Welcome to Sustaining Community
Families, community engagement and environmental sustainability – for parents, students, practitioners and anyone who wants to make a difference. By Graeme Stuart from Newcastle Australia.
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- Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) (41)
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Tag Archives: Strengths-based practice
The challenge of how to describe program participants
How do we describe participants in research that capture some of their challenges but also recognises their strengths and potential? Continue reading
SNUG: retreats connecting families
A brief video and a bit of an overview of SNUG: retreats connection families caring for a child with a rare health condition. Continue reading
An introduction to strengths-based practice (a video lecture)
An introductory lecture on strengths-based practice I prepared for students in a course on engaging families and communities. In it I outline 8 principles of strengths-based practice. Continue reading
Strengths-based measurement and collective impact
Data driven approaches like collective impact often prioritise shared measurement and collecting data, particularly quantitative measures, and do not consider the impact of what questions they ask, how they collect data, and who is responsible for interpreting the data. If … Continue reading
A strengths-based approach to collective impact
Collective impact is an approach to addressing complex social problems. As discussed in the previous post (Collective impact and community engagement), community engagement needs to be at the heart of collective impact, but the (sometimes subtle) message underlying too many initiatives is that the community is part of the problem. When initiatives take a top-down approach and do not involve the community from the start, they are implying that the community has little of value to offer. Continue reading
Power and strengths-based practice
Strengths-based practice fundamentally challenges traditional approaches to power relationships in working with individuals, families and communities. Rather than operating from a position of power-over, strengths-based practice requires us to critically reflect on the dynamics of power in our relationships and to focus on power-with and power-to, and to nurture power-within. Continue reading
The Alternatives to Violence Project: Reflections on a strengths-based approach to nonviolent relationships and conflict resolution
This is the text of a peer-reviewed paper that Gener Lapina (from AVP and Family Support Newcastle) and I had published as part of the 2018 Family and Relationship Services Association conference. The citation with a link to the published … Continue reading
Posted in Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), Nonviolence and conflict resolution, Strengths-based approaches & ABCD
Tagged Alternatives to Violence Project, AVP, Domestic violence, Group work, My publications, My work, Strengths-based approaches, Strengths-based practice, Working with families
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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
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
A video and some tips on family engagement
This is a useful short video (produced by the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health) introducing some key concepts relating to engaging families. While its focus is child and youth mental health, it is just as … Continue reading
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