Piecing the Puzzle Together

Posted by Carolyn Lockett on 25 June 2010 | 0 Comments

The definite highlight of my fourth week with the family project was our free family festival.  The hours of party planning and event management more than paid off.  I believe Sarah, Chris, myself; families and volunteers all walked away having learned something about friends, family, neighbours, or ourselves.  The festival allowed people to put the stress of day-to-day life aside and gave space to see people in a different light.  It was so refreshing to see parents walk away with a sense of pride that they had been able to share a special day together without the added stress of cost.  I think there was room for further improvements or developments in running a family festival however overall it was agreed that the day was a huge success

So where to now?  25 dinners and 15 ethnographies later my head is spinning with possibilities and the complexities that surround family life.  What is family thriving, or more importantly what does thriving mean to our families?  I’ve now spent hours reading articles that talk about wellbeing, resilience or strong families, however the focus with all of these words is generally on the present and how the past has impacted, with little research or enquiry in to the future or a vision for families.   The problem we started out with in the Family Thriving Project was based around the growing numbers of families entering the child protection system.  And once these families enter the system how do we get them out?  During my time as a Supervisor and Social Worker working with new mums and babies “at risk” we often were able to mediate risk and increase the protective factors however the stumbling block always remained the same.  How do we enable these families to build their own support networks from the inside out?  Sure we can refer from service to service but like I’ve said in previous blogs the person-to-professional relationship will never replace the need for person-to-person support.

When considering the concept of family thriving it is also vital that we explore how families can create a vision or pathway towards something they know nothing about.  Life can quickly become isolated and insular for people/families so how can we create opportunities to learn, explore and visualise what could be?  It was clear at the family festival that there is a desire for more input and idea’s for families, idea’s that can bring excitement, hope and motivation.

So now we start the task of fitting all the pieces of the puzzle together!  Literature, service examples both local and international, and most importantly our experiences of walking the walk with families, will all combine to create the Radical Redesign Project.

Stay tuned!  So many more thoughts and feelings to come!