Learning From The Past and Planning For The Future
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT April 26, 2002 "Every man believes that he has a greater possibility." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Short Subjects
LINKS :Mental Health Moment Online CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS:
The Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Services-I (DMHS-I) course will be offered in Cheyenne, WY on Friday-Saturday, May 3-4, 2002.
Hawaii International Conference on Social Sciences
June 11-15, 2002
Location: Honolulu Hawaii, USAInternational Conference on Computer-Based Testing and the Internet: Building Guidelines for Best Practice
June 12-15, 2002
Location: Winchester, UNITED KINGDOM
Contact: The ITC Conference 2002, C/o Connie James, The Pavilion, 1 Atwell Place, Thames Ditton, Surrey, KT7 0NE, England;Tel +44 (020) 8335 8226; Fax +44 (020) 8335 7226
EMAIL: Conference2002@InTestCom.orgThe Science of Aphasia: Functional Neuroimaging Studies of Language and its Impairment
June 14 -1 9, 2002
Chair: Eraldo Paulesu (Milano, E)
Acquafredda di Maratea (near Naples), ItalyInternational Conference on Psychology Education
Location: St. Petersburg, RUSSIA
Contact: Victor Karandashev
Email: victor.karandashev@usa.net; vkarandashev@mail.ruSMART MARRIAGES SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE: July 11-14, 2002 Washington, D.C.; 69.5 hours CE; (202) 362-3332
RESEARCHER EYES RELIGION AND EATING DISORDERS
A researcher at the Penn State DuBois campus is examining how family characteristics are related to eating disorders, and especially whether a sense of religiousness can protect one from the risk imposed by a dysfunctional family. Larry F. Forthun, assistant professor of human development and family studies, notes that an estimated 60 to 80 percent of female college students engage in unhealthy eating practices. With co-authors from Texas Tech University, he surveyed 873 women between 18 and 29 years of age and found that being religious does offer a form of protection, but only if the spirituality is internally motivated. For women motivated by external factors--such as friends and family--religiosity heightened the risk and made them more vulnerable to eating disorders. Forthun speculates that college women who attend church only to please others may also strive to please others by looking a certain way, leading to a greater vulnerability to poor eating habits. For the full story, visit: http://www.ds.psu.edu/news_communities/news/2002/april/forthun.htm
MEDICARE COVERAGE AUTHORIZED FOR ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
The White House has quietly authorized Medicare coverage for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, the New York Times reported in its Sunday edition. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/430931?srcmp=psy-040502
NO SIGNIFICANT DECREASE IN ALCOHOL USE AMONG US WOMEN OF CHILDBEARING AGE
Many women of childbearing age in the US are not getting the message about the adverse effects of alcohol use during pregnancy, according to a report in the April 5th issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/431215?srcmp=psy-040502
Two Killed, Hundreds Injured in California Train Wreck
A freight train collided head-on with a Metrolink commuter train in Southern California Tuesday (April 23), killing at least two and injuring more than 200 others.
Just over two months ago, on February 3, 2002, a moderately sized earthquake occurred in the Afyon region of Turkey. The quake struck early on a Sunday morning, while people were at home preparing breakfast.
Clinical Update - Suicide: Historical, Descriptive, and Epidemiological Considerations Background and perspectives in suicide.
