Challenge provides an opportunity for change and growth, say O’Leary and Ikovics (1995) as they describe that when adversity happens, rather than considering simply recover quickly (or resiliency), our focus is best placed on factors that promote thriving.
In public health and clinical psychology, resiliency is a capacity to bounce back from a challenge. With research growth in resiliency in the 1990s, we used resiliency scales with students who we tested as psychologists, one authored by a women I respect, Cynthia Jew, who is now professor at California Lutheran University.
Now, 25 years later, leaders in the research of trauma and healing focus on healing, growing, and thriving (see Howard Stevenson’s work which is guiding this focus). It was Shawn Ginwright, a leading national expert in African American youth, who showed this slide from O’Leary and Ikovics’ guiding narrative, explaining a youth engagement continuum for cognitive, spiritual, attitudinal, and behavioral indicators of positive outcomes of culture and identity, agency, relationships, meaning, and aspirations.
Life is a series of challenges and difficulties. As individuals experience domestic, racial, and natural one-time and ongoing traumatic events, challenges become deep and life-long. This complexity now has a movement driven dedicated, competent thought leaders.
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