Families as Navigators and Negotiators Essay Example
In a 2010 article, “Families as Navigators and Negotiators: Facilitating
Culturally and Contextually Specific Expressions of Resilience,” Ungar explores the concept of resiliency as a process achieved by families through finding resources and effectively negotiating for them. Ungar explains that the achievement of resilience can look different for people from different cultures based on culturally relevant definitions of positive outcomes and culture specific methods of reaching outcomes. The author discusses ways in which social workers encourage resilience within diverse populations on different levels of social work while operating from a de-centered point of view. Ungar is effective in making clear that there are defined concepts that indicate potential resilience, citing Rutter’s 1987 “Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms,” while maintaining that the ways in which these mechanisms are achieved, or negotiated for, are dependent on culture.
Summary
Ungar (2008), defines resilience as “…both the capacity of individuals to navigate their way to the psychological, social, cultural, and physical resources that sustain their well-being, and their capacity individually and collectively to negotiate for these resources to be provided and experienced in culturally meaningful ways” (as cited in Ungar, 2010, p. 425). This definition stands in contrast to the thought of the “resilient child,” who is able to overcome adversity based on her or his personal strength (Walsh, 1998). Looking at resilience in this way opens the possibility of positive outcomes up to every individual with little focus on individual character traits; resilience is in turn seen as both a process and an evaluation of available resources instead of an attribute (Ungar, 2010; Walsh, 1998). Rutter also explains resilience as a process, outlining four protective mechanisms related to it: reducing the impact of risk by helping individuals cope better;
Culturally and Contextually Specific Expressions of Resilience,” Ungar explores the concept of resiliency as a process achieved by families through finding resources and effectively negotiating for them. Ungar explains that the achievement of resilience can look different for people from different cultures based on culturally relevant definitions of positive outcomes and culture specific methods of reaching outcomes. The author discusses ways in which social workers encourage resilience within diverse populations on different levels of social work while operating from a de-centered point of view. Ungar is effective in making clear that there are defined concepts that indicate potential resilience, citing Rutter’s 1987 “Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms,” while maintaining that the ways in which these mechanisms are achieved, or negotiated for, are dependent on culture.
Summary
Ungar (2008), defines resilience as “…both the capacity of individuals to navigate their way to the psychological, social, cultural, and physical resources that sustain their well-being, and their capacity individually and collectively to negotiate for these resources to be provided and experienced in culturally meaningful ways” (as cited in Ungar, 2010, p. 425). This definition stands in contrast to the thought of the “resilient child,” who is able to overcome adversity based on her or his personal strength (Walsh, 1998). Looking at resilience in this way opens the possibility of positive outcomes up to every individual with little focus on individual character traits; resilience is in turn seen as both a process and an evaluation of available resources instead of an attribute (Ungar, 2010; Walsh, 1998). Rutter also explains resilience as a process, outlining four protective mechanisms related to it: reducing the impact of risk by helping individuals cope better;