Family and Community Strengths
The fifth Family and Community Strengths Conference "Community Engagement: A Rewarding Business" took place in Newcastle from 16-18 April 2008. The conference was preceded by the first Indigenous Family and Community Strengths Conference.
The unedited presentations are now available for viewing on separate web pages: Inaugural Indigenous F&CS conference and Fifth National F&CS conference.
Inland Australia study tour
Immediately following the Family & Community Strengths conference was a highly successful central Australian inland study tour.
Go to the tour page to see photos sent in by delegates.
Working with Boys, Building Fine Men: Stories of Success
The fifth Working with Boys, Building Fine Men conference took place in Newcastle on 4-6 July 2007. Keynote speakers were Melvyn Davs (UK) from the boys2Men project, Michael Gurian (USA) of the Gurian Institute and Andrew Fuller (Australia). You can still download a PDF copy of the 12-page preconference program, which lists all of the presenters and keynote speakers and the workshops.
The unedited presentations are now available for viewing on a separate Stories of Success web page.
The published papers from the 2005 conference, Educating Boys: The Good News, is now available for $45.00 plus post and packing. The book includes contributions from over 40 leading academics and practitioners, with case studies from low socioeconomic settings, Indigenous communities, singe-sex and coeducational environments. Drawing from presentations at the conference, this is a must-have for all parents and educators.
What if the miracle doesn't happen?
Critical considerations of strength-based practice in the helping professions
Is strengths-based practice more than just being positive with clients?
How do practitioners maintain a strengths focus when clients struggle to identify strengths?
How do we introduce the model to vulnerable clients with complex problems?
How do strengths-based approaches address broader structural issues and social disadvantage?
What if the miracle doesn’t happen?
In the last few years, strengths-based approaches of working with clients have gained considerable support from helping professionals delivering services to individuals, families and communities. One of the central tenets of strengths-based approaches is the belief in the client’s right to self-determination and capacity to create a future of his or her own choosing. From this perspective, the practitioner assumes a collaborative working relationship with the client rather than imposing a predetermined agenda for change. Despite the growing popularity of strengths-based approaches, there is an absence of published peer reviewed literature supporting the approach’s effectiveness limiting practitioner’s evidence-based practice.
This highly successful one-day symposium took place on 28 February 2007. Facilitated by Paul Schott and Anthony Critchley, the following documents are available for download here: Program; Strengths Thesaurus; PDF-version of the Summing Up PowerPoint; and the Miracle PowerPoint presentation.
Bringing It Together: Inaugural Australian Rock & Water conference
The inaugural Australian Rock and Water conference was held in Newcastle, NSW on 16 October 2006. The conference themes were "Implementing Rock and Water in different contexts" and "Evaluating Rock and Water programs". Keynote speakers were: Freerk Ykema, the founder of Rock and Water and owner of the Gadaku Institute; Wes Imms of the Boys Education Lighthouse Schools program; and Deb Hartman of the Family Action Centre. The collected conference papers are available from the FAC for $49.50.
A copy of the conference program and the registration form is available to download. Alternatively, email Michelle Gifford for more information.
Family & Community Strengths 2005
Information on the Family Strengths, December 2005 conference is available here.
A report, Family Strengths Research Project 2000 (based on the 1999 conference), is also available for download.
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