Resilience, the individual trait of being able to persist and cope with, often recurrent, negative experiences, has experienced an explosion in recent years as a topic of study. In this commentary, we critique this surge and problematize the co-occurring development of the “resilience as treatment” paradigm. We show that resilience is an expectation foisted primarily on historically and contemporarily oppressed and excluded populations often in response to systemic and structural forms of discrimination. We argue that this represents a fundamental mismatch of intervention and problem; offering an individual-level solution to a structural toxin. In doing so, we re-contextualize resilience as an adverse event, more analogous to scar tissue than a reliable treatment paradigm. Our essay concludes with offering alternatives to resilience that originate with the holistic trauma and liberation health frameworks. These paradigms are united in that, in contrast to resilience, they emphasize healing from structural violence, rather than adapting to it.
Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT) is a manualized treatment commonly used in correctional settings to address perceived moral failing and associated problematic behaviors (e.g., substance use and criminal conduct). Many social work students are introduced to MRT as a treatment modality during field placements in correctional contexts. As a group modality that draws from cognitive-behavioral interventions and 12-step recovery programs, MRT has been touted as a cost-effective and evidence-based intervention. However, there are substantial reasons to question MRT’s appropriateness as an intervention taught to social work practicum students. Using several of the CSWE EPAS standards as guideposts, this paper addresses several key areas of concern with regard to the role of MRT in the training of social work students. Through our analysis of MRT’s curriculum, we identify areas of concern with regard to MRT’s ability to teach social work students how to ethically practice, engage diversity and difference in practice, or utilize research to inform practice. Despite the widespread use of MRT in correctional counseling contexts, we conclude that MRT is unsuitable for use in accredited social work field placements. Educators and accreditation agencies should critically evaluate the treatment models social work students learn and practice in field placements.
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