation education center, calls for a new environmental literacy requirement at the college level…The dominant form of education today ‘alienates us from life in the name of human domination, fragments instead of unifies, overemphasizes success and careers…Orr calls for a new approach to education to promote “ECOLOGICAL DESIGN INTELLIGENCE” that could, in turn, create ‘healthy, durable, resilient, just, and prosperous communities'” (Louv 2005). This excerpt reminds me of my personal learning through reading At Home With Holistic Management by Ann Adams.