Kathleen Perkins

On Being a Strength Coach: Child Welfare and the Strengths Model

Strength coaches help athletes assess their strengths and build on them. Likewise, social workers dealing with children and families in the child welfare system, rather than looking for pathology, can learn to help clients discover and develop their strengths, even while dealing with a child welfare bureaucracy. This article gives examples of the strength coach approach.

Suicide and Older Adults: The Strengths Perspective in Practice

Suicide rates are higher among older adults than any other age group. In many instances, suicide among older adults can be prevented. One approach that can be used for prevention is the strengths perspective. This article offers an intervention technique that improves the coping of senior suicide clients by forming a coalition with the therapist and client to overcome the perceived unbearable pain that can lead to suicide completion. Rather than ignore the strengths that older adults have tapped throughout their lives, this approach builds on the older persons preexisting survival skills. The strenghts perspective challenges the current system of mental health services that predominately focuses on the dysfunctions and pathology of clients.