Resourcing Change

Breaking the cycle. Adolescent Violence: Women’s Stories of Courage and Hope, developed by Anglicare Victoria, contains the stories of 6 women who have experienced violence from their children. Many people in these situations feel alone, and struggle to know how to handle what can be a frightening situation. I often give this resource to clients, so that they can hear for themselves other women’s stories of how they dealt with their teenagers violence.

Here’s a quote from one of the women’s stories:

“I didn’t tell a lot of people about what was happening but I did tell a number of my friends and there were a couple who were quite close and I heard from word of mouth that ‘she must be exaggerating, he can’t be’ because they’ve known him since he was a baby. I found that very hard to take. They felt that I was exaggerating about how my son had been carrying on because he never behaved like that anywhere else.”

Access it at: http://www.anglicarevic.org.au

Could it be that at times our services and programs are set up to accomodate the needs of funding bodies, organisations and management, rather than our clients?  Could we in fact look to clients to indicate to us ‘what works’, rather than just relying on our practice wisdom, manuals, studies and processes?  In this regard, asking clients about their expectation of the service, what they think needs to happen andwhat would work with them can be very powerful. (more…)

If we focus on managing risk, how can we also:

- help people before problems worsen

- acknowledge the damage of past harms

- keep services accessible

- create change

- appreciate the complexity of peoples lives

This booklet, from Inner South Community Health, contains excellent practical information for parents on responding to adolescent violence. Get it here: http://www.ischs.org.au/Portals/0/Documents/Adolescent%20Violence%20to%20Parents.pdf

Often we presume that clients will engage with us and come back. We also  presume that we are going to be a big part of the change process, and that they will need to work with us for a long time. (more…)

Within the helping professions today, there appears to be an increasing emphasis on the assessment and management of risk.  The term “risk management” is often thrown about, with little shared understanding of what is being referred to. The general notion is that something could go wrong, and that this should and can be carefully managed. (more…)

The Victorian Office of the Child Safety Commissioner has produced some fantastic resources for working with children and young people who have experienced trauma (more…)

The power of what has become known as ‘the miracle question’ never ceases to amaze me. The miracle question was devised by Solution-Focused Therapy Pioneer Insoo-Kim Berg, and came from her direct clinical work. (more…)

The Strongs Bonds Project was developed in response to a perceived need in the youth work field for a better understanding of the dynamics between a young person with complex needs and their extended family.

There are a number of excellent fact sheets on a wide range of topics for both parents, carers and workers – a fantastic resource from Jesuit Social Services in Melbourne:  Strong Bonds – Building Family Connections.

When those in what is loosely called the ‘helping professions’; social workers, psychologists, welfare workers, case workers, counsellors, therapists and support workers, are asked to define what the core aspect of what they do is, they often struggle. (more…)