Leaders are responsible for making sure they have adopted the right rules (i.e., those policies that reflect their values) and that they carry them out themselves. If responsiveness is a value, then they cannot be behind their desks during times of crisis. They have to be on the phones, in the branches, in the community, or in some other way involved with others who devote their lives to this value. We all want to believe in an ideal. Though no leader is flawless, the good ones take on the mantle of trying to live up to the ideal. In this age of speed and change, in this time when nothing seems stable, the leader's role is even more important. After more than two decades of writing about the qualities of leadership, Bennis (1999) believes it comes down to this:
LEADERSHIP VALUES "...in tomorrow's world, exemplary leaders will be distinguished by their mastery of the softer side: people skills, taste, judgment, and, above all, character." (p.19).Everyone wants to work with people of impeccable character. Just as your own character determines your personal ability to generate trust, so it is for the organization as a whole. An entire organization built upon the strength of character as its foundation would be a compelling place to work. Such an organization requires focus on three aspects: responsibility, integrity, and a generosity of spirit. Responsibility Many organizations, like many individuals, have public values. Being responsible for them means interpreting them as spirit rather than law. That way, the values become a positive guide rather than a hindrance to be avoided. To see the values in this way is to see them not as policy, but as a body of ethics that created policy in the first place. Politicians often are heard saying things like, "We play by the rules, and we all know that we need to change the rules." Such an admission suggests that the body of ethics which guides behavior, the character of the individual, is subservient to the rules. It suggests that we interpret the rules to avoid our own responsibility rather than applying them as positive guides for our action. Such an approach is unconscionable. It will inevitably ring hollow and will not inspire any measure of loyalty or commitment from your people. Responsibility doesn't mean never changing. However, if change is proposed, it should be consistent with your fundamental beliefs. You should be "able to respond" to what is needed without altering the basis of who you are as a person and organization. Integrity The second aspect of character is integrity - actually doing what you say you will do. It is the follow- through to being responsible. Generosity of Spirit The final aspect of character is generosity of spirit, which has two dimensions. The first is being able to maintain a perspective beyond what obviously serves you as an individual - or even beyond what obviously serves your organization. The second is a graciousness of attitude about one another. Developing a broad perspective results in caring for all stakeholders, including the greater community. The second dimension of generosity of spirit, graciousness of attitude, is critical because it manifests itself daily, minute by minute. Situations may seem ambiguous in a world moving as fast as ours. It takes work to defeat the cynicism which almost automatically creeps into unexplainable situations. It is important to provide the context of change as a way of mitigating the ambiguity. However, providing context is not always possible. Many times we need to accept each other on faith. Graciousness may sound soft. However, it speaks to the heart of teamwork and support for one another, even as you discuss, disagree, and make tough decisions. You want to foster the ability to presume the best about fellow workers, clients, and others. Graciousness means that you willingly place trust in others, you generate good will, belief and faith in what is good, rather than focusing on failure or threats to your own existence. Conclusions With every decision you make, you risk an unknowable result. Regardless of how fine the analysis, the future will stubbornly remain unknown. What is not obvious is that the chasm between what you know and what you can't know has to be bridged by an act of faith, and any act of faith will attract nay-sayers who demand more evidence. Such cynicism erodes relationships and freezes the action. When character is developed, decisions are based on the assumption that people will respond positively when they are trusted, supported and cared for. In this society of electronic everything, it would be easy to think that leadership is about information sharing or moving more quickly than some other person in your field. However, precisely because the world is electronic, the leader's job has shifted to one of personal, values-based communication and action. It is easy to get caught up in the tactical day-to-day operation of the organization. It is easy to move from graciousness to selfishness. Responsibility demands that you spend a lot of time considering what you stand for, acting in a way consistent with the answer, and then making sure that the principles of behavior are reflected in your organization. It is difficult for leaders to be so visible and be held to a higher standard than the rest of the workforce. However, it is also a privilege and an incredible opportunity. Knowing what to do and constantly looking for ways to improve is challenging, rewarding, and provides an atmosphere where everyone wants to contribute - and usually do. *******************************************************************************REFERENCES Bennis, W. (1999). The leadership advantage. Leader to Leader, No. 12, Spring. To search for books on disasters and disaster mental health topics, leaders, leadership, orgainizations, crisis intervention, leaders and crises, and related topics and purchase them online, go to the following url: https://www.angelfire.com/biz/odochartaigh/searchbooks.html ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** Contact your local Mental Health Center or check the yellow pages for counselors, psychologists, therapists, and other Mental health Professionals in your area for further information. ********************************************************************** George W. Doherty O'Dochartaigh Associates Box 786 Laramie, WY 82073-0786 MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT Online: https://www.angelfire.com/biz3/news
