1. Empowering the “Self Righting” Capacities:
Risk factors, resilience and implications for young adult transition programs

2. Movie Clip
Story of risk and overcoming adversity.

3. Risk Factors
Gordy LaChance
Chris Chambers
Teddy Duchamp
Verne Tessio

4. Risk Factors
Gordy LaChance - Death of family member, depressed parents, trauma, weak parenting
Chris Chambers - Alcoholism in family, criminal behavior of father, abusive sibling relationship, brother in a gang, abusive parent, low SES, rule breaking behavior
Teddy Duchamp - Family history of mental illness, physical abuse from father, poor school performance, thrill seeking behavior
Verne Tessio - Overweight, bullied, anxiety, delinquent brother in a gang

5. Risk Categories Environmental Risk Factors
-poor schools, moving, death, poverty, divorce….
High Risk Behaviors
-substance abuse, physical aggression, sexual behaviors...
Dangerous Deficits
-social skills deficits, cognitive deficits, emotional skills deficits...
9.2 to 15.8 million children are considered at risk (Annie E Casey Foundation, 1999)

6. Looking Through the “Risk Lens”
Risk factors for the most part predict negative outcomes.
Predictive for about 20-49% of a given high risk population (Rutter, 1987, 2000; Werner, 2001)
Too often we stop here
We don’t get the whole story

7. Werner & Smith: Classic Resiliency Study
Longitudinal study
698 infants born in 1955
Kauai, Hawaii
Children followed up at ages 1, 2, 10, 18, 32, & 40
One third of sample exposed to at least 4 familial risk factors before age 2
Poverty
Perinatal health problems
Congenital handicaps
Low parent education
Family alcoholism
Violence
Instability / discord
Mental illness

8. Werner & Smith (1982, 1992, 2001)

9. The Other Part of the Story…..
Take most at risk populations:
foster care (Festinger, 1984)
gang affiliation (Vigil, 1990)
born to teen mothers (Furstenburg, 1998)
physical / sexual abuse (Wilkes, 2002)
substance abuse (Watt, 1984)
mental illness in family (Werner, 1986
poverty (Vaillant, 2002)
Most individuals develop social competence and lead successful lives.
Average 70-75% make it (Rhodes & Brown, 1991)
Children who experience multiple and persistent risks - 50% make it (Rutter, 2000)

10. Ordinary Magic
“What began as a quest to understand the extraordinary has revealed the power of the ordinary“ (Masten 2001).
Resiliency and Environmental Protective Factors.
Transcend ethnic, social class, geographical and historical boundaries
Have a more profound impact on life course than specific risk factors

11. Looking through the “Resiliency Lens”
Predicts positive outcomes in 50-80% of a high risk population (Werner, 2001)
Despite adversity people are overcoming the odds due to a process / combination
Resiliency factors inherent to healthy human development
Protective factors in one’s environment

12. What is Resiliency? Resilience is NOT:
A quality some people possess and others do not.
A set personality trait.
Something that is acquired through direct instruction alone.
Something that comes from rare and special qualities.

13. What is Resiliency? Resiliency is:
A universal capacity everyone possesses
Part of the process of healthy human development / Normative
The capacity all youth have for healthy development and successful learning
”The self righting tendency that moves children toward normal adult development under all but the most adverse circumstances” (Werner & Smith, 1992).

14. What Does Resiliency Look Like
Personal Resilience Strengths
Positive developmental outcomes that demonstrates that this innate capacity exists and is engaged.
Do not cause resilience but are what resilience looks like.
Four Categories:
Social competence
Problem solving
Autonomy
Sense of purpose.

15. Social Competence
Characteristics, skills and attitudes essential to forming relationships and positive attachment
Responsiveness
Communication
Empathy and Caring
Compassion, altruism, forgiveness

16. Problem Solving
Encompasses many abilities that are highly correlated with executive functioning.
The variables have a “figuring things out” quality.
Planning
Flexibility
Resourcefulness
Critical thinking / Insight

18. Autonomy
To act independently and to feel a sense of control over one’s environment.
Positive identity
Internal locus of control / Initiative
Self efficacy / Mastery
Adaptive distancing / Resistance
Self awareness / Mindfulness
Humor

19. Sense of Purpose
The deep belief that one’s life has meaning and that one has a place in the universe.
”Who am I, what do I love, how shall I live and how can I make a difference?” (Baumeister, 1991)
Goal direction
Special interest, creativity, imagination
Optimism / hope
Faith, spirituality, sense of meaning

20. Resiliency Over Adversity
Social competence - empathy, compassion, communication
Autonomy - Goal direction, hope, sense of meaning
Sense of Purpose - humor, internal locus of control, adaptive distancing
Problem Solving - planning, critical thinking, resourceful

21. Resiliency by Disability
There’s a reason that our young adult transition population needs support.
If we look at different disabilities through a “Resiliency Lens” we get a clearer picture of why they may struggle to overcome adversity.

22. Video of College Student

23. College Student with Autism
-What personal resilience areas may he be lacking and in need of support?
-What personal resilience areas might he be strong in?
-Impact on transition to a college setting?

24. Resiliency Strengths By Disability Table

25. Environmental Protective Factors
-Supports that buffer the effect of adversity and enable healthy development to proceed.
-Help protect youth from risk and allow them to develop their innate capacity for resilience.
-Sometimes called external assets, supports / opportunities, or protective factors.

26. Environmental Protective Factors
-These are part of an interconnected dynamic protective process that must include:
-Caring Relationships
-High Expectations
-Opportunities for meaningful participation and contribution
-These are interactive not isolated.
-High expectations without caring relationships / caring relationships without meaningful participation.

27. Programmatic Implications
-To maximize client success:
-Provide environmental protective factors
-Focus on the four main domains:
(Home, School, Community, Peers)
-Provide resiliency supports and programming

30. Takeaways and Final Thoughts
Risk Predicts Challenges
Protective Factors Mitigate Risk
Resiliency Predicts Success
Our Programs Already Provide Superior Protective Factors (The Ordinary Magic) We Can Also Teach and Foster Resiliency
You’re probably already doing it.
Intentionally infusing the awareness and language of Resiliency can further imbed Resiliency Development into your program.

31. Takeaways and Final Thoughts
Research Indicates That Our Ability to Couple Protective Factors with Resiliency Development Provides the Best Chance For Clients To Access Their Native “Self Righting” Capacities
Apply the “Resiliency Lens”
To What You’re Already Doing:
Parent Education (Stakeholder Engagement)
Staff Training (Professional Development)
Program Articulation (Marketing & Admissions)
Service Delivery Model (Program Development)

32. Presenters - Contact Info
-Sean LaRoque, Ph.D. -
-Perry LaRoque, Ph.D. -
-Jake Weld, M. Ed. -
Mansfield Hall - Burlington
371 Pearl Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Mansfield Hall - Madison
141 West Gilman Street
Madison, WI 53703