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.