Traumatic Loss and Major Disasters: Strengthening Family and Community Resilience

This article presents the core principles and value of a family and community resil-ience-oriented approach to recovery from traumatic loss when catastrophic events oc-cur. In contrast to individually based, symptom-focused approaches to trauma recovery, this multisystemic practice approach contextualizes the distress in the trau-matic experience and taps strengths and resources in relational networks to foster healing and posttraumatic growth. The intertwining of trauma and traumatic losses is discussed. Key family and social processes in risk and resilience in traumatic loss sit-uations are outlined. Case illustrations, model programs, and intervention guidelines are described in situations of community violence and major disasters to suggest ways to foster family and community resilience