How Families Flourish

To get your free copy of 264 Character Building Activities, the companion to How Families Flourish, click here

Why should you read How Families Flourish?

Flourishing or Floundering? The Choice Is Yours!

How Families Flourish is a roadmap for any family who wants to build a household of love, trust, self-determination, honesty, character and well-being. Every technique, strategy and intervention in How Families Flourish is evidence based and relies on over 60 years of scientific research. It is the compilation of the results of these scientific facts that provide you with the parenting best practice skill set found only in How Families Flourish.

When children are exposed to a home life that includes inconsistency, distraction, confusion, ambivalence, anger, pessimism, criticism, neglect/abuse or absence of a clear long range plan for the family, they lose self-confidence and well-being. Their capacity to love and be loved is diminished. They become pessimistic about the world and their place in it. But even the floundering family can apply the techniques, strategies and interventions revealed in How Families Flourish to turn things quickly around.

How Families Flourish is a transformational program for any family who wants to jump start the process of supporting their child into becoming a successful adult. The simple steps in this book outline how to

build individual and family well-being
identify which fundamental character strengths belong to each member of the family
practice self-reliance
increase positive emotional experience
deepen resilience
influence moral character development
raise self-esteem
develop a well-functioning household
inoculate at-risk children from anxiety and depression
communicate respectfully
move from a pessimistic to optimistic mindset
teach self determination
encourage family vitality
reinforce goal setting strategies
become assertive (vs passive or aggressive)

Is Your Family Floundering?

Children in floundering families embrace learned helplessness and lose their sense of belonging. This leads to, at best, a mediocre early adulthood. As adults, children raised in floundering families often confront episodes of mental illness or loss of purpose and meaning in life. They have fewer successful relationships and less career advancement. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness Child and Adolescent Action Center,

21% of children between the ages of 9 and 17 have a diagnosable mental illness or addictive disorder
50% of all lifetime cases of diagnosed mental illness begin by age 14
50% of students age 14 and older living with a diagnosed mental illness drop out of high school
75% of girls and 65% of boys in juvenile detention have a diagnosable mental illness
About 2 Million adolescents attempt suicide each year, and 90% of those have a diagnosable mental illness

YET ONLY ABOUT 20% OF CHILDREN WITH A DIAGNOSABLE MENTAL ILLNESS RECEIVE INTERVENTIONS!

While genetics does play a role in whether someone will manifest a diagnosable mental illness during their lifetime, research strongly suggests that genetics is only about 50% responsible. The other 50% is caused by environmental factors such as

how children are taught to view their world (optimistically or pessimistically)
how much time they practice using their core strengths
whether they can bounce back quickly from disappointments and catastrophes
whether they broaden and build positive emotions
whether they feel securely attached or distant from the parent(s)
whether they have crystal clear and consistent rules, consequences and rewards

These and other environmental factors have an equally strong influence on later in life satisfaction and well-being. While you can’t change the hereditary (genetic) factors, the environmental factors are within a parent’s control. How Families Flourish will teach you how to make sure your family has optimal control over those environmental factors.

How Families Flourish is divided into three distinct sections. First, you will learn how to create a flourishing family environment, even amidst chaos. Section One helps you learn how to foster a flourishing family through 18 strategies including

Promoting good family self-esteem and well-being
Determining the meaning and purpose of your family
Getting the family more engaged with each other
Conquering fears
Confronting a family crisis head on

Second you will learn how to identify with of the 24 signature character strengths each family member has and how to tap into those strengths. Strengths are divided into six categories

Strengths to acquire and use knowledge
Strengths to accomplish goals in the face of opposition
Strengths of befriending and tending to others
Strengths that build community
Strengths that protect against excess
Strengths that connect us to the larger universe

Not only does this section describe the characteristics of each strength and what you can do to promote the use of the strength, it offers an illustration of each strength in action.

Third you will learn how to create a Family Charter, the roadmap to ongoing family success. It describes what needs to be included in each section of the Family Charter and how to integrate the Charter into your daily family flow. Chapters include mission statements, rules, consequences, rewards, chores and how to reveal the contents of the Family Charter to your children to get family buy-in.

Who Needs to Read How Families Flourish?

This 250 page book is written for parents or caregivers of any toddler to teen. It also provides an easy to follow program for social workers, teachers and anyone interacting with children. Age appropriateness of each strategy is given careful attention. The psychological framework of the book includes applied positive psychology, cognitive behavioral psychology, behavioral modification, attachment theory, social action theory, social learning theory and moral development theory woven into an easy to understand program.

About the Author, Dr Daniel Trussell

Daniel Trussell, Ph.D., MBA, LPC, NCC is a Positive Psychology Family Coach and Life Skills Educator with a lifetime of experience as a helping professional. Clinician, executive and thought leader, Dr. Trussell enables families and the systems who serve those families to develop successful approaches to optimal family well-being. Among the various clinical and executive positions he has been active in, he was the Director of Community Mental Health for the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and a Board Member of NAMI Georgia. He has won several national awards for innovative programming in mental health, His engaging style of writing and easy to understand guidance will provoke and stimulate.

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