The Power to Change
Mimi Silbert, PhD

2010 Jan Stewart Memorial Wellness Lecture Series Speaker
2010 Annual Meeting, Seattle, Wash.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010, 11:00 a.m.

The story of Dr. Mimi Silbert, a world renowned social entrepreneur and the founder of Delancey Street Foundation, is about empowerment for change through helping yourself and enabling others to succeed.  Dr. Silbert provides an inspirational portrayal of the victory of faith and determination over despair and failure with Delancey's "each-one-teach-one" program to provide skills and training to conquer poverty, substance dependency, and the imprisonment cycle. For more information on Dr. Silbert and the Delancey Street process visit: www.delanceystreetfoundation.org or click here.

Learner Outcomes:

1. Identify a minimum of three methods to enable others to earn the self-respect needed to overcome obstacles to success.
2. Consider the personal well-being benefits gained from reaching out to help others in need.
3. Discuss the societal rewards of participating in a team enabling others to change.
4. Recognize that change is possible and that each individual can contribute to building a healthy workplace.

   Abstract –

   Hitting bottom -  it's what starting over and reinventing yourself into a more skilled, more productive, more self confident and self reliant human being, is all about.  At Delancey Street Foundation our mission is to help those with criminal histories (and many with chemical dependency, or alcohol abuse histories) rebuild their lives into a more stable, productive, and sustainable forms.

   In order to start the rebuilding process an individual has be able to be honest with him or herself, and others, about who and what they are and what they have been.  Being candid about prior transgressions is the key to understanding the self loathing that accompanies hitting the bottom.  Facing your past is the first step to learning to forgive yourself and others, and in the process beginning to learn to treat others and yourself with love and respect.

   Recreating one's life is also hard work, and there are no shortcuts. Learning new skills, behaviors, and habits is not easy, but at Delancey Street help is just an arm’s reach away.  Those who have gone before teach and mentor those new to the Foundation, reinforcing positive behaviors and confronting when behaviors fall short.  It's all part of the process. Residents at Delancey Street come to appreciate the feedback and recognize the value it represents in helping to rebuild trust and faith in themselves and others.

   In the end, the experience brings joy and purpose back to the lives of those who had lost them.

Jeanne Stawiecki, CRNA was introduced to the audience by Jan Stewart's daughter, Sarah Stewart Gomes.  Jeanne spoke to fellow nurse anesthetists and students during the 2009 AANA Annual Meeting in San Diego.  Her inspiring message was one of finding strength to achieve goals.  More about Jeanne's message. 

2007 - William Cope Moyers  
"Further Along the Broken Road to Recovery"   

 2006 - Mark Therrien 
"Laughter is Contagious" 

2005 - Michael Roizen, MD 
"Real Age: Getting Younger and Being Healthier" 

2004 - Douglas Cook, MD 
"CRNA, An At Risk Provider"