Resilience

I recently had the opportunity to conduct a resilience workshop with staff from 15 different social services agencies in the Portland area. The program focused on the skills and attitudes of resilience and how these could be integrated into the work that these individuals do with their clients each day.

As the participants told stories about themselves and their clients, it was clear that they needed resilience as much as the people with whom they work. These are very hard times for people that provide social services in our society. It is a time when their services are needed more than ever, but there is less money and staff to do the job. What is most disturbing to me is the lack of understanding and support that they receive from the general public.

Like the veterans coming back from the war in Iraq or Afghanistan, these people who are on the front line of the battle in our society against the forces that could destroy it, e.g., violence, drug abuse, poverty, ignorance, need the same kind of support and recognition for the hard and dangerous work that they do.

Ron Breazeale, Ph.D.
Author, Duct Tape Isn’t Enough
www.reachinghome.com

In a capitalistic society such as ours, the answer is pretty easy. Money. We tend to reward those who make it with more money and tend to penalize those who don’t with less money. And the rewards and punishments tend to come fairly quickly. Unprofitable stocks get sold and often, but not always, CEOs of failing companies get fired. This, of course, was not true for many of the folks on Wall Street who recently got huge financial bonuses for exceedingly poor performance.

Tradition, tradition.

So as a society, we may talk the talk, e.g., the importance of education, the need to feed the hungry and house the homeless, etc., etc., but as a society, we have been very poor at walking the walk. Where we put our money tells the tale, not our words.

Ron Breazeale, Ph.D.
Author, Duct Tape Isn’t Enough
www.reachinghome.com

I recently saw the news in the Portland Forecaster that the Westboro Baptist Church, a group that, according to the Forecaster, “openly hates homosexuals, Jews, Catholics and America,” plans to visit Portland to protest a local high school’s theater production (the local high school is Waynflete) of the “Laramie Project.” The focus of the play is on the community’s reaction to the murder of a gay college student, Matthew Shepard, who was beaten and left for dead.

The Westboro Baptist Church’s visit to Portland is just another example of the increasing activities of hate groups in this country. Racism is certainly alive and well. Individuals in these groups are often motivated by fear and anger. Anger is used to suppress and control the fear which, unfortunately, often turns to hate. These individuals only feel safe if they can control or destroy the hated group.

This strategy may work for them, but it certainly doesn’t work for our communities or our nation. These poor souls would be better served to pray to their God to help them find other ways to deal with their fears and to be resilient.

Ron Breazeale, Ph.D.
Author, Duct Tape Isn’t Enough
www.reachinghome.com

I would encourage you to rate the resilience of the individuals who represent you in the Senate and House of Representatives. Keep in mind that 290 bills have been passed by the House of Representatives as of late February but have had no action by the Senate. Many of these bills passed with bipartisan support. The Senate, however, has taken no action on these bills because of the threat of a filibuster each time a bill is presented to the Senate. In other words, the Senate has done very little in the past 6 months.

If we look specifically at the skills and attitudes of resilience, such as connectiveness, we see a Congress that is extremely bipartisan and totally disconnected. If we look for effective communication within Congress – specifically, the Senate – we often don’t see it. Flexibility doesn’t seem to exist, especially with the party of “no.” Managing strong feelings, such as fear, is a skill many of our Congressmen and Congresswomen and Senators seem to not have. Problem-solving skills seem to be lacking on both sides. Congress, I believe, should get a failing grade in terms of their primary role, which is to take care of this nation and its citizens.

However, Congress should probably get a passing grade on taking care of “self,” since much of the current behavior of our Congress seems to be focused on the issue of getting reelected and staying in office versus taking care of the public and the welfare of this nation. It would be good if these representatives of our nation could show self-confidence in their positions rather than simply bluster and if they could communicate with each other, really listening to the other side of an argument would be a good start. Those of us watching the present horror show will hopefully keep a sense of humor and be optimistic knowing that this, too, will pass. I would encourage you to look carefully at the behavior of your representatives and let them know how resilient you feel they are being in dealing with the present problems our nation in facing.

Ron Breazeale, Ph.D.
Author, Duct Tape Isn’t Enough
www.reachinghome.com

A resilient medical system is one that can catch and prevent errors from occurring. Unfortunately, current studies suggest that a correct diagnosis is either missed or delayed in 5% to 14% of urgent hospital admissions. Autopsies suggest that diagnostic error rates are between 10% and 20%. These statistics come from research by Ian Scott, M.D., Director of Internal Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology at Prince Alexander Hospital in Brisbane, Australia. An article in the January 2010 issue of Monitor on Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association, entitled “The Antidote to Medical Errors” by Michael Price reviews Dr. Scott’s research and other research on this topic, including work by David Woods, Ph.D., professor of ergonomics at Ohio State University in Columbus. Errors in physicians’ reasoning may account for many of these errors. As Scott points out, there is incompetence and inadequate knowledge, but it is when physicians get stuck in a particular mode of thinking and reasoning that seems to be at the core of the problem.

