Think about a time when your family experienced a significant time of stress and/or crisis–choose one event/experience. Then begin to reflect upon the response of your family members and yourself, ways of coping, and how the family system worked through the difficulties experienced. Everyone has or will go through a challenge … also keep in mind that not all challenges are horrible or tragic such as a family member moving away for various reasons, getting married, going away to college, the birth of a child, and so forth. These can all be stressful and hard for families.
You will need to read and review Chapter 13 in our Lamanna textbook (14e) to complete this assignment because it is a personal application paper.
Choose the crisis you want to reflect upon and discuss for this assignment.
ONLY address ONE and answer the questions based on that experience.
Please note: the single crisis you choose to discuss MUST:
#1: be in the past and one that your family has already gone through; not one that they are currently experiencing and your family is still working through the challenge or still recovering.
#2: be a crisis you are old enough to recall and speak directly about and how it personally impacted you as a member of the family
#3: impacted your immediate family and potentially your extended family like grandparents. This is important because you will not be able to answer all the questions or if you are retelling something second hand such as you were too young to remember.
Identify and discuss what type of stressor(s) were present (the book provides the different types–See Figure 13.1). If it became a major crisis, what led to it becoming one? If you are unsure about ANYTHING or believe you cannot meet this criterion, please email me and we can find a solution together. I have done this for students in the past; so do not hesitate to reach out.
NEXT, think about the “course of a family crisis” we learned about in chapter 13.
Describe and summarize what your family looked like during these stages: How did your family handle it–what were the responses of the family system?
Address and discuss how you and your family coped, adjusted, and or chose to adapt. Be sure to utilize the sections in Chapter 13 including “Crisis-Meeting Resources” and Meeting Crisis Creatively.”
Were they resilient or vulnerable and why? What resources/factors as addressed in the chapter did your family use, need, or should have used (this depends on what occurred as well as your perception of what took place: remember how everyone appraises the situation/crisis/challenge differently)?
FINALLY, looking back, what came from this experience in the life of your family including lessons learned and what you learned about your family and even yourself?
It is critical and expected that when discussing family dynamics and personal reflections you apply course information from chapter 13 in the Lamanna et al., (2021) text to support and explain your assessment–by using terms and concepts presented throughout the chapter material as well as properly cite the information.
