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Category Archives: Families & parenting
Power and strengths-based practice
Despite the wide spread acceptance of strengths-based practice—What family or community service would not claim to be strengths-based?—practice does not always live up to the rhetoric.
One of the things that often undermines practitioners’ claims to be strengths-based, is that they fail to recognise the way in which strengths-based practice challenges traditional power relationships. Continue reading
4 types of power: What are power over; power with; power to and power within?
When I first started as a youth worker in 1991, I was working in a medium-term accommodation unit for young people who were homeless. I really struggled with being in a position of authority having just graduated from a welfare … Continue reading
Special days and dates for families and communities – 2019
There are many international and national days/weeks that focus on issues facing families and communities. The following are some of the more significant ones in 2019. I generally haven’t included the many charity days and days focusing on specific health … Continue reading
Alternate pathways for young people who have perpetrated violence
I’m excited to have been invited to join this project developed by a colleague in social work, Tamara Blakemore. I’m looking forward to building on my experience with the Alternatives to Violence Project, exploring how we can address domestic and … Continue reading
Evidence-informed practice, evidence-based programs and measuring outcomes
This post is based on a workshop on evidence-informed practice, evidence-based programs and measuring outcomes that Alan Hayes, Jamin Day and I facilitated for the Combined Upper Hunter Interagencies. The slides from the workshop are above or you can download … Continue reading
Bringing Alternatives to Violence Project workshops to parents and partners
One of the strengths of Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) workshops is that they can be easily be adapted to many contexts. Rather than being a set, inflexible program, AVP is based on a number of broad principles and practices … Continue reading
Evidence-based programs in rural family services
In Australia and elsewhere, government and other funders increasingly require family services to adopt evidence-based programs. For example, Communities for Children[1]—a federally funded program in 52 disadvantaged communities across Australia with a focus on improving early childhood development and wellbeing … Continue reading
Updated post on bottom-up community development
My blog has been going for over seven years so I’ve started updating some of my older posts. Today I’ve updated a post I originally wrote in 2014 about bottom-up community development. It starts with a quote I love from Melinda … Continue reading
Posted in Families & parenting
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Strengths-based practice: more than being positive
In strengths-based and asset-based approaches to family and community work we focus on strengths, aspirations and potential rather than problems, needs and deficits by, amongst other things: Consciously looking for the strengths and potential of the people, families and communities … Continue reading
Updated post on complex problems
I just completed a major update on my post “What are complex problems?” You can find it at https://sustainingcommunity.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/complex-problems
Posted in Families & parenting
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