An Integrated Model of Family Strengths and Resilience: Theorizing at the Intersection of Indigenous and Western Paradigms

In this article, we theorize a new conceptual framework of family strengths and resilience emerging at the intersection of indigenous and Western approaches to family systems. Our work acknowledges that there are universal tenets pertaining to family and family relations within many cultural paradigms, yet few family theories have included or integrated an indigenous lens. Here, we draw on ecosystemic and “wheel of life” worldviews to guide our work, recognizing that much of Western family science and indigenous ways of knowing view family life as relational, interdependent, and connected to larger ecosystems. To explicate our integrated framework of family strengths and resilience, we delineate five domains: family as a living organism, family connectedness to nature, family centering processes, family rituals, and transgenerational family relations. Last, we discuss implications of our conceptual framework for research and clinical family practice.