Related Research

Paula D. Fultz, MSEd, PCC-S, Assistant Director of Counseling, on Family Resilience: A Framework for Clinical Practice

2010 has been coined as the "Year of Resilience" by Froma Walsh, PhD, clinician, professor, writer, editor and past president of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. Ms. Walsh authored Strengthening Family Resilience, 2nd Edition (2006) as well as numerous professional articles on the subject. She has developed a research-based Family Resilience Framework for prevention and intervention with individuals, couples and families facing adversity through crises, trauma, loss, disruptive transitions and normal developmental as well as persistent life challenges. This framework affirms family and community relational lifelines, strengths and potentials within a cultural and life-cycle context and denotes key processes that foster the ability to "struggle well", create meaning, be transformed and go on to live and love fully. Ms. Walsh identifies nine keys to family resilience:

Belief Systems:

1. Making Meaning of Crisis and Challenge
2. Creating Hope via a Positive Outlook
3. Transcendence and Spirituality

Organizational Resources:

4. Flexibility; Stability
5. Connectedness; Leadership
6. Kin, Social and Economic Resources

Communication Processes:

7. Clear, Consistent Messages
8. Emotional sharing; Humor; Respite
9. Collaborative Problem-Solving; Pro-Actions

In a recent training, Ms. Walsh summed this up as follows:

"Master the Art of the Possible:

Do all you can

With what you have

In the time you have

In the place you are."

The article, Family Resilience: A Framework for Clinical Practice by Froma Walsh, PhD., can be found in the Family Process Journal, Vol. 42, No. 1, 2003.

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