{"657602":{"#nid":"657602","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Well-Being Strategies Can Boost Resilience\u00a0","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBeth Cabrera, the first lady of Georgia Tech, is a psychologist and Tech alumna\u0026nbsp;(M.S. PSY 1993, Ph.D. PSY 1995).\u0026nbsp;Her research focuses on the power of positive psychology to achieve greater success and well-being. For the last few years, she has been sharing her expertise on positivity with Tech students as a guest presenter in a five-week course called \u0026quot;Resilience Building Strategies: Growing Through What We Are Going Through.\u0026quot;\u0026nbsp;It\u0026nbsp;was developed in 2019 by Sonia Alvarez-Robinson, executive director of Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting, and Joi Alexander, director of Health Initiatives.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Social support is the number one factor for well-being,\u0026quot; Cabrera said. \u0026quot;We need people. It\u0026rsquo;s an evolutionary thing, because back in the caveman days, if you didn\u0026rsquo;t have your tribe to help keep you safe, you died. You could not survive alone.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EToday, because of physical distancing in work and social environments brought about by the pandemic, many people are less connected to others.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Some people feel like they\u0026rsquo;re connected because they\u0026rsquo;re using social media, but that\u0026rsquo;s not the same kind of connection,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;We are less connected to our communities. We aren\u0026rsquo;t as involved in our churches or different associations. During the pandemic it was important to have physical distance, but not social distance.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECabrera said that having a positive outlook and experiencing happiness are also important to well-being. But she said that \u0026ldquo;being happy\u0026rdquo; should not be the goal.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s a difference between doing things that allow you to experience positive emotions and having the goal of being happy,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;Being happy all the time is never going to happen, so if you set a goal to be happy, then you\u0026rsquo;re always going to fall short.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInstead, Cabrera suggests participating in activities that make you happy. That could be anything from reading to exercising to hanging out with friends. The result will be a feeling of happiness that can be repeated as needed.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPositive psychology does not mean you deny your negative feelings.\u0026nbsp;\u0026ldquo;Positive psychology first and foremost recognizes that we are human and that humans are going to experience a wide range of emotions,\u0026quot; she said. \u0026quot;It\u0026rsquo;s very important to accept all of your emotions, the good and the bad.\u0026nbsp;We know that if you try to ignore or suppress any of those negative emotions, they just get stronger.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECabrera is encouraged to see that society is more attuned to mental health issues than ever before.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I started talking to companies in 2004 about employee well-being, telling them that it actually is linked to performance. Happy employees will be smarter, more creative, and they will work together better,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;Today there is a heightened awareness of the importance of mental health and the need to help people address these issues.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlvarez-Robinson said, \u0026ldquo;Having Dr. Cabrera come and speak to our class has been a highlight of the students\u0026rsquo; experience since we started the class in 2019. We recognized that our students needed additional skills for navigating change, challenges, and uncertainty.\u0026nbsp;We proposed it as part of the mini-mester pilot program and the first cohort launched in Spring 2020.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe one-credit course will be offered again in the fall and is listed as\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EResilience Building Strategies 4801\/8801\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;(cross-listed for undergraduate and graduate students).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA recording of Cabrera\u0026rsquo;s most recent workshop, along with other related sessions, is available on the Georgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sdie.gatech.edu\/resilience-erg-past-events\u0022\u003EResilience ERG website\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBeth Cabrera,\u0026nbsp;the first lady of Georgia Tech, is a psychologist and Tech alumna (M.S. PSY 1993, Ph.D. PSY 1995). She recently shared her expertise on positivity with Tech students as a guest presenter in a five-week course called Resilience Building Strategies: Growing Through What We Are Going Through.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Beth Cabrera shared her expertise on positivity with Tech students as a guest presenter in a five-week course called Resilience Building Strategies: Growing Through What We Are Going Through."}],"uid":"27713","created_gmt":"2022-04-26 14:36:21","changed_gmt":"2022-04-28 14:31:08","author":"Victor Rogers","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-04-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-04-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"657671":{"id":"657671","type":"image","title":"Beth Cabrera","body":null,"created":"1651073577","gmt_created":"2022-04-27 15:32:57","changed":"1651073740","gmt_changed":"2022-04-27 15:35:40","alt":"Beth Cabrera ","file":{"fid":"249265","name":"Beth Cabrera headshot.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Beth%20Cabrera%20headshot.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Beth%20Cabrera%20headshot.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":28080,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Beth%20Cabrera%20headshot.jpeg?itok=l7-4nLdK"}},"657603":{"id":"657603","type":"image","title":"Beth Cabrera","body":null,"created":"1650985437","gmt_created":"2022-04-26 15:03:57","changed":"1650985506","gmt_changed":"2022-04-26 15:05:06","alt":"Beth Cabrera in Harrison Square","file":{"fid":"249233","name":"Beth Cabrera.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Beth%20Cabrera.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Beth%20Cabrera.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":72028,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Beth%20Cabrera.jpg?itok=gIR50Kbd"}},"657616":{"id":"657616","type":"image","title":"Beth Cabrera","body":null,"created":"1650997800","gmt_created":"2022-04-26 18:30:00","changed":"1650997834","gmt_changed":"2022-04-26 18:30:34","alt":"Beth Cabrera in class","file":{"fid":"249245","name":"Dr Cabrera to Resilience Class March 8 2022.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Dr%20Cabrera%20to%20Resilience%20Class%20March%208%202022.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Dr%20Cabrera%20to%20Resilience%20Class%20March%208%202022.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":40737,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Dr%20Cabrera%20to%20Resilience%20Class%20March%208%202022.JPG?itok=0o1-yF5A"}}},"media_ids":["657671","657603","657616"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/cabrerainsights.com\/?page_id=2","title":"About Beth Cabrera"}],"groups":[{"id":"1317","name":"News Briefs"},{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"183958","name":"Beth Cabrera"},{"id":"179640","name":"Sonia Alvarez-Robinson"},{"id":"190432","name":"positivity"},{"id":"10617","name":"resilience"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"},{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EVictor Rogers\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInstitute Communications\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["victor.rogers@comm.gatech.edu "],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}