Melbourne, Australia—Mr. Will Ado, assistant director for UPF-Australia, was the host and master of ceremonies for our evening seminar, “Nurturing Resilience and Family Strengthening.” Mr. Ado served on the Australian Arabic Council for 23 years, working on various community-bridging projects and campaigns promoting human rights, community relations, youth achievements and cross-cultural understanding of Arabic-Australian cultures. He is a great example of resilience himself, as he survived bombing in Lebanon.
Dr. Michael Ungar, a world expert on fostering resilience in young people, spoke to Melbourne’s Ambassadors for Peace on the topic of “How Caregivers, Schools and Communities Can Help Young People Thrive.” Dr. Ungar provided practical strategies that parents, caregivers, educators and mental health professionals can use to help young people of all ages strengthen their bonds with adults and overcome adversity, no matter a child’s emotional, psychological or behavioral challenges. On the basis of material from his recent book, I Still Love You, his clinical practice and his research around the world, Dr. Ungar shared what families, schools and communities have taught him about the power of unconditional love.
Dr. Ungar is a family therapist and professor of social work at Dalhousie University, where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Child, Family and Community Resilience. Since 2002, Dr. Ungar has directed the Resilience Research Centre, designing multi site longitudinal research and evaluation projects in collaboration with organizations such as the World Bank, the Red Cross, and national public health agencies. With over $10M in funded research, Dr. Ungar’s clinical work and research spans more than a dozen low-, middle-, and high-income countries, with much of that work focused on the resilience of marginalized children and families, as well as adult populations experiencing mental health challenges.