In today's episode, We will talk about the importance of having Agency AND WHAT THAT MEANS. Gammy has 4 grandchildren and wants them to be self sufficient self confident secure grown adults. Plus, Gammy admits she's working on having agency in my own life and keeping it.  

Jess recently learned what the term agency was and was immediately intrigued then disheartened at realizing that this was a concept that was not a part of  her life. As a mother of 2 and on a journey to rebuilding  life, Jess is very much looking forward to learning how to continue to live our lives to the fullest. 

Definition from The social science jargon-buster: "The ability of individuals to affect change, make autonomous and independent choices and act in self-determining ways...A sense of agency is a sense that one can be more than reactive to one’s environment; having a sense of agency means that one can be generative, creative, proactive, and reflective. "

A. Bandura, famous Psychologist, proposed that agency consists of several key factors

• intentionality: the ability to make plans
• Forethought: the ability to see what’s necessary or may happen in the future.
• Self-reactivity: the ability to act on the plans that are made 
• Self-reflectiveness: the ability to reflect upon oneself and the adequacy of thoughts and actions 

Self Reflectiveness is the key to self-efficacy- the belief in your own ability-  

Join Jess & Gammy as we break this all down and talk about our own struggles to achieve agency in our lives and how we are doing .

CALL TO ACTION
 Ability1st - The Center for Independent Living rated 1005 by Charity Navigator  Please Donate! They are community-based organization offering support services, advocacy, and information to empower people with disabilities to live independently. 
CREDITS
Music: Pixabay
Image: Music by ZakharValaha from Pixabay
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REFERENCES:

1. "Agency." The Social Science Jargon-Buster, Zina O'Leary, Sage UK, 1st edition, 2007. 
2. Levesque, Roger J. R. "Agency." Encyclopedia of Adolescence, Roger J. R. Levesque, Springer Science+Business Media, 2nd edition, 2018. 
3. Danielle van der Burgt (2015) Spatial avoidance or spatial confidence? Young people's agency in the active negotiation of risk and safety in public space, Children's Geographies, 13:2, 181-195, https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2013.828455 
4. Potts, Cory A., and Richard A. Carlson. “What Am I Doing? It Depends: Agency and Action Identification.” Psychological Research, vol. 86, no. 2, Mar. 2022, pp. 651–66. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-021-01510-9. 
5. Vaughn, Margaret. “What Is Student Agency and Why Is It Needed Now More than Ever?” Theory Into Practice, vol. 59, no. 2, Spring 2020, pp. 109–18. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2019.1702393.