Families in Crisis

Families in Crisis

Introduction

Researcher and organizational psychologist David Kolb asserts that knowledge results from the interaction between theory and experience. As David Kolb says, "Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience." As you proceed through the PLA portfolio process, think of his model as you analyze, reflect, and write, so that your PLA portfolio will demonstrate where and how you have created your knowledge through the experiences you went through. Your assessor will evaluate your PLA portfolio based on how well you perform the following functions having to do with the Kolb Model:

Discussion of Concrete Experience

Analysis of experience

Conceptual learning

Application of learning

Additionally you will be rated in areas of documentation and writing skills.

Subtopic 1: Examine family functioning, roles and relationships during non-crisis, normative transitions in the family lifecycle

Description of Concrete Experience:

I was married for 14 years, the first eight were in a normal functioning family. I met my wife Carla in high school, we waited until she was 20 to get married, I was a year older. We had three kids, our oldest was a boy Rory, five years later we had a little girl, Stephanie, and two years after that we had one more, a boy named Kyle. I worked at NAS North Island, my wife was a stay at home mother. We were as normal a family as you would hope to find. I was in charge of bringing in a paycheck and providing for my family's needs, my wife took care of all the at home issues.

During this period of time in my view I was the foundation of the family, the rock so to speak. My wife was the glue that held everything together. We shard defined roles inside the makeup of what would have been viewed as the prototypical American family. Understand that what I am saying is we were a normal functioning family, problems came later. But during this period we thought we would spend our life's together. And we all fell into the defined rolls of what would be viewed as normal. Along with work, I was a little league coach, my wife the supporting mother of her son in the stands. My daughter spent her time helping mom, and with our youngest we all shared duties. Also at this time we had healthy relationships with all of our extended families. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, everyone, for the first nine years of marriage we lived what might be referred to as the American dream.

Analysis of experience: Reflecting on this period in my life I can now see the mistakes made in my marriage. By living the standard typical normal life, I can now see how this is also the very reason we drifted apart. Looking back I believe both Carla and I thought everything was ok. Yet upon reflection I can see how in doing everything right, we were also doing so many things wrongs. But this part of the paper is on the ...