Building recovery resilience through culture, community, and spirituality

Abstract

In this article, the author presents a discussion of resilience as it relates to recovery. Recovery is viewed through the lens of an individual’s community, culture, and spirituality. Resilience recovery creates a context in which the focus of life is no longer primarily based on problems but instead emphasizes solutions and the facilitation of wellness in a holistic sense. To sustain a life of positive well-being, one must embrace a redistribution of energy that encompasses the community’s culture and spirituality. Within a resilience-oriented setting, cultural competence is a fundamental ingredient that helps to develop trust and understanding of how members of different cultural groups define health, illness, and healing. Finally, faith and spirituality are dimensions of human existence beyond the biopsychosocial framework that can facilitate and enhance resilience and bring understanding to how people express themselves, evolve, and heal. Social service educators, practitioners, and individuals receiving services need to expand their framework to include a spiritual dimension. This paradigm shift will facilitate the change toward a holistic model of recovery and resilience which embraces a “person-first perspective.”