What is the Strengths Perspective?

Practicing from a strengths perspective means that everything you do as a helper will be based on facilitating the discovery and embellishment, exploration, and use of clients’ strengths and resources in the service of helping them achieve their goals and realize their dreams.
Dennis Saleebey

The strengths model has been used in helping:

• Adults with severe and persistent mental illness,
• People struggling with alcohol and drug abuse,
• Seriously emotionally disturbed children and their families,
• Older citizens, children and adults in the justice system,
• Neighborhoods and communities,
• It has also been used as a framework for policy analysis and women’s concerns among others.

Links

• Historical development
• Epistemology
• Principles of the Strengths Perspective
• CPR of Strengths
• The lexicon of Strengths Perspective
• Assessing Strengths
• Paradigm shift
• The Strengths Perspective and Client-centered practice
• The Strength Perspective and Resiliency
• The Strengths Perspective and Solution-Focused Therapy
• The Strengths Perspective and Positive Psychology
• The Strengths Perspective and Health Realization

Quote

“All humans, somewhere within, have the urge to be heroic; to transcend circumstances, to develop one’s powers, to overcome adversity, to stand up and be counted.”

Dennis Saleebey
Workshop on practicing the strengths perspective, 2005.