OLOGY | Life’s Losses and the Spirit of Resiliency

We welcome one of the world’s most cited social scientists, Dr. George Bonanno. A professor of psychology at Columbia University, Dr. Bonanno is the founding director of the Loss, Trauma, and Emotions Lab there. A published academic and popular author, Dr. Bonanno’s most recent books include The Other Side of Sadness: What the Science of Bereavement Tells us about Life After Loss and The End of Trauma: How the New Science of Resilience is Changing How we Think about PTSD. His keynote will address Trauma and the Resilience Paradox.

OLOGY will round out that cherished opportunity to hear from Dr. Bonanno with a day of events reflecting on life’s many losses and the ways resiliency takes form in human response. Psychologists, religious scholars, and faith leaders will present on the ways we can encounter loss, help others do the same, and leverage the enormous human capacity for resiliency for greater good—all woven together with some thoughtful reflections on the life and losses of the beloved author, C. S. Lewis.

 

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE

8:30 am Registration, coffee, muffins
8:45 am Welcome, prayer, and introductions
9:00 am Plenary: Knocking Down a House of Cards: C. S. Lewis and the Phenomenology of Loss & Recovery
10:00 am Breakout 1 (see breakout descriptions below)
11:00 am Breakout 2
12:00 pm Lunch
12:30 pm Keynote: Dr. Bonanno, Trauma and the Resilience Paradox
2:00 pm Closing comments and dismissal

Sessions include:

PLENARY | Knocking Down a House of Cards: C. S. Lewis and the Phenomenology of Loss and Recovery
Philip Irving Mitchell, Ph.D., Director of University Honors Program, C.S. Lewis Scholar, Dallas Baptist University

C. S. Lewis’s series of journal entries, published as A Grief Observed, is an account of suffering gradually becoming a narrative of understanding. Lewis records a phenomenology of grief that includes bodily impact, self-doubling, consciousness of deception, and a destabilizing picture of God. In writing this down, Lewis moves through a breaking apart of his trusted worldview to a new narrative that affirms a reality transcending his past constructs.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS
You will be asked to select 2 breakout sessions when you register.

Breakout 1 | To be a Witness: Supporting Those Who are Grieving
Alyssa Strenger, Psy.D. Licensed Psychologist, Founder and Owner of The Mendery

This talk will explore the science and art of being with those you love and care for as they grieve. In grief, as in life, most people do not remember the specific words you say but they do remember what it is like to be with you. Our own emotional noise makes this more complicated than it needs to be, leaving those who are suffering feeling misunderstood and alone. We will explore new ways of understanding grief as a shared experience in humanity to be witnessed and embraced.

Breakout 2 | Gen Z and Relational Ruptures: Conflict, Loss and the Importance of Meaningful Relationship
Angela Patterson, Ph.D., Media Psychologist and Head Writer/Editor, Springtide Research Institute

Today’s young people are coming of age in a time an increasingly divisive and hardened political climate. Springtide Research Institute’s latest work on young people and politics shows they often enter into political conversation with hesitancy, as they fear disagreement and conflict could sever relationships. This session will take a deeper look at young people and how fear of relational loss colors their interactions, what that means for society, and how adults can be a part of the meaningful relationships they often crave.

Breakout 3 | Holding Space for Healing: Understanding and Coping with Perinatal Loss
Katie Sardone, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, Founder and Owner of Behavioral Health Dallas and Sarah Hosseini, Psy.D., Licensed Psychologist, Behavioral Health Dallas

Experiencing the loss of a pregnancy or infant can result in significant pain and distress. Grief can manifest in various ways based on the individual and the type of loss. It is important to consider during which stage the perinatal loss occurred when understanding one's unique experience of grief. This presentation will include case examples to depict these differences as well as discuss evidence-based ways to provide treatment and support to those grieving a perinatal loss.

KEYNOTE | Trauma and the Resilience Paradox
George A. Bonanno, Ph.D., Professor of Clinical Psychology, Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University

Decades of research has shown that response to potentially traumatic events produce various prototypical trajectories of outcome, the most common being a stable trajectory of healthy functioning, or resilience. Paradoxically, correlates of these patterns show uniformly small effects, i.e., they say little about who will actually be resilient and who not. Logical explanations for this paradox include the fact that the challenges presented by highly aversive situations are variable and that virtually all traits and behaviors have both costs and benefits. Thus, what works in one situation may not work as well, or may even be harmful, in another. How can people solve this paradox and find their way to resilience? The most likely answer, I argue, is the process of flexible self-regulation. I elaborate on this process in some detail and conclude the talk by reviewing recent studies and possible means of building regulatory flexibility.

Read more about our speakers, HERE.