Family Resilience in times of challenge and change
We asked Families Panels what they believe resilient families look like and the barriers and supports families have to be resilient.
The groups all acknowledged that each family is different and will cope with different situations in their own way, however there were some common themes about characteristics of resilient families.
All groups identified a resilient family as a family who trust, respect, and communicate openly with each other and present a united front, a family that allow mistakes and is willing to learn from them, and has a willingness to be adaptable to changes.
Many of the groups identified faith and values as important to a resilient family. Being able to ask for help and to deal with issues/problems as they arise and being solution focused rather than pushing issues “under the carpet” or blaming were also seen as an important part of having strong and well functioning families.
All groups identified having strong support systems in place and problem solving skills as key in enabling some families to bounce back more easily than others. Other factors identified include; having resources – this might include financial, education and/or knowledge, faith, and past experiences which enable families to “get on with it”.
There were many barriers to family resilience identified by the groups, key ones in included:
- Lack of communication within the family
- Family breakdowns, relationship collapses, and isolation
- Lack of time and knowledge to build strong family relationships
- Lack of resources specifically, finances, knowledge and/or education.
- Health issues - mental health and physical health
The kiwi mentality – “harden up” - was seen by some as a barrier to resilient families and by others as a part of what makes individuals resilient.
Generally most groups did not feel that hardship was required to build resilience, in fact some suggested that hardship can breakdown resilience in a family. However some participants felt that hardship was needed to know what resilience is “need hardship to understand what it [resilience] is”.
Concern for future generations was expressed by many within these groups. They felt that children and youth of today are not as resilient as previous generations – political correctness and negotiation in parenting were seen as undermining the personal resilience of this group which links back to the idea that personal resilience is the ability to “get on with it”.
Resilience is a term that is used in many different contexts, the discussions had by the Families Panels indicate that there are mixed ideas of what resilience means. Personal resilience seems to be equated with having the strength to “get on with it”.
Family resilience was indicated by characteristics of a well functioning family: these include; open communication, trust, adaptability and support.
