Thursday, September 26, 2013

Positive Youth Development ( Focus on Resilience)

Positive youth development by Jutta Dotterweich was a very informing presentation. I learned a lot about youth and how youth development is changing in today’s world. I related the power point to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs because it describes the basic needs of a person and it is very difficult for someone to succeed without these basic needs. Kids who struggle with these basic needs have to be very Resilient in order to succeed. Resilience is overcoming your hardships in order to be successful. Based on a study of over 700 people resilient people have specific traits individual and environmental. Some individual traits are social competence, independence, sense of purpose, and belief in a bright future.  Some environmental traits are caring relationships, high expectations, and opportunities for participation. As a person in the field of youth development I believe it is our job to provide those environmental traits to anyone who may need them. This means taking an interest in a young persons life, making them feel like they matter. Hold them to high standards and giving them every opportunity succeed and feel empowered.


            The resilience of some people is just amazing I have a cousin who is very resilient. He had very absent parents and brothers and sisters who weren’t exactly good role models.  He was put into foster care and his foster parents gave him a caring environment, made him feel like he was important and gave him opportunity to succeed and feel empowered. Today he is a great kid and goes to college at URI.  It is amazing to see the difference in direction that he went compared to his other three siblings. All because he had a stable caring person in his life. As a youth development professional this is the power we have and we can make a big difference with a small gesture.

4 comments:

  1. I loved how you related the presentation to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I did not originally think of that while going through it, but I think it's a great point!

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  2. I loved how you made the connection between resilience and your cousin. I definitely think that the connections we make with youth can be very powerful and life-changing. I think it's also important to note how different his direction in life was compared to his other siblings. Feeling empowered and building positive, healthy relationships are crucial in fostering youth development.

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  3. "As a youth development professional this is the power we have and we can make a big difference with a small gesture." You make the point also that small gestures can be so very large! I love this dichotomy/blurring between large/small.

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  4. I agree with Corinne that I love that something so small can make a BIG difference !

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