Brazilian medical systems have ways of catching physician mistakes and errors. They have rules and should have cross-checks. For example, many hospitals have what’s called an “ad hoc rule” that chemotherapy should not be started on weekends because, as the article points out, the most knowledgeable physicians and pharmacists usually don’t work weekends, but that rule can get overlooked when someone has cancer and wants to start treatment immediately.

So…what to do? More about this in the next post.

Ron Breazeale, Ph.D.
Author, Duct Tape Isn’t Enough
www.reachinghome.com

Most people are aware of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti a few weeks ago. But few of you may be aware that there will be an international workshop on rebuilding sustainable communities in Haiti on April 9th, 2010, that is being sponsored by the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disasters. The Center is a program of the University of Massachusetts in Boston. The workshop will examine the challenges of post-earthquake rebuilding in Haiti and social, economic and infrastructural development of the community after this disaster. This and other issues will be the focus of the 1-day workshop.

For more information about the 1-day workshop, contact Professor Adenrele Awotona, Director, Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disasters, at www.rebuilding.umb.edu.

The Center will also be sponsoring another conference for four days in mid-July of this year. It will focus on rebuilding sustainable communities for the elderly and disabled after disasters. Maine Resilience will be participating in this conference and doing a brief presentation. We will provide you with more information about the second conference in the late winter/early spring.

Ron Breazeale, Ph.D.
Author, Duct Tape Isn’t Enough
www.reachinghome.com

A few days ago, I found an obituary that had been given to me by one of the Maine Resilience coaches, Tony Strodel. The obituary had been given to Tony by a friend of his and was the obituary of the friend’s brother. The obituary began by saying that Donald Wallace had been told throughout his life that the “end was close.” Mr. Wallace had contracted polio as a young father and, according to the obituary, was not expected to leave the hospital alive. He had also suffered an injury at birth that had taken sight from one eye and left him with partial vision in the other.

Polio forced him to use a wheelchair. But Mr. Wallace adapted to his physical limitations by developing all sorts of “gizmos and gadgets” to overcome the disability. According to his daughters, “Nothing slowed him down.” His life was full of adventure and fun. His faith and a wonderful childhood helped make Mr. Wallace the man that he was. According to one of his daughters, Marcella Brown of Gray, Maine, it was his spirit that allowed him to overcome adversity. “When I was a teenager,” she said, “I felt, ‘That’s Dad.’ His spirit can carry him over anything.” (Obituary written by Ann Kim and published in the Portland Press Herald. Mr. Wallace died on January 18th, 2008.)

Ron Breazeale, Ph.D.
Author, Duct Tape Isn’t Enough
www.reachinghome.com

In an interview with Victoria Kennedy in the December 20, 2009, issue of Parade Magazine, Dotson Rader outlined in some detail the characteristics of a man who was “always an optimist,” Senator Edward M. Kennedy. After his diagnosis of terminal brain cancer in the early summer of 2008 he began, according to his wife, Victoria, “figuring out what we’re going to do about this…We’re going to move forward.”

Kennedy believed in universal health care and sponsored legislation to create it but, according to his wife, he was “no Pollyanna.” He suffered defeats over the years but, even though he might get upset, he never “reacted with anger. He always took the long view and didn’t take it personally.” His faith comforted him. The lesson of his life, according to Victoria, was perseverance. “You never give up.” Optimists don’t. They act on their values and their faith. They take the long view. And they plan, even when confronting their own death.

Ron Breazeale, Ph.D.
Author, Duct Tape Isn’t Enough
www.reachinghome.com

A couple of weeks ago, the Police Poetry Calendar for Portland, Maine, was released. The program is sponsored by Art at Work which is a national initiative to improve municipal government through strategic art-making projects with city employees and elected politicians. Marty Pottenger was the driving force behind the Police Poetry Project which is in its second year.

Portland Police Chief James Craig believes it is “a real opportunity to show the community what police officers are all about.” The calendar is dedicated to the memory of Sergeant Rick Betters who died this past year. He was well loved by his officers, and as Assistant Chief Joe Loughlin put it, “No matter what your relationship, you learned something from Rick Betters.”

The poetry is quite good and worth a read, and as Chief Craig said, it does give you more of a sense of who police officers really are. One poem struck me in particular entitled, “Jenny and I,” describing a police officer’s involvement in the investigation of the physical abuse of a young child.

“My 18 years wearing camo then blue, her 18 months wearing black and blue, Jenny and I have learned we cry inside.”

In addition to giving us a better sense of who police really are, the poetry project allows officers to acknowledge to others and deal more directly with the strong feelings that they must manage on a daily basis, but often without being able to express them “outside.”

Ron Breazeale, Ph.D.
Author, Duct Tape Isn’t Enough
www.reachinghome.com

Barrett Nichols of Falmouth, Maine, celebrated his 108th birthday recently. Mr. Nichols was a child when Henry Ford made his first Model-T. He has lived through two World Wars and the Great Depression. His friends say he is an avid golfer, has a good sense of humor, and still loves his cigars and rum and tonics.

We know that humor and exercise play a role in resilience. And, at least for Mr. Nichols, it appears that cigars and rum and tonics have also played a role!

Ron Breazeale, Ph.D.
Author, Duct Tape Isn’t Enough
www.reachinghome.com