In this activity you will read a practice scenario from CYC practice relating to parent and family support. The scenario illustrates the type of situation you might well find yourself in as a CYC practitioner. You are asked to frame the scenario within an ecological and (secondarily) a strength-based perspective.

Step 1:

Read the case scenario below:

Step 2:

Think about the practice scenario above from an ecological, strength-based perspective. In carrying out your reflections, it is recognized that you are quite new to CYC practice, and that you might not yet know how to approach this situation if you were confronted with it in reality today. The challenge here is not so much to come up with an appropriate CYC intervention (though you are free to think about how you might do this), but to see the situation depicted within a larger context. This activity also gives you an opportunity to engage in critical thinking, in that you are asked to reflect not only upon what is mentioned in the case scenario, but what is left out, and what difference that might make to your understanding of the scenario.

Consider the following questions and record your impressions in your learning journal.

1. Based on the information provided in the case scenario, what are the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem variables that comprise the ecology of Sara’s and Tony’s lives? How might these contextual variables shape, and be shaped by, Sara’s and Tony’s behaviour?
2. What microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem variables are not mentioned in the case scenario? How might they be relevant to an ecological perspective on Sara’s and Tony’s lives?
3. How does Sara’s situation as a recipient of services affect the way that you, as a CYC practitioner, are likely to interpret her confidences about anger management and discipline? Can you imagine a friend or relative confiding similar feelings and behaviour to you? How might your reaction differ, and why?
4. What aspects of the case scenario (including the interventions described) reflect a strength-based perspective? What aspects reflect a deficit orientation?
5. What challenges do you think you might face, as a CYC practitioner, in adopting and applying an ecological, strength-based perspective? What attitudes and skills might you need to develop to rise to these challenges?

Step 3:

Summarize your reflections on the questions above in 250-300 words