Handout #8B
The Lexicon of the Strengths Perspective
Language and words are powerful. Words can inspire, yet they can destroy. We must examine
the words we use with and regarding our families. We should ask: Are we communicating hope,
belief in their potential, and acknowledging their resiliency? Or are we teaching helplessness,
defeating their goals, or weakening their aspirations? We are compelled to pay attention to our
lexicon. Here are some concepts that are important to consider…
Believing in the family
Believing in the family is central to the Strengths Perspective. Questioning the validity of the
family’s views does not help them to overcome adversity or oppression. We must convey our
belief in the family’s potential.
Dialogue and collaboration
Establishing relationships with others is indispensable to all human beings. In dialogue, we can
discover and test our own knowledge, inner strengths, and wisdom; we can begin the healing
process within; we can revisit our own narrative and redefine it.
In a humble and caring dialogue, based on empathy, connection, and inclusion, we can overcome
the barriers of oppression and mistrust. This horizontal relationship facilitates deep connection
and collaboration. When we work with families, we collaborate with them through an open
negotiation and the recognition of the family’s insights, views, and aspirations. In other words,
we collaborate with them by listening to their voices.
Empowerment
It is necessary to challenge the derogatory labels in order to identify and mobilize the power
within individuals and their communities; foster connections among individuals, families,
institutions, and communities; overcome the victim mindset and paternalism. This is possible
when we trust people’s wisdom and perspectives, and believe in their dreams.
ESNBP: Effectively Assessing Behaviors to Meet the Unmet Needs of Children and Families for SCSWs
University of California at Los Angeles -Center on Child Welfare
Oct 2011
Handout #8B
Healing and wholeness
For the Strengths Perspective, transformation and healing can and must come from the family’s
internal sources (not only from external sources). Healing implies looking at the whole person
and recognizing the innate ability that body and mind have to regenerate and endure challenges.
However, “healing requires a beneficent relationship between the individual and the larger social
and physical environment” (p. 14).
Hope
Optimism and hope are necessary in the process of healing and transformation. Hope is related to
positive emotions and feelings (Benard, 2004). It conveys the belief in a positive future. The
Strengths Perspective proceeds from the recognition of the family’s promise and potential. This
does not mean that we do not acknowledge the individual, communal, or structural challenges.
We understand the individual pain, suffering, limitations, and needs, keeping always a hopeful
attitude and a profound belief in the possibility of change.
Membership
Belonging and inclusion are essential to human beings. We must proceed from the recognition
that every single individual we serve is a human being like us, a member of our species, and
thus, is expected to get all the respect, dignity, and responsibility that every human being
deserves.
Plasticity
Self-regulation, flexibility, and adaptability, are words that several authors have used to describe
this human capacity to “alter, extend, and reshape behavior, feeling, and cognition” (Saleebey,
2006, p. 11). A clear example of this surprising human plasticity is evident in the placebo effect.
ESNBP: Effectively Assessing Behaviors to Meet the Unmet Needs of Children and Families for SCSWs
University of California at Los Angeles -Center on Child Welfare
Oct 2011
Handout #8B
Resiliency
Most of the literature about resiliency points out that all human beings have the inner capacity to
overcome adversity and rebound from trouble. Resilience refers to the capacity to surmount adversity, to
meet the challenges and ordeals of daily living as well as extraordinary circumstances that confront us.
Resilience is the ability to bounce back from, or to simply endure with dignity, the tribulations that life
may send your way. The facility for resilience is available to everybody; it is not just a property of some
special people. It is amplified by the resources and resourcefulness of individuals, families, and
communities, and by the education, mentoring and support that people find in their lives.
Adapted from, Saleebey, D. (Ed.). (2006). The Strengths Perspective in social work practice (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn
& Bacon.
ESNBP: Effectively Assessing Behaviors to Meet the Unmet Needs of Children and Families for SCSWs
University of California at Los Angeles -Center on Child Welfare
Oct 2011