Byline: Leslie A. Young Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
Change is one of life's few certainties.
At 31, Tracey Brummett of Denver knows that all too well.
For months she's been organizing Embracing Transitions: A Women's Health Symposium. During that time she's become the woman for whom she designed the conference.
In short, she and her husband have just hit a wall in their plans to have children.
``Intellectually, I thought I was prepared, but emotionally, I found it hit me really hard,'' she says.
Throughout the turmoil, Brummett has worked to maintain control. One thing that's helped is an emotional-fitness test designed by Susan Heitler, a Denver clinical psychologist.
Heitler will be the keynote speaker at the health symposium, to be held March 14 on the Auraria campus. The conference focuses on inevitable health crossroads women face and their options.
The conference goal is ``to raise women's consciousness about change and the fact that they have choices and they can help affect the changes in their lives,'' Brummett says. ``It doesn't just have to happen to them.''
Empowering women to face change represents a shift in psychotherapy, Heitler says.
``Initially, the field of psychotherapy looked at people who were emotionally injured and how to help them heal,'' she says. ``Emotional fitness looks at how people can prevent injuries.''
Heitler's test has 10 questions. A high score reflects a resilience that's like money in the bank for the challenges around the bend, she says. The woman probably possesses useful tools: a positive attitude toward herself; an openness not only to her own feelings but to the feelings of others; a talent for saying what's on her mind in a tactful way; an ability to take care of herself physically.
If your score indicates you're emotionally weak, that means you're susceptible to emotional injuries that ``show up as depression, anxiety disorders, excessive anger, angry outbursts or irritability,'' Heitler says.
The test isn't highly scientific, she says. ``It's more like a quick little checklist to get a very quick overview of where you stand emotionally at this point in your life.''
Brummett took the test during the symposium's initial planning phase, then again after her crisis.
``My score is lower right now,'' she says. ``I'm in a more emotionally brittle state.''
This self-understanding isn't trivial, Heitler says, because emotions are like traffic signals: ``Emotional fitness involves the abiliy to accurit from emn street ce up in orhere. Soment is happening here.' ''
Heitler sashe also us the ``RTD system'': R means gs, T is to think abtably, humhree level, she says. Recognizing feelings can be difficult. For some, it's easy to ignore them, but ``there's enormous power in being able to put a label on something.''
And if you don't think through your feelings, ``you're at risk for letting feelings go straight from your gut to your mouth,'' Heitler says.
The ``doing'' applies to yourself, she emphasizes. It's easy to decide what someone else should do, she says, but taking responsibility for your actions is empowering.
In sorting through her crisis, Brummett doesn't need traffic signals to tell her she's in pain, but she says the emotional-fitness test has helped her understand how she handles problems, and most important, it's helped her identify her support systems.
INFOBOX
IF YOU GO:
Embracing Transitions: A Women's Health Symposium, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. March 14, University of Colorado at Denver, North Building. The conference is sponsored by Bea Romer's Colorado Women's Health Campaign, American WholeHealth, Colorado Parent and Centura Health. Cost: $35, with proceeds donated to the Colorado Women's Health Campaign. On-site parking: $2. Registration: 320-1000.
Questions from the Emotional Fitness Test:
* I feel irritated at home, at work or on the road: (1) pretty much every day, (2) from once to a few times a week, (3) rarely
* I find that I smile warmly, talk openly and express affection to people close to me: (1) less than once a week, (2) several times a week, (3) pretty much every day.
* I think negative thoughts about myself (thoughts like, ``That was dumb!''): (1) often, (2) sometimes, (3) rarely.
- By Susan Heitler, Ph.D.
CAPTION(S):
Color photo
Tracey Brummett is organizer of a March 14 women's health conference at Auraria campus. By Rodolfo Gonzalez / Rocky Mountain News.
