It Takes a
Whole
Village
In early 2009, thanks to a grant from the Hatton Foundation of Cincinnati, Sweeten Life Systems launched a research project designed to:
We call the project “It Takes a Whole Village” as a reminder that all are needed to create community. We’ve hired a team of research assistants and recruited several qualified families to participate in the initial study.
The focus of the project is to provide support and care for the families of children with special mental, emotional, and physical needs. The project has two distinct phases.
In the first phase, the research assistants will conduct in-depth interviews among the families to uncover the unmet needs to the families, not simply the needs of the special needs child. While the increased stresses on the various components of life (physical, career, emotional, relational, financial, time, spiritual) on such families seems intuitively obvious, there is little data on the exact felt needs within the family. The analysis of the felt needs will be used by the SLS team to create new processes, procedures, and personal support system solutions.
In the second phase, families will be asked to test these new processes, procedures, and personal solutions. The SLS researchers will monitor how each family uses the solutions to determine if they are meeting the family’s felt needs. Based on the feedback from the families, the solutions that did not work well will be improved and those that helped the families in meaningful ways will be adopted and used to train other families and family support systems.
Shared Stories
As part of the training, our researchers conducted practice interviews with families they already knew who had a child with special needs. One thing we discovered early in the process: these families have a hunger to tell their story. They often feel isolated and alone; just having someone listen without judgment is a healing intervention.
Other than that desire to share their story, however, each family’s story is unique.
Two of our researchers heard from a father who sees the gifts that his Down Syndrome daughter brings to the world. She is a social butterfly, with a sweet, outgoing personality and the ability to discern loving personalities among those she encounters.
At the other end of the spectrum, one researcher learned of a family that is a prisoner in their own home because their child, who has severe autism and bi-polar disorder, requires constant supervision. They have found no one else willing to watch their child, so at least one parent must stay with her at all times. Through all of the challenges they have, their faith keeps them together.
What You Can Do
This work is a story of collaboration and community. To support Sweeten Life Systems and this important work, you can:
For more information about the “It Takes a Whole Village” project, contact Andrea Bowsher, Program Coordinator, at village@sweetenlife.comor by cell phone at (513)378-5209.
For our December, 2009 update click here.