`Resilience' topic of lecture, workshop

Assistant Editor

Texas governor Ann Richards once commented that "Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels."

From this shrewd remark sprung the title of a new book by Albany psychologist Dr. Patricia O'Gorman: "Dancing Backwards in High Heels: How Women Master the Art of Resilience." The book explores how crisis situations help us to develop coping skills that can be used to our benefit -- or detriment -- throughout our lives.

On April 17 and 18, Dr. O'Gorman will present a workshop and lecture on "mastering the art of resilience," sponsored by the Albany diocesan Consultation Center.

Much of the self-help literature that packs shelves in bookstores, Dr. O'Gorman told The Evangelist, focuses on "what's wrong with us." In contrast, the lecture and workshop will "be about celebrating what's right with us": namely, our resilience.

"Resilience" refers to the skills we develop under adverse circumstances, the psychologist said. Although "life gives us many opportunities" to feel overwhelmed, she joked, "as the result of being overwhelmed, most of us have developed ways of coping -- but we don't give ourselves credit for them."

Instead, people may develop "self-contained resilience. They run things; they get kudos -- but that tends to be the only life they have. They develop resilience to the extent that other things aren't developed."

Society and the media only add roadblocks to their efforts with skewed portrayals of gender roles, she said: "What do sitcoms say to us about being powerful and taking care of ourselves? Men are not supposed to be vulnerable, and it's difficult to find a powerful woman who's also vulnerable."

During her lecture and workshop, Dr. O'Gorman hopes to teach participants how to use the coping skills they have already learned in a positive, balanced manner.

"We need to hold life lightly around us, poke fun at it," she remarked.

One way to use resilience positively is to assess oneself after a crisis, Dr. O'Gorman said: "What did you like about what you did? What would you like to change next time?"

The psychologist advised lecture and workshop participants to "bring a friend," since she will also offer ideas on how to nonverbally "de-stress" after a crisis.

Those who attend, she said, will learn to have faith in their own resilience and discover "a fun approach to learning how to be resilient -- not how to turn off our feelings, but how to feel good about ourselves."

(The 12th Annual Susanne Breckel lecture, "Dancing Backwards in High Heels: How We Master the Art of Resilience," will be held on Thurs., April 17, at St. Pius X parish hall, Loudonville. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door. The accompanying workshop will be held on Fri., April 18, at St. Joseph's Provincial House in Latham. Fee is $40, or $45 after April 11. Call the diocesan Consultation Center at 489-4431.)

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