INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / MARCH 7, 1989

 

 

Getting Angry: A Message

To Womer

How many times have you
felt angry at someone, but in-
stead of letting them know, you
hid your anger or you were espe-
cially nice to them.

According to Sandy Berman,
this is common behaviour for
women. Women are often
sharply rebuked for expressing
their anger, consequently they
learn to fear and restrain the
emotion.

"Understanding Anger: A
Workshop for Women," offered
by Douglas College, provides a
safe environment for women to
examine their fear of anger. Par-
ticipants will learn to accept
anger as only one of various

 

emotions and develop effective
techniques to express it.

"Some women have lost con-
tact with anger and are scared of
touching the emotion," said
workshop facilitator Sandy Ber-
man. "They avoid it by being
‘nice’ or spending time taking
care of other people’s feelings."

In the workshop women are
also encouraged to understand
their personal relationship to
anger - how anger was original-
ly expressed in their family, and
whether they had permission to
be angry.

"If there’s a fear around ex-
pressing anger it’s important to

Foundation Update Continued

 

 

Creative Writing - $500 was approved to assist in sponsoring the six-
day Writer-in-Residence program.

Student Services - $500 was approved to assist with the purchase of
equipment for hearing impaired students.

Library - $325 was approved to assist in the purchase of three
volumes of Canadian History resource material.

Community Programs - $500 was approved to assist in providing
CPR and first aid training courses for special needs groups.

Developmental Studies - $500 was approved to assist in sponsoring
volunteer literacy instruction.

Guidelines for the 1989 grant applications will be circulated in
early fall. For further information please call Randi Duke at local
4801.

 

discover where that fear comes
from."

As well as learning safe and
effective ways to express it,
women will learn how to detect
their anger. Depression, for in-
stance, is anger directed inward,
often becoming self-hatred, said
Berman. Or repressed anger
might affect a woman
physiologically, causing her to
become ill or exhausted.

Substance addictions, par-
ticularly with drugs or alcohol,
are other common ways to
repress anger, as are destructive
personal relationships.

It’s impossible to ignore the
anger indefinitely; these feelings
will accumulate inside a person
and soon come out, said Ber-
man.

"Once you're not so terrified
of your own anger and find a
level of understanding and ac-
ceptance, you’re less strangled
by fear and more likely to ex-
press it effectively."

The workshop is offered
Thursday, March 16, 9 am. to 4
pm. The fee is $35. Sandy Ber-
man has extensive experience in
facilitating women’s groups and
conducting lifeskills training.
Maggie Ziegler (co-facilitator)
is a therapist in private practice.
For more information and to
register call Community
Programs at 520-5479.

PRS BURSA te EG RS A Re

7