KEY PRINCIPLES:
1. Every individual, group, family, and community have strengths - the strengths perspective is about discerning these resources.
2. Trauma, abuse, illness, and struggle may be injurious, but they may also be sources of challenge and opportunity - under this perspective, people are seen as active and developing individuals who, through their traumas, learn skills and develop personal attributes that assist them in coping with future struggles.
3. Assume that you do not know the upper limits of the capacity to grow and change, and take individual, group, and community aspirations seriously - this principle means workers need to hold their expectations of clients and form alliances with their visions, hopes, and values.
4. We best serve people/service users/clients by collaborating with them.
5. Every environment is full of resources - in every setting, there are individuals, groups, associations, and institutions with something to give, and with something that others may desperately need.