Circle Of Courage: Universal Needs Of All Children

1 Circle of courage

The Circle of Courage identifies four universal needs of all children: belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. When these needs are met, children grow and thrive. But when these growth needs are frustrated, multiple problems follow. Circle of Courage model is for creating environments in which all children can thrive. It also defines problems of youth in terms of strengths and developmental needs. These principles are grounded in resilience science and positive psychology. The Circle of Courage provides a unifying theme to various strength-based interventions (Brendtro, Brokenleg, & Bockern, 2005:1).

2.1.2 Resilience theory

Resilience theory is a framework for understanding how adolescents adapt well, even with

exposure to multiple risk factors (Fergus and Zimmerman, 2005: 399). Within this model of Resilience theory, risk factors refer to those that increase the likelihood of negative outcomes, with an accumulation of risk factors predicting an even greater tendency for unhealthy behaviours, as the result of the ability to bounce back from those outcomes instead of adversity.

2.1.3 Belonging
According to Brokenleg (2005, n.p), belonging is the most crucial value because is the desire to connect with others over life span. It is the need to feel valued, important and protected by others. Belonging has to do with a deep sense of relationship or attachment with other human beings and is reflected in a sense of relatedness, care, love, community and respect of each other and nature. Children who have a good sense of belonging are generally able to experience and express their emotions in a manner that is acceptable and can understand the emotions of other people. On the contrary, neglected and abused children sometimes develop false positive strategies control their emotions. They tend to react with resistance and avoidance behaviour by refusing to show any feelings, ambivalent behaviour or a show of feelings to attract attention (Boning, 2015: 43-44). Belonging is a sense of community, love and acceptance in which one feels secured and connected between family, friends and peer relationships.