Personal Reflection Assignment 2– We got through it: Reflecting on Family Stress and Crisis

Think about a time when your family experienced a significant time of stress and/or crisis and the reactions, ways of coping, and how the family system worked through the difficulties experienced. Everyone has or will go through a challenge … also keep in mind that not all challenges are horrible or tragic such as a family member moving away for various reasons, getting married, going away to college, etc. can all be stressful and hard for families.

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You will need to read and review Chapter 13 in our Lamanna textbook to complete this assignment because it is a personal application paper.

1. Identify and discuss what type of stressor(s) were present (the book provides the different types)? If it became a major crisis, what led to it becoming one?
   • Please note the stressor or crisis you choose to discuss MUST:
     • Be in the past and one that your family has already gone through; not one that they are currently in
     • One that you are old enough to recall and speak directly about and how it personally impacted you as a member of the family
     • Impacted your immediate family (this includes grandparents and aunts/uncles/cousins).
       • These are important because you will not be able to answer all the questions if your family is still working through the challenge or if you are retelling something second hand such as you were too young to remember or not being impacted in a significant way.
       • If you are unsure about ANYTHING or believe you cannot meet this criterion, please email me and we can find a solution together :) I have done this for students in the past; so do not hesitate to reach out.
2. Then think about the "course of a family crisis" we learned about in chapter 13. Describe and summarize what your family looked like during these stages: how did your family handle it–what were the responses of the family system?
3.  Address and discuss how your family coped, adjusted, and or chose to adapt. Were they resilient or vulnerable and why? What resources/factors as addressed in the chapter did your family use, need, or should have used (this depends on what occurred as well as your perception of what took place: remember how everyone appraises the situation/crisis/challenge differently)?
4. Finally, looking back, what came from this experience in the life of your family including lessons learned or what you learned about your family and even yourself

It is critical and expected that when discussing family dynamics and personal reflections that you apply course information from chapter 13 in the Lamanna text (13th edition) to support and explain your assessment–by using terms and concepts presented throughout the chapter material as well as properly cite the information.

Please be sure you have followed the instructions; as well as meeting the expectations for written work. Please refer to the grading rubric provided below. I have found that it takes students usually between 3-4 pages to complete though it varies by student. As long as your work satisfies the criteria, the length is not an issue.

Here is the Grading Rubric/Student Feedback form I will be using when grading your work based on the rubric for this assignment.