“RESILIENCY” and its tag words, maybe the most important psychological tool added to our customized EQ toolbox as we sought to navigate our white waters. This tool is so uncommon, yet so necessary, it’s possession will no doubt lead to EXCELLENCE!
For whatever reason the word “resiliency” has been around me the last several months usually at difficult and challenging times. It seems to have an unusual 360° perspective as it affects so many parts of our lives. Perhaps it’s important that we absorb succinctly, the full meaning of resiliency as it seems to have the unusual ability to take the mishaps of life, without contemplating who did what wrong or how did this happened etc., but rather quickly maneuver our energy field to fix mode in a speedy fashion, without harboring negativity or resentment, etc.
Recently I returned from my 13th medical missionary trip to Guatemala. This yearly trip was a highlight for most of us because it was an opportunity to provide a variety of medical, dental, optometry, medical interventions, and psychological treatments to a very gracious needy population. For my friends this Rotary club medical missionary venture to Guatemala was one of the most important things they did, however for myself, this missionary journey was the most important service I provided all year!
Unfortunately, this year was different…a lot of illness affected many on the medical team and appeared to result from exposure to the community water which is quite contaminated. There were also several problems with ineffective marketing and very limited understanding of what was needed to make things happen correctly. Furthermore, there were several complications transiting to a new facility, which ironically was the facility which now managed the community affairs and contained the mayor’s office.
Over the years we learned that it is very imperative to meaningfully advertise to the community, the services we provide which are quite comprehensive and include dermatology, emergency medical issues, anesthesiology, optometry/visual concerns, pediatric dentistry, general dentistry, and Family counseling and traumas treatment. We also have learned over the years that the use of “psychological terms, psychiatric treatment” must be stated differently because there have been problematic issues with psychiatric treatments in the past.
During all this chaos, I began to think about resiliency and immediately I became aware of its tag words like perseverance and flexibility, and thinking outside the box; so, it was not very long before I attempted to rise above the chaos and meet with the mayor to discuss our program and our concerns. Twice a meeting was scheduled, however the mayors’ responsibilities required him to cancel the meetings and address urgent needs, which is very understandable. A day or so later a free moment appeared so my translator Ms. Stephanie and I went to the mayor’s office and patiently waited for about an hour, and suddenly the mayor’s office door opened, and this gracious gentleman welcomed us in. It was a most interesting meeting, because initially the mayor was very proud to share with us his numerous law enforcement interventions which dramatically lowered the crime rate in the community. When he finished sharing these successes, Ms. Stefanie began to summarize the many psychologically challenged individuals and families that we consulted with over the last 2 ½ days and unfortunately most of them were victims of domestic assault with many sustaining significant traumas which required a great
concentration on trauma treatment, which fortunately was usually effective. As Ms. Stefanie continued to summarize the numerous people with traumas, the mayor became visibly upset and stated that he was shocked to learn so much crime continues to take place in the Community. He called in his two directors of family and children services and reviewed a summary of our events including the intense physical, emotional, and psychological abuse. The directors readily concurred that domestic assault remains a significant reality in the community. This led to a rather lively discussion of a myriad of possibilities which might assist community members to better address the significant issues by way of specialized training. As the mayor brought our meeting to a close, he was most excited about our discussion and stated that we would meet very soon to further develop a viable program. Shortly after this meeting the mayor was front and center for our group picture.
Reviewing the recent advertisement, it was clear why we only had one individual scheduled to consult, so it became obvious that the only reasonable solution was for my translator Ms. Stephanie and myself to go among the numerous patients seeking other services and identify individuals who might need our help and ironically though somewhat laborious, we generated 75% of our clientele. Also, our office was located at the top of the building requiring a treacherous walk up a challenging staircase to the very top of the building with no air-conditioning etc. We would often remind each other to stay focused on resilience, perseverance, and flexibility with the mantra, “Blessed are they that are flexible, they will never be bent out of shape”. There were a couple of times when my translator needed to take care of other family responsibilities, and I was without reasonable solution; so, I mingled around the volunteers and eventually identified a kind person who assisted me with a needy individual in crisis.
For sure, there were other complications and challenges which I had never experienced, nevertheless resiliency… perseverance… flexibility… and our believe God was with us, lead us to positive resolutions for our patient’s counseling needs. Former US President of the Calvin Coolidge often stated that “perseverance” was the greatest of all the attributes. No doubt it is one of the greatest for sure, but today I believe “resiliency also has the attributes of “perseverance” and “flexibility” which breeds an unusual synergy which carried us to positive resolution “Resiliency” truly became our #1 attribute, and no doubt saved the counseling and trauma treatment of our medical mission service!
Tim Lynch PhD. Clinical Psychologist, DCEP
