Abstract
AbstractSocial work and psychodrama are both inherently strengths-based approaches with person-centered philosophies that affirm the inherent goodness of individuals. The chapter outlines social work’s strengths-based perspective while connecting it to mutual aid, positive psychology, humanistic psychology, and Morenean philosophy. Social group work’s emphasis on mutual aid and group-as-a-whole processes is outlined with similarities to the theory and practice of psychodrama. The importance of a strengths-based approach in trauma work is affirmed and depicted through resilience theory and post-traumatic growth. Modern adaptations of classical psychodrama which emphasize strengths work are depicted, including positive psychodrama, the Therapeutic Spiral Model, and Souldrama.
Highlights
Social work and psychodrama are both inherently strengths-based approaches with person-centered philosophies that affirm the inherent goodness of individuals
Witkins (2017) critiques positive psychology for its adherence to individualism, neoliberalism, neglect of cultural subjectivity, and the lack of recognition positive psychologists give to the strengths-based social work approach which preceded it
He suggests that the strengths-based approach, like the social work field as a whole, offers positive psychologists a more relationally grounded, context-aware, and antioppression framework rooted in narratives of disenfranchised, marginalized, and colonized communities
Summary
The social work field has incorporated a strengths-based approach as a core aspect of its identity. Every Individual, Group, Family, and Community Has Strengths This foundational belief assumes that the client always has strengths and positive resources that can be used to help with the presenting problem. Assume That You Do Not Know the Upper Limits of the Capacity to Grow and Change and Take Individual, Group, and Community Aspirations Seriously This principle asserts that strengths-based social workers maintain high expectations and hope for clients regardless of their history or diagnosis. Rather than operating as the expert and recreating an imbalance of power dynamics within the therapeutic relationship, strengths-based workers approach clients as collaborators. This principle challenges us to work with clients rather than to treat their disorder or work on them. The strengths-based approach attempts to restore “balance to the understanding of the human condition—as social workers we recognize and respect the strengths and capacities of people as well as their afflictions and agonies” (Saleebey, 2012, p. 279)
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