THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 48 lines
ARE FAMILY strength and harmony myths from the 1950s or attainable qualities of the 1990s?
Does home life nowadays look more like the chaos of the Simpson cartoon clan than the Cleaver closeness of ``Leave it to Beaver?''
These questions - and possible solutions - will be addressed in four evening programs sponsored by Obici Hospital. Family relationships and how they can be better understood and improved will be the focus.
The forum topics were driven by requests from participants in past programs, according to Terrie Radosevich , Obici marketing assistant. The top choices: stress management, parenting skills, self esteem.
Family harmony is achievable, but it requires work and commitment, according to Richard Fox, director of Shepherd's Staff Counseling Center in Virginia Beach and one of the series' speakers.
``It is not good enough to look back and see what Ozzie and Harriet did,'' Fox said. ``This is a different world today, and we need to know how to achieve those same quality relationships in this world.''
Fox will empahsize four cornerstones of family harmony: communication, mutual respect, encouragement and taking time for family fun. He'll also show how to bring them them into everyday family life.
When Joe Scislowicz leads the series' final session, focusing on anger management, count on one sure question to the audience: How many married people in the audience have issues with their spouse? ``Every hand will go up,'' he guaranteed.
Different family members deal with their anger differently, and Scislowicz will offer insights into how to manage and effectively express that anger. Scislowicz, a licensed professional counselor, is supervisor of adult mental health sevices for the Western Tidewater Mental Health Center.
``Anger in itself is not always a bad thing,'' he said. ``It can also be a motivator, but it must be managed and expressed positively.''
Scislowicz, who is a family man too, relies on humor and lots of personal examples to make his point. ``My wife complains that our lives are an open book,'' he said with a laugh.
The series also includes a session on parenting skills and a session on the importance of family rituals and traditions and how to keep them alive to create lifetime memories. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Family Focus
[For complete copy, see microfilm] by CNB