WHAT IS STRENGTHS-BASED PRACTICE?
Strengths-based practice focuses on what an individual is already doing that is successful. The goal of all interactions is to identify and augment every individual’s strengths and resources. There is an expectation that strengths exist both in the individual and in his/her larger environment. The individual and the professional work in partnership to determine how to corral and best utilize these resources to build lasting change. Strengths-based practice offers a clear alternative to the usual pathology-based approaches that focus on the diagnosis, analysis and treatment of dysfunction to re-mediate or “fix” problems. A fundamental element of all strengths-based practice is the identification and analysis of capacity and potential to build hope, motivation and the sense of competence that are the essential building blocks for change.
