Dancing Backwards in High Heels: How Women Master the Art of Resilience

Description

Whether we are survivors of a difficult childhood, career women trying to do it all, or women simply caught in a web of vague expectations, Dancing Backwards in High Heels helps us achieve our potential and live with confidence. Author Patricia O'Gorman shows us how to work with our own style of resilience by identifying what has helped us survive in the past and explains how to draw upon these experiences to manage the changes that life brings. From Publishers Weekly Though Fred Astaire got top billing, "Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels." Texas Governor Ann Richards's ironic barb reminds women that they accomplish far more in their daily lives than they give themselves credit for. Psychologist O'Gorman (Breaking the Cycle of Addiction) shows readers how to focus on personal assets rather than on unfinished tasks and unfulfilled goals. In so doing, she expands the meaning of "resilience" to encompass the ability to recover from adversity and achieve a positive self-image and world view. Drawing on her professional cases, she relates the story of Rachel, who pinch-hitted for her alcoholic mother by preparing a Thanksgiving dinner for relatives at the age of 11. By seeing the resourcefulness and courage of her feat, Rachel is able to recast a negative experience as a victory. O'Gorman is never preachy and her practical prose is replete with such anecdotes and with suggestions designed to help readers develop a personal ally-"Your resilient voice." Exercises expand each chapter's theme while they promote self-awareness, and questions help readers find their own strengths and weaknesses, thereby creating their own resilience profiles from the six O'Gorman identifies. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author Patricia O'Gorman, Ph.D., a psychologist in private practice in East Chatham, NY, is noted for her work in child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health and substance abuse where she has serves as a consultant to organizations in preventative and clinical strategic planning. She has held positions ranging from Clinical Director of a child welfare agency to Director of Prevention for NIAAA, and is a co-founder of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics.