Two-part webinar series shines spotlight on resilience
Wellness series presented by ADA Council on Dental Practice streams April 19, May 18
The ADA will live stream a free two-part webinar series on the importance of resilience, aimed at encouraging dentists to evaluate the emotional and environmental health of their practice settings.
The first part will stream April 19 and the second on May 18, with both from noon-1 p.m. Central. Each part offers one hour of continuing education credit.
Sheela Raja, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry, is the featured presenter, and ArNelle Wright, D.M.D., the New Dentist Committee representative on the Council on Dental Practice, will moderate both parts.
Dr. Wright said that this series is of value because although individuals can learn about resilience through team sports and team-based extracurricular activities, not everyone has experience in said involvement throughout their lives.
“We've now moved to a place in society where mental health and wellness topics are no longer discussed quietly, leaving people to suffer in silence, and I'm so grateful for that,” she said.
The first session, on April 19, is titled How Can Dentists Develop Emotional Resilience in a World Full of Stress?: Practical Strategies from Psychology, Public Health, and Neuroscience.
The second session, on May 18, is titled Developing Your Own Emotional Resilience and Wellness Plan: Professional and Personal Strategies to Survive and Thrive this Year (and Next Year too).
“Keeping in mind that we spend more time away from our family and closest friends due to our work schedules and career goals, I believe our attendees will benefit personally from the resilience strategies to be presented, while also sharing them with their dental teams for further growth,” Dr. Wright said.
The interactive webinars are focused on helping dentists in all career phases.
Participants will learn evidence-based resilience strategies to support their mental health and wellness and how to apply those techniques, using case-based scenarios to discuss how cognitive flexibility, emotional tolerance and finding meaning and purpose apply to oral health practice.
Dr. Raja has taught behavioral science at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry for the last 15 years and holds a joint appointment in the College of Medicine. A clinical psychologist by training, she is the author of four books, including “Overcoming Trauma and PTSD” and “The Resilient Teen: 10 Key Skills to Bounce Back from Setbacks and Turn Stress into Success.” Dr. Raja completed an internship and post-doctoral training at the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Boston and serves as a consultant to the Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on trauma-informed health care initiatives.
This program is brought, in part, by a grant from Crest + Oral-B.
