STRENGTHS-BASED

APPROACH
Presented by:
Escriva Citadel E. Forbes
Lailanie Rabano
 Topic
What is Strength-based Approach?

Traditional Problem-solving vs.

Strength-Based

Strength-based Approach in Social

Work
 Strength-based Approach
The strengths-based approach to social work focuses on a client’s
personal, relational, and community assets, rather than their
deficits.It is a holistic, collaborative approach concerned with
identifying a client’s inner and outer resources to promote
resilience.Client strengths include their individual talents and
problem-solving abilities as well as the resources available in their
support networks, such as family, friends, and the wider community.
In short, this approach focuses on what is strong, not just what is
wrong.
Father of Donald O. Clifton (February 5, 1924 – September

Strength-based
14, 2003) was an American psychologist,
educator, author, researcher, and entrepreneur.
He founded Selection Research, Inc., which later
Approach acquired Gallup Inc., where he became
chairman, and developed CliftonStrengths,
Gallup's online psychological assessment.

Donald O. Clifton, known as “the father of

strengths-based therapy,” proposed that
individuals can achieve far more when efforts
are spent on reinforcing their greatest
strengths, rather than on highlighting their
weaknesses.
 Traditional vs Strength-
based

The traditional problem-solving approach assumes that problems are a naturally

occurring part of people’s lives. Social Worker then work with clients to develop
plans to solve the identified problems. This perspective emphasizes different
features of the planned change process and differs from a strength-based
approach in at least two major ways. First, traditional emphasizes problem
assessment. Workers expend much time and pay a great deal of attention
exploring the dynamics and details involved in the problem.
 Traditional vs Strength-
based

Practitioners using strengths approach, on the other hand, “will spend little time
trying to understand what caused the problem or trying to name it. Instead, the
social worker will focus on identifying or uncovering strengths, recognizing that a
problem-or deficit-focus may create a mindset that is an obstacle to looking at
positives and assets of client functioning”. During assessment, workers using this
approach will instead emphasize the family’s “vision and hopes for the future”.
Problems are not ignored, but “serve a minor role as a catalyst, in that families
seek social work services when they have problems or difficulties.”
 Chart Example
Possible use of
“positive reframing”
and strength
identification

Traditional Problem-
Identify
solving Approach: Find Solution
Problems

Identify Use resources

Strength-based Identify Client to Improve the
Approach: Problems Strengths Problematic
and Resources Circumstances
 Strength-based in Social
Work
The strengths-based approach has been widely embraced in the
social work field because of its holistic, person-centered perspective
that focuses on clients’ assets rather than their deficits, pathologies,
and problems. Social workers focuses on building on the client’s
existing strengths, assets, and resources and the support available in
their relationships and community. This avoids duplicating services
that may already be available and contributes to the development of
grassroots community resources as their locally targeted reach
expands.
Social Work &
Strengths: 3 Models
and Theories Local area
coordinatio
Asset-based
community
n (LAC) development
(ABCD)

Several strengths-based models

of care
have been developed,
Knowledge, values, ethics,
including the following.
theory, and skills (KVETS)
 Asset-based community
development (ABCD)
The asset-based community development approach focuses on a
client’s strengths in the context of their wider network and community
resources. ABCD is based on five core principles;

1. Citizen led
2. Relationship oriented
3. Asset based
4. Place based
5. Inclusion focused
1.Citizen led
According to this model, local people are in the driving seat of change and
first establish community strengths that can be shared locally, before
searching for additional support from outside agencies.

2.Relationship oriented
While this approach recognizes individual clients’ strengths and skills, it also
recognizes how these can be amplified by the presence of supportive
relationships.

3.Asset based- This involves focusing on what’s strong rather than what’s
wrong.This focus builds on existing strengths to make them stronger and
then uses them to address what’s wrong.
4.Place based
This focuses on local neighborhood community development from a bottom-
up rather than top-down perspective by drawing on local people’s
knowledge of each other’s strengths and local resources that institutional
agents often miss.

5.Inclusion focused
Communities have imperceptible boundaries that define who belongs and
who is deemed an outsider. The focus on inclusion recognizes that those on
the edges of communities often have skills and assets that can benefit their
neighbors and enrich community life as a whole.
 Knowledge, values, ethics,
theory, and skills (KVETS)
It is the practice framework recommended in the UK 2014 Care Act as
a strengths-based approach to social work. The model comprises a
set of practice triggers to be considered when making decisions and
choosing an intervention.
The aim is to provide person-centered, holistic, ethical interventions
that uphold human rights and social justice.
 Local area coordination
(LAC)
LAC is a strengths-based approach to social work that focuses on
relationship building and developing community networks (The Local
Area Coordination Network, 2019). The approach aims to provide
person-centered services that are co-created with local communities.
Individuals require less institutional intervention and ongoing care
because they draw on existing strengths and community resources.
LAC has 10 largely self-explanatory principles:
1. Citizenship for all
2. Relationships matter
3. People have natural authority
4. Lifelong learning for all
5. Information is power
6. People need choice and control
7. Community creates opportunity
8. Everyone can contribute
9. Working together is powerful
10. Services should complement people’s goals
References:

https://positivepsychology.com/social-work-strength-based-approach/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8046159/#:~:text=Clifton%2
C%20known%20as%20%E2%80%9Cthe%20father,than%20on%20highlighting
%20their%20weaknesses.