Recovery and Resiliency for Children, Youth, and Families 

Recovery for children, youth and families focuses on hope for a positive future. Goals include:

• Helping the child or youth enjoy activities that other children their age have, such as succeeding at school and having friends
• Support for setting goals in life
• Learning to be responsible for managing one's life and mental illness
• Building a good life

It is important to identify and build on the strengths of the child or youth and the strengths of the family. The partnership of the family and the helpers from the community, including the mental health agency, is very important in helping children and youth recover and reach their full potential.

Resiliency can be defined as an innate capacity that when facilitated and nurtured empowers children, youth and families to successfully meet life’s challenges with a sense of self-determination, mastery and hope. In a resiliency-oriented mental health system, the following principles are embraced:

• Resiliency is a belief and faith that all children, youth and families have strengths and are capable of overcoming challenges.
• All children have the right to hope and success starting at birth and lasting a lifetime.
• All communities and systems have a responsibility and make a commitment to nurture resiliency with all children.
• Youth and families are experts in their experiences.
• Youth and families have voice and choice in services and supports.
• A resiliency-oriented mental health system is sensitive to culture, community and values of the individual youth and family.
• Services and supports are individualized, flexibly delivered and tailored to meet the unique needs of the youth and family.
• A resiliency-oriented mental health system is affirming of youth and family with unconditional acceptance.
• In a resiliency-oriented mental health system, supports and services focus on promoting resiliency, while reducing risks and stabilizing symptoms.
• A resiliency-oriented mental health system provides access to a complete continuum of care that addresses mental health promotion, education and intervention across developmental ages and stages.
• A resiliency-oriented mental health system invests in our youth as our most valuable resources.
• Efforts to implement a resiliency-oriented mental health system need to be embedded in a community structure that supports them and sustains their effects.

(Source: Resilience Vision and Principals document at the Center for Innovative Practices)

Click here for more information about mental health services and recovery for children and youth in King County.

Recovery for children and youth includes building resilience, or the ability to bounce back from challenges. Additional reading about Recovery and Resilience in Children and Youth.