Everyone grows up in a family of some kind and families have a profound impact on who children become and how they see themselves and the world. Why? Because through words, actions and the culture or dynamics of a family, families teach, and children learn, what to believe. For children, beliefs are both caught and taught, primarily in the context of family. It is vital therefore for social workers to understand what can make a family healthy or unhealthy and how to help others work toward change.
Resources
Textbook: Changes that Heal: How to Understand Your Past to Ensure a Healthier Future
Book Chapters: Read chapters 3 and 4 in Hurt People, Hurt People: Hope and Healing for Yourself and Your Relationships
Book Chapter: Read chapter 3, “Shame in Dysfunctional Families,” in Released from Shame: Recovery for Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families –
Background Information
Children are not born with the tools they need to be successful in life. They must be learned and developed along the way. Growing into healthy adulthood in the area of relationships, emotions, and functioning requires specific skills, abilities and beliefs. Healthy families teach and model these important things and actively support, nurture and discipline children to help them learn. As you complete the readings and discussion for this assignment you will consider the impact that families and caregivers have on children, even after they become adults. The idea is not to condemn parents but to understand how things go wrong so that as social workers we can help people get back on the right path to healing and wholeness.
Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
In Changes that Heal, read “What is Adulthood?” chapter 14.
Read the chapters, 3-4 in Hurt People, Hurt People
Read “Shame in Dysfunctional Families”, in Released from Shame.
Navigate to the threaded discussion and respond to the following:
Based on your reading in Changes that Heal, describe the process of growing into adulthood and what it should include. Why is this process important to our functioning and well-being as adults?
Describe the impact that parents can have on children in the areas of power and expertise. Give an example of how unhealthy parents can affect their children in these areas.
Based on your reading of “Hurt by Liars and Thieves”, in Hurt People / Hurt People by Sandra Wilson, identify and describe two ways that children can be stolen from and its impact. How do you see the results of these family dynamics in the children or adults you work with?
Finally, based on your reading of “Shame in Dysfunctional Families”, from Released from Shame by Dr. Wilson, discuss shame why it is a powerful component of unhealthy families. What is at the core of unhealthy families and why they function this way? Discuss.
Based on what you have learned from all the materials, discuss how you will use this information in assessing and designing interventions for individuals or families in your agency context. Describe any specific ways you may need to be mindful of issues of culture or diversity.
