The University of Sydney Network for Childhood and Youth Research

Events

Seminar: The Social Ecology of Resilience

The Social Ecology of Resilience

Despite decades of resilience research, there continues to be definitional ambiguity in how to define and operationalize positive development under adversity. In this presentation, Dr. Ungar will use examples from his research collaborations on six continents to discuss how we can study resilience using mixed methods in ways sensitive to culture and context. His work suggests the need for an ecological interpretation of the construct. Four principles will be presented that guide theory development, research, and the design of integrated approaches to intervention that ensure resilience is more likely to occur. These principles are: decentrality, complexity, atypicality, and cultural relativity. Employing these four principles informs a critical perspective of resilience that explicitly accounts for the disequilibrium between vulnerable individuals who lack opportunities for growth and the influence of social and physical ecologies that facilitate or inhibit resilience-promoting processes.

Michael Ungar, Ph.D. is both a Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist with experience working directly with youth and families in child welfare, mental health, educational and correctional settings. He is now a University Research Professor and Professor of Social Work at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. He has conducted workshops internationally on resilience-related themes relevant to the treatment and study of at-risk youth and families and has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the topic. He is also the author of nine books including: The We Generation: Raising Socially Responsible Children and Teens; Too Safe for their Own Good: How Risk and Responsibility Help Teens Thrive; Counseling in Challenging Contexts: Working with Individuals and Families Across Clinical and Community Settings; and Strengths-based Counseling with At-risk Youth. Currently, as the Director of the Resilience Research Centre, he leads a number of studies of resilience involving researchers from more than a dozen countries on six continents. In addition to his research and teaching, Michael maintains a family therapy practice in association with Phoenix Youth Programs, a prevention program for street youth and their families, and since 2002 has sat on the Board of Examiners for the Nova Scotia Association of Social Workers. Michael lives in Halifax with his partner and their two children.

For further information, please see:
http://www.michaelungar.com/
http://www.resilienceresearch.org/

*HDRSs are higher degree research students - students enrolled in one of the following degrees; PhD, EdD, DSW, MPhil, MEd Research)