Understanding and Fostering Family Resilience

Family resilience can be defined as the ability of a family to respond positively to an adverse situation and emerge from the situation feeling strengthened, more resourceful, and more confident than its prior state. This article presents a succinct literature review on family resilience, including its dimensions, working models, and the individual and family characteristics that contribute to family resilience. Borrowing largely from solution-focused principles and techniques, numerous practical applications of a resilience orientation to family-related assessment and treatment are described. The article concludes with a call for additional research and training in the area of family resilience.