Froma Walsh

Human‐Animal Bonds I: The Relational Significance of Companion Animals

The importance of human-animal bonds has been documented throughout history, across cultures, and in recent research. However, attachments with companion animals have been undervalued and even pathologized in the field of mental health. This article briefly surveys the evolution of human-animal bonds, reviews research on their health and mental health benefits, and examines their profound relational significance across the life course. Finally, the emerging field of animal-assisted interventions is described, noting applications in hospital and eldercare settings, and in innovative school, prison, farm, and community programs. The aim of this overview paper is to stimulate more attention to these vital bonds in systems-oriented theory, practice, and research. A companion paper in this issue focuses on the role of pets and relational dynamics in family systems and family therapy.

Women in families : a framework for family therapy

This comprehensive book, ideal as a basic text in family therapy and womens studies, addresses the question of how women experience family life from a variety of perspectives. It covers gender issues in family therapy theory, practice, and training; women in context (ethnicity and life cycle issues, marriage, motherhood, sisterhood, women alone, lesbian couples), and such special issues as work, addiction, and mental illness.

Spiritual Diversity: Multifaith Perspectives in Family Therapy

This paper addresses the growing diversity and complexity of spirituality in society and within families. This requires a broadly inclusive, multifaith approach in clinical training and practice. Increasingly, individuals, couples, and families seek, combine, and reshape spiritual beliefs and practices--within and among faiths and outside organized religion--to fit their lives and relationships. With rising faith conversion and interfaith marriages, the paper examines challenges in multifaith families, particularly with marriage, childrearing, and the death of a loved one. Clinical guidelines, cautions, and case examples are offered to explore the role and significance of spiritual beliefs and practices in couple and family relationships; to identify spiritual sources of distress and relational conflict; and to draw potential spiritual resources for healing, well-being, and resilience, fitting client values and preferences.

Community-Based Practice Applications of a Family Resilience Framework

A family resilience practice framework is especially valuable in community-based intervention and prevention with families facing serious life challenges. How families approach and respond to their stressful conditions can foster positive adaptation, with potential for personal and relational growth for all members. In this chapter I first summarize the core practice principles of my research-informed Family Resilience Framework and identify key processes that practitioners can facilitate to strengthen family resilience. I then describe several community-based training and practice applications developed through the Chicago Center for Family Health (CCFH) to demonstrate the utility of a family resilience-oriented framework in a wide range of adverse situations: healing and recovery from crisis, trauma, and loss; navigating disruptive transitions or dislocations; thriving despite multistress, chronic conditions; and positive development of at-risk youth in vulnerable communities. Using varied formats, including brief consultation, family counseling/therapy, and multifamily groups, workshops, and forums, this collaborative resilience-oriented approach strengthens family functioning, relational bonds, vital community connections, and resources to meet future life challenges.

Facilitating Family Resilience: Relational Resources for Positive Youth Development in Conditions of Adversity

A social ecological understanding of resilience recognizes the important contributions of family and social networks, community services, and cultural influences in the positive development of youth in conditions of adversity. This paper offers relational and systemic perspectives on resilience, first considering how key family bonds in the multigenerational network of relationships can nurture children’s resilience. It then addresses resilience in the family as a functional unit, with ecological and developmental perspectives. It describes the author’s research-informed family resilience framework developed for clinical and community-based practice to strengthen children and families facing adversity. Core principles and guidelines in this family resilience approach are described, suggesting its broad utility for intervention and prevention efforts with vulnerable youth and their families. Key processes in family resilience, culled from findings from research on resilience and effective family functioning, are identified for practitioners to target interventions that enable children and their families to thrive in response to serious life challenges.

Applying a Family Resilience Framework in Training, Practice, and Research: Mastering the Art of the Possible

With growing interest in systemic views of human resilience, this article updates and clarifies our understanding of the concept of resilience as involving multilevel dynamic processes over time. Family resilience refers to the functioning of the family system in dealing with adversity: Assessment and intervention focus on the family impact of stressful life challenges and the family processes that foster positive adaptation for the family unit and all members. The application of a family resilience framework is discussed and illustrated in clinical and community-based training and practice. Use of the authors research-informed map of core processes in family resilience is briefly noted, highlighting the recursive and synergistic influences of transactional processes within families and with their social environment. Given the inherently contextual nature of the construct of resilience, varied process elements may be more or less useful, depending on different adverse situations over time, with a major crisis; disruptive transitions; or chronic multistress conditions. This perspective is attuned to the diversity of family cultures and structures, their resources and constraints, socio-cultural and developmental influences, and the viability of varied pathways in resilience.

Bereavement: A family life cycle perspective

This article presents a family developmental systems framework to examine the immediate and long-term ramifications of death and loss in the multigenerational network of relationships. Based largely on our early research and extensive clinical experience, we examine family adaptation processes and variables in risk and resilience. We consider factors that impact families depending on the nature of the death, the state of relationships and family functioning at the time of loss, and the timing of loss in the family life cycle. Further research is strongly encouraged.

Family resilience: a developmental systems framework

Abstract This article presents a brief overview of a family resilience conceptual framework, grounded in a multi-level developmental systems orientation. A family systems perspective broadens attention to resources for individual resilience throughout the family network of relationships. The concept of family resilience refers to the family as a functional system, impacted by highly stressful events and social contexts, and in turn, facilitating the positive adaptation of all members and strengthening the family unit. A research-informed map of key processes in family resilience is outlined, highlighting the recursive and synergistic influences of transactional processes within families and with their social environment. Varied process elements may be more or less useful, depending on different adverse situations over time, with a major crisis, trauma, or loss; disruptive transitions; or chronic multi-stress conditions. This perspective is attuned to the diversity of family cultures and structures, their resources and constraints, salient socio-cultural and developmental influences, and the viability of varied pathways in resilience.

A Family Systems Perspective on Loss, Recovery and Resilience

While most attention to death and mourning has tended to focus on individual bereavement, a systemic perspective is required to understand how the loss of a family member reverberates throughout the family system with immediate and long-term consequences for family functioning and for all members and their subsequent relationships. This overview chapter presents a systemic framework to guide assessment and intervention. How the family faces death and deals with loss are crucial for healing; some are shattered while others are able to rebound. Discussion addresses family adaptational challenges, factors that pose complications and risk of dysfunction, and key interactional processes that encourage recovery and resilience.