How Do We Find Out About Informal Resources?

We find out about informal family resources by asking the family. In some situations, the family does not want to let us know who their supports are, so we learn about their informal resources slowly as trust develops, or sometimes not at all. We find out about community informal resources by learning the community, by linking to the community where families live, and by recognizing the importance of informal resources.

If you poll your family and friends about how they have gotten through their life crises, most will tell you that they did so by having access to family, faith, or friends. Services or treatment can be vitally important, but most of us get through life by depending on our families and community. In some cases, families lose their connection to their supports through their families or through the community, often due to abuse, violence, stress, or addiction. Part of the job of a helping professional is to help families recover and again learn to access their own or the communities’ informal resources.

• Services agencies
• Government offices
• Schools, school boards
• Others

• Therapy
• Day Treatment
• Case Management
• Medication
• Respite Services
• Home-based Services

• Neighborhood helps with transportation
• Rotary sponsored a family
• Craftsman hired to make repairs
• Single parent taught to choose a better mate by another
• Peers organize to help support teen to be legal