Pathways to Resilience III: Beyond Nature vs. Nurture

Abstract #279
Strengthening Family and Community Resilience: A Rational Approach
Presenter: Barry Smith
Abstract: 
It is important to recognise that resilience is a relational product which develops from early infant attachment through to family, neighbourhood, and community relationships. Along with good and effective parenting, a sense of community and social capital are two important aspects of engendering resiliency in individuals, families, and communities. Working with families living with disadvantage and poverty in West Cumbria, England, this study seeks to draw on resilience research from genetics, biology, psychology, and sociology in devising a family and community resilience intervention. The interrogation of two hundred and twenty family case files from the Howgill Family Centre reveals parenting and relationships to be two major presenting factors for families in need of assistance. As many of the parenting difficulties are themselves relational in nature, it appears that dysfunctional relations and communication are playing a major part in testing the resilience of children and their parents. In a highly innovative study aimed at promoting relationships as a protective factor, family centres and schools will be used as a community hub in exploring individual differences, relationships, and relational dynamics, as part of a strengths-based programme aimed at building family and community resilience.