Project Resilience: Becoming Resilient By Overcoming Resistance

The pandemic is coming up on the year mark. More than 500,000 have died in the U.S. and millions have been or are sick. The need for caregiving has increased.  Many of us are tired, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Stress and isolation and worry are taking a toll. Today we’re going to talk about mental health during the pandemic.

As part of the Utah Public Radio ongoing series "Project Resilience," Shoshannah Buxbaum takes a look at intersections of aging, disability and technology durint the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This special is part of UPR’s ongoing series Project Resilience. Project Resilience is made possible with support from the Utah State University Center for Persons With Disabilities.

When I was 14 and spending my first Christmas in Rome, Italy, I raced out onto the apartment balcony when I heard my mother cry, "Come, quickly." Below us down in the street was a small band of men in bulky coats playing homemade bagpipes. When they stopped, our neighbors showered them with coins. And then the players strolled off down the street.

As Christmas approaches and we start to share stories of past Christmases, I was delighted to find a story titled “Mrs. Scrooge and the Baseballs” in Ross Peterson’s new book “Christmas in Montpelier.”

When Saboor Sahely came to Utah State University from Afghanistan, he was befriended by a fellow student who invited him to his home for Thanksgiving dinner.

Twelve years ago Bronwyn Tarboton graduated from Logan High School with one dream in her heart—to make it to Broadway. She honed her skills at BYU and six months after she graduated she moved to New York and started auditioning.

When the pandemic hit and social distancing became the order of the day, the Westminster Bell Choir at Logan's Presbyterian Church knew it could no longer gather to rehearse in the small basement room at the church. 

The Fall speaker series from the Utah Women’s Giving Circle continues on Thursday with a presentation titled “Triaging Resilience in the Midst of Crisis.” The speaker, clinical therapist Em Capito, says she’ll share “a research-based tangible framework for triaging our personal resilience along with the strategic shifts that deepen our roots, for ourselves, our families and our teams, toward the collective resilience that will lead our communities into the reinvention and renewal ahead.” Em Capito will join us for Monday’s Access Utah.

According to the Center for Disease Control, more than 90 million Americans live with a chronic disease with many of those are terminal. How does a person navigate a terminal diagnosis? Here is one story of one young adult who shares with us her mindset of hope and perseverance.

It's no secret that Utah has a drug problem. The state has one of the highest opioid-abuse problems and drugs like meth and heroin can be found in almost all communities.

In this Project Resilience vignette, UPR producer Mary Heers tells us how card playing has helped her meet new people and make connections over the years.

As part of UPR’s Project Resilience series, producer Mary Heers introduces us to a young husband and wife who are familiar with the challenges of adapting when life takes a sudden turn. 

Mary: Janelle Carter wanted to become a German teacher ever since she took her first German class in the seventh grade and was right on track. It was only supposed to be a short trip to Montana to visit her husband's family. Colton went out four wheeling with his friends. Janelle stayed home because she was four months pregnant. Then everything changed. Colton lost control of his four wheeler and hit a tree so hard it broke his back and severed his spinal cord.

Many longtime UPR listeners may remember Utah Public Radio reporter Rhesa Ledbetter. Rhesa has a PhD in biochemistry from Utah State University, is a science professor at Idaho State University, and is an award-winning storyteller. 

Women do the lion’s share of unpaid care work in Utah, spending an average of 5.6 hours a day looking after children or parents. Utah’s women in their 40s and 50s often spend time doing both child and elder care. It makes for some stressful moments in the best of times, and the pandemic adds some new challenges.

“All of the things together, like being pregnant in a foreign country while mourning the loss of my brother, felt like the hardest thing I've ever done. And I've done hard things before as we all have. But for me, these were the hardest together and the timing of them and I felt so alone.”

Derrik Tollefson is Professor of Social Work and head of the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology at Utah State University. He also directs the I-System Institute for Transdisciplinary Studies at USU.

A study from the Urban Indian Health Institute found that Utah ranks 8th in the nation for the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Our new learn-from-home courses are free, fun and available to you and your family. Classes are led by Southern Utah experts volunteering their time and talents in interactive 45-minute sessions. Learn techniques for green thumb gardening, interior decorating, making Italian cuisine and even take a virtual hike with a southern Utah geologist. 

As things are beginning to reopen, we want to invite visitors to experience the wonders of Utah's Canyon Country with the San Juan Strong promise to do their part to keep us and our communities healthy. 

At the gateway to both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, it’s been unusually quiet this spring. Moab shut the door to visitors for six long weeks during what is usually the busiest time of year. The town is still not fully open, and many locals are dealing with continued unemployment and financial insecurity. All around tensions are high.  

Shalayne Smith Needham: We have all dealt with the effects of COVID-19 in one way or another and some of us will come out of this a new person. Joining us to discuss this is Dr. David Schram, an associate professor of human development and family studies in the College of Education at Utah State University. 

There are many tourism opportunities right in your own backyard. They are a great way to cope during COVID-19 and a great way to become more resilient.

It’s no secret Utah is a majority white state. That majority holds true for mental health workers as well, and it’s part of what makes culturally responsive therapy important. 

Ah, that first year of college. It’s like this tidal wave of freedom. And pressure.

As part of the Utah Public Radio series, Project Resilience, we hear from retired Northern Utah teacher Barbara Abbott, who remembers times she would take her wayward dog Cedar Bear to work with students at Hillcrest Elementary.

Shalayne Smith Needham: In stressful times, it's important to reach out to friends, family, and especially children who need guidance during these hard times. Callie Ward is an Extension assistant professor at Utah State University and specializes in family finance, family resource management, emergency preparedness and food preservation. Callie Ward joins us by phone from Garfield County. Thanks for being here.