our Student teaching experience

1. our Student teaching experience December 5, 2013

2. GROUP mEMBERS • Lauren Blanchard • Ansha’La Braswell • Laura D’Artois • Abby Donaldson • Celia Charles • Meredith Dubois • Kristie Landry • Brooke Burns • KloeRusso • Holly Grace Whidden

3. OBJECTIVES • The purpose of this presentation is to highlight different experiences that we have had at St. Vincent de Paul’s while integrating specific terms from our Family Stress Management course. • We noticed that an underlying theme in all of our stories was resiliency, so we decided to view our findings through a lens of resilience.

4. OBJECTIVES (CONT.) What we will cover: • Objective and Conclusion (Holly) • Stress (Lauren) • Stress Pile-Up (Ansha’La) • Prior Strains (Laura) • Internal vs. External Stressors (Abby) • Family Hardships (Celia) • Victimization (Meredith) • Post-Modernism (Kristie) • Boundary Ambiguity(Brooke) • Denial (Kloe)

5. Stress • What is it? • Change in the family’s equilibrium • Pressure on the family • A disturbance of the family’s steady state • The system is upset, pressured, disturbed, and not at rest • Examples of events causing stress among families • Family routines change • Patterns of interaction change • People enter and exit the family system

6. Stress • Lauren’s Anecdote • Lauren’s Definition of Resilience • I believe that resilience is being able to bounce back and overcome the obstacles that have been presented. • How does the guest(s) show resilience? • This woman showed resilience by not just giving up and rescheduling or canceling her interview but instead she allowed us to help her and tried on multiple articles of clothing to make the best out of a difficult situation .

7. Stress Pile-up • What is it? • Stress pile-up is a factor in how people cope with crisis. Pile-up of stress can help explain why one event can be the “straw that breaks the family’s back.” • Pileup (aA) results from five sources: (1) the initial stressor; (2) hardships of the initial stressor that increased and persisted over time to become chronic strains;(3) Transitions;(4) the consequences of family efforts to cope with the separation(5) ambiguity within the family and within society. • Example • An individual has to pull an all night study session because she waited until the very last day to study. She studies all night but she ends up falling asleep 20 minutes before its time to catch the bus. She misses the bus and is late for her test. She gets to the test and realizes that she forgot her scantron and studied the wrong information.

8. Stress Pile-up • Ansha’La’s Anecdote • Ansha’La’s Definition of Resilience • I think that resilience is never giving up, even when faced with tremendous adversity. • How does the guest(s) show resilience? • The guest in my story showed resilience because although all of those things happened to her, she still walked around the dining room with a smile on her face and she still tried to help everyone around her. She would not let her misfortune stop her from believing that it would all get better.

9. Prior strains • What is it? • “Prior strains are lingering residual effects of family tensions and prior stressor events that may still trouble the family” (Boss, 2002). • This is included in Hill’s Double ABCX Model as “Aa,” along with family hardships. These components are in addition to the stressor. • Example • A pregnant woman who does not work left her abusive husband with her two small children. She is about to be evicted from her apartment, so she is facing homelessness. Due to the prior strains of her previous relationship she is forced to be on her own with her children and does not have the money to provide a stable life for herself or the children.

10. Prior Strains • Laura’s Anecdote • The young mother of two toddlers that had to drop out of school to work when she became pregnant with the first child. The father is not present, nor contributes in any way; therefore, she has to support herself and her children. Due to not having an education, she cannot find a job to support the family. • Laura’s Definition of Resilience • My definition of resilience is an individual or families ability to recover from a difficult event or stressor. • How does the guest(s) show resilience? • The guest mentioned above relied on her resources such as spirituality and family members. She is very active in church and Bible study. Her grandmother is a great support system for her and often cares and provides for the children. She has found a job in a restaurant.

11. Internal Vs. External sTRESSORS • What is it? • According to Boss (2002), • Internal stressors: events that begin from someone inside the family, such as addiction, suicide, violence, or running for an election. • External stressors: events that begin from someone or something outside of the family, such as floods, terrorism, and inflation. • Example: An internal stressor could be a sibling that is addicted to drugs and an external stressor could be your house burnt down.

12. Internal vs. external stressors • Abby’s Anecdote • I met a woman named *Wanda* at the homeless shelter. She had been kicked out of her house by her parents for disobeying the rules and being a drug addict. Since then she has been homeless and trying to find people she can move in with and a stable job. She is dealing with a series of internal and external stressors. *Name changed for confidentiality* • Abby’s Definition of Resilience • I think resilience is to keep your head held high regardless of the stressors that are in your life and to keep pushing forward with hope. • How does the guest(s) show resilience? • She showed resilience because although her family kicked her out she considered the people at St. Vincent De Paul her family. Although she had many stressors she still seemed to be grateful for the homeless shelter.

13. Family Hardships • What is it? • Family hardships are defined by Hill (1958) as “Those complications in a crisis-precipitating event which demand competencies from the family which the event itself may have temporarily paralyzed or made unavailable.” • Example • An example of family hardships would be if a husband recently lost his job because there is now a drastic decrease of income for the family.

14. FAMILY HARDSHIPS • Celia’s Anecdote • Lady who was new to SVDP • Celia’s Definition of Resilience • Resilience is when you show enough courage to get yourself through a bad time in your life. • How does the guest(s) show resilience? • She showed resilience by gaining enough strength to go to her father and apologize for whatever wrong she had done. She put her pride aside; she was courageous and gained back what she lost.

15. Victimization • What is it? • Is the overpowering of a person or family with physical or psychological trauma that results in feelings of helplessness, distrust, and shame. • Victimization occurs when there is a loss • Loss of power • Loss of control over what is happening • Loss of self-esteem • Example • Natural disasters, mugging, abuse

16. Victimization • Meredith’s Anecdote • Meredith’s Definition of Resilience • How does the guest(s) show resilience?

17. POST-MODERNISM • What is it? • The belief that true knowledge can be found in ways other than through the scientific method (positivism). • Example • Postmodernists question the modern positivist ideas of truth and objectivity and instead value pluralistic thinking, their approaches are more collaborative and less hierarchical, and they believe a phenomenon exists even if it cannot be measured.

18. Post-modernism • Kristie’s Anecdote • A woman at SVDP lost her Social Security card and she was very upset. I helped her apply for a new one. • Kristie’s Definition of Resilience • My definition of resilience is the ability to overcome in hard circumstances. • How does the guest(s) show resilience? • The next week, she had her Social Security card and a job. She told me “There is no use in trying to control situations yourself. You need to put everything in God’s hands.”

19. Boundary Ambiguity • What is it? • The family not knowing who is inside and outside of the family system • Example • A family member who may be missing at war. The family is not sure if they are dead, alive, or coming home. This can create confusion in the family system about whether or not that person is still a member of the family.

20. Boundary ambiguity • Brooke’s Anecdote • Grandmother and adoption: role of boundary ambiguity • Brooke’s Definition of Resilience • Resilience is the ability to “bounce back” after something stressful or bad has happened to an individual or their family. • How does the guest(s) show resilience? • Denial of new family members

21. dENIAL • What is it? • Denial occurs when an individual or family refuses to believe the reality of a situation, even though others can. • Example • A father comes home after work night after night and drinks until he passes out. The wife and children witness this happening, but say he just needs to relax and rest, instead of acknowledging that he is an alcoholic.

22. denial • Kloe’s Anecdote • Kloe’sDefinition of Resilience • Resilience is the ability to keep going after certain setbacks. • How do the guests in the story show resilience? • By listening to the financial advisors, the guests are showing resilience. Wanting to learn more shows that the women don’t want to make the same mistakes and are willing to make different decisions. Thus, the women are trying again after financial setbacks.

23. Stress • A change in the family system due to pressure or upset • Stress Pile-Up • The accumulation of unanticipated stressors • Prior Strains • Stress from prior events that continue to trouble the family • Internal vs. External Stressors • Stress that impacts families from within the system and on the system from the outside. • Family Hardships • Complications families face during a crisis that cannot be resolved due to stress from the crisis • Victimization • The overpowering of a person with physical or psychological trauma that results in feelings of helplessness, distrust, and shame. • Post-Modernism • Notion that knowledge can be acquired outside of the scientific method • Boundary Ambiguity • Confusion a person/family faces with family roles and presence • Denial • When a person ignores the reality of a situation • Resilience • The ability to change and adapt to new situations SUMMARY

24. CONCLUSION • Over the course of this semester, we have learned so much from volunteering at St. Vincent de Paul and we will cherish this experience forever. It has opened our eyes to the amount of stress one person or family can handle, and still display resilience even during these hardships. Our time spent with the members at SVDP made us realize that although these people are very stressed, they show signs of resilience each and every day.

25. REFERENCES Boss, P. (2002). Family stress management: A contextual approach (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Boss, P., & Mulligan, C. (2003). Family stress: Classic and contemporary readings. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Chaney, C. (September 3, 2013). Conceptual Models of Family Stress. Lectured conducted in CFS 4064 (Family Stress Management), Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Chaney, C. (September 5, 2013). Family Stress Theory Defined. Lectured conducted in CFS 4064 (Family Stress Management), Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Chaney, C. (October 3, 2013). Ambiguity and Ambivalence in Family Stress Management. Lectured conducted in CFS 4064 (Family Stress Management), Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Walker, A.J. (1985). Reconceptualizing family stress. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 827-837. Weber, J.G. (2011). Individual and family stress and crisis. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

26. Thanks to everyone from st. Vincent DE paul for your time, effort, and support! & a special thanks to Dr. Chaney