Pollyanna Leadership & Eeyore Friends
Pollyanna Leadership & Eeyore Friends
Understanding Post-Traumatic Growth Q&A
About the Video
Post-traumatic growth (PTG) describes the phenomenon of positive change that people can experience in the wake of a negative experience or trauma. In this conversation, Françoise Mathieu, Diana Tikasz, and Dr. Jennifer Russel discuss two questions submitted by our community about post-traumatic growth and toxic positivity:
(0:26): I have a boss who, at all of our team meetings, keeps asking about the “gifts” or “silver linings” of COVID. I am not feeling that way at all. I am exhausted and frankly traumatized by what I have experienced over the past year. Yet, I am feeling the pressured to participate. What do I do?
(6:57): One my best friends has always been a “half-glass empty” person and I am finding this increasingly challenging. I’m no Pollyanna, but I tend to make lemonade out of lemons. I don’t want to look back and realize that I spent the last few months in fear. What can I do about it?
NOTE. Eeyore is a fictional character from the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne, and he is generally characterized as being pessimistic and gloomy. To be “a Pollyanna” means to be a person who is excessively optimistic with a tendency to find good in everything.
Recorded in July 2021 as part of the Psychological PPE Program.
Additional Resources
About the Presenters
Françoise Mathieu
M. Ed, RP
Françoise Mathieu is an educator, speaker, and trauma-trained therapist. She is the author of The Compassion Fatigue Workbook, founding member of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Consortium, and the Executive Director of TEND.
Diana Tikasz
MSW, RSW
Diana Tikasz has worked in the teaching and health care sector for over 30 years and specializes in trauma-focused work. She is a TEND Associate and Organizational Health Specialist for the Roadmap to Organizational Health program.
Dr. Jennifer Russel
MD, FRCPC(C), MSW
Dr. Jennifer Russel is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. She is the Clinical Director of the Compass Program at BCCH, the first provider support program in Canada, and the Consulting Psychiatrist for the Physician Health Program in BC